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Multiple car seats for 3 year old

4 replies

Jobelina123 · 02/01/2026 20:16

Hi,

First time poster here! But all in a bit of a pickle looking at different car seats.

I have a 3 year old boy (4 in May) who is 14.8kg and 99cm, currently using a Cybex Sirona Z2, forward facing. And a 10 month old in a Cybex Cloud infant seat.

I will soon be returning to work, and myself, my partner and grandparents will be collecting both boys from nursery on different days. We currently all have the same Cybex Sirona seats for the 3 y/o, but will need to get potentially 3 new car seats for everyone as they will be collecting the baby as well.

I’m wondering what will be the best seat to go for? I’m happy to spend £150/200 on the main car seat but would prefer something cheaper for partner and grandparents car as will be used once/twice a week for short journeys. (My plan was to put the baby in the Sirona in partner and grandparents car) I’m assuming I will need to get a seat with a harness which turns into a HBB? I had seen the Joie Irvana/Britax Evolvafix?

I had thought about storing a car seat at nursery, however, I don’t feel confident in allowing the grandparents to share a car seat and be taking it in and out and ensuring it is fitted properly/safely.

Any advice would be much appreciated! Thank you.

OP posts:
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BertieBotts · 03/01/2026 00:23

Personally I don't think you need the extra harness capacity of the i-Irvana Max so I would vote for Evolvafix over that seat for the 3yo. The other good one is Maxi Cosi Titan (various versions) or Onyx, or Silver Cross Balance, either the standard or Essentials version which is cheaper. The Maxi Cosi and Britax seats are all around the same price, although the Silver Cross Essential seat is on amazon for £120 which is a good offer.

You could also look at Cybex Pallas B3 which is also £120 and turns into an excellent high back booster but is an impact shield seat, which you might be less keen on (safety of the shield is roughly equivalent to forward facing in a 5 point harness). Halfords actually have a clearance deal on this and the Pallas G for about £70 - I can't tell if this is some kind of mistake but that's an excellent price if you're considering an impact shield seat.

All of these need isofix and top tether. Show the top tether to the grandparents as it must be used every time. They are easy to use but are sometimes missed/forgotten.

The 10mo should be OK for a while yet in the Cloud. That might be worth keeping for at least one of the cars to save buying three seats? Once it's outgrown, you'll need a third seat but it's something for now anyway. You might be able to get another 8+ months out of it and move the older child to a high back booster in that last car.

It might be worth considering one of the folding seats which are on the market for one of the cars, perhaps the least used one - as they are handy for travelling, with 2 DC you may get that use out of it, and saves you buying a separate seat for that purpose at another time. However, I'm really not sure what the safety performance is like on these. The seatbelt fitted ones haven't historically got very good scores on ADAC (Which?) testing, but you can now buy a few which fit using isofix and top tether, which ought to be a safer bet. Whether they really are as good as a solid frame seat, I have no idea, but they will have passed the legally required crash tests, at least. The only thing I found of note is that they all include an alarm which sounds if the top tether is not fastened (completely useless in practice, as you have to turn it off to store the seat) and I read in the legal standard that it's only if the seat fails a rudimentary crash test without the top tether, that these alarms are needed.

For about £130 you've got Maxi Cosi Nomad XL or Cosatto On the Go. Or there is a cheaper one by Kinderkraft (Fix2Go) which is £79 and seems to only be sold on amazon.

In terms of cheaper seats which are still solid, permanent seats rather than folding, Graco Eldura is the cheapest I would use, it's only £50 so a very small outlay, but I don't love it in terms of the fitting mechanism, it is seatbelt fitted and prone to getting forward anchorage in some cars. It also has to have the belt tight enough which might be a problem if it's getting removed and refitted regularly. However it does meet the newer safety standard which is a plus, and the fitting is very simple. It's similar to the old Joie Elevate. Or Joie Elevate R129 is on offer for £55 at Halfords.

Joie Stages is another option which might work well, this can be a rear facing seat so the baby could use it in RF mode to allow big sibling to stay in an isofix seat until a little bit older, which is beneficial when forward facing. Then when older child is ready for a high backed booster, the Joie Stages transforms into one up to 125cm (approx age 7.5 from current centile). It's about £85.

If you were wanting something fitted with isofix and top tether there is Cozy n Safe Hudson which is about £90 but meets the older safety standard, or Graco Energi which is £99 and meets the newer safety standard.

The main problem with cheaper seats of this category is that the belt fit in the high back booster mode in a lot of them is poor and/or the protection in the harnessed mode is minimal. But this should be a good amount of options to look through and decide, anyway.

Jobelina123 · 03/01/2026 21:25

@BertieBotts Thank you so much for the detailed reply, that has been so helpful!

After a lot of research today and double checking the cars have the top tether, I’m going for the Britax Evolvafix for the main car but put in partners car until he’s outgrown Sirona in main car, and the cosy n safe Hudson for the grandparents car.

I just wondered, is there a age/size limit on using the 5 point harness? Is it just until they don’t fit in the seat anymore with the harness and need to change the seat to the HBB? Or can it continue to be used?

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!

OP posts:
ThatGreenFawn · 03/01/2026 21:29

Does your nursery have a place to store car seats/buggies? Ours did so we only needed extra isofix bases and shared the car seat.

BertieBotts · 04/01/2026 00:42

Jobelina123 · 03/01/2026 21:25

@BertieBotts Thank you so much for the detailed reply, that has been so helpful!

After a lot of research today and double checking the cars have the top tether, I’m going for the Britax Evolvafix for the main car but put in partners car until he’s outgrown Sirona in main car, and the cosy n safe Hudson for the grandparents car.

I just wondered, is there a age/size limit on using the 5 point harness? Is it just until they don’t fit in the seat anymore with the harness and need to change the seat to the HBB? Or can it continue to be used?

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!

On Britax Evolvafix, you can use the 5 point harness until the child is over 105cm tall, weighs 22kg or their shoulders don't fit under the headrest any more with the 5 point harness engaged. Strictly it's any one of these that get met and you should swap over to high back booster mode, but the weight and the shoulder size are the two more important ones, the height isn't as much of a problem to go a centimetre or two over if everything else is OK.

When you convert the seat to the high back booster mode, this involves a switch that will allow the headrest to come up higher as they grow, it's all in the manual though, very easy to convert it over.

For the Cozy n Safe Hudson R44, the harness limit is 25kg with no height limit. But if the child weighs over 18kg, the seat has to be fitted with isofix, top tether and seatbelt all at once - this is all in the manual as well. For under 18kg, then you're OK to fit just with the isofix and top tether.

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