Best extended rear-facing car seat with decent front passenger leg room - real world experiences please!

[Spareincoming]

I will need to move one of the DC from a Britax Dualfix 5z in the coming months and had intended to buy a new Britax Max way plus* but Britax have stopped making them and replaced it with a very different model - Max safe pro - which seems to be a very large seat needing 77cm from the back of the rear seat to the back of the passenger seat according to Britax’s dimensions.

My DP is over 6ft and having done 5 years of being unable sit with his legs straight in our previous car, I’m keen to let him keep his leg room!

So, what are others using and does your passenger still have leg room!?

*we already have one Maxway plus and it’s brilliant, but now need two ERF for two vehicles.

I think the most compact erf is the Avionaut sky. You can install it fairly upright too so it takes up less room. It doesn’t have the longest shell though so depending g on your child’s centiles it might not last beyond 4/5yo. We have one behind driver seat and I have a 6ft 4 husband, but our car is quite spacious.

@potentialdogowner Thank you, I’ve had a look at the reviews on the Sky and many agree with you about it being a short shell so that rules it out for us.

I’m so annoyed at how big the new Britax is, or I’d have just stuck with what I know - Britax!

The Axkid Minikid Pro and Minikid Pro can be fitted compactly and have a much longer shell size, so shouldn’t be outgrown before your child is ready to FF in a HBB. I think the Axkid Movekid has a similar shell, and is slightly cheaper. If you have a look on the Axkid website they should have a list of stockists where you could try them out in your car.

I assume your partner has the seat fairly upright which will allow him to have the seat back further without compromising on the rear cabin space.

Alternatively a bigger car?

Thanks @FamilyAreEverything I’ll have a good look at the Axkid website tomorrow.

DP does sit quite upright fortunately, the car is quite a big car already, just the Britax I’d usually go for is massive!

Summoning @BertieBotts please!

Hello lovely, I know you as the car seat guru so can I pick your brain - feel free to say no!

Don’t suppose you know if different car manufacturers angle adjusting foam wedges can be used with other car seats?

I’ve a Britax max way plus that needs an adjusting wedge to fit a Volvo nicely as using the adjustable front leg at its maximum tips it too far back and reduces passenger legroom, whereas using the wedge and the front leg on the lowest setting works well, but the original wedge is quite battered and I can’t buy the Britax wedge anymore; could an Axkid wedge work?
Failing that I’ll be duct taping the original wedge up!

Another vote for the minikid

Besafe Stretch! Lots of legroom. My 80th centile child still fits in his at 107cm at 5.

Don’t get an axkid move. I absolutely bloody hate ours. It’s safe which is great but other than that it is awful. He slumps terribly in it and it’s so awkward to use. I have tried everything to stop the slumping. It’s crap

@MalvernHillbilly reviews suggest they’re huge - and limit front passenger legroom - is that not the case?

@showmethegin the Axkid Minikid 4 I think is the one ticking the boxes. I hope they’re not similar as DC can be a slumper!

The BeSafe is huge, so great for your child, but not necessarily for your partner. That being said, we got to over 7 years before it was outgrown by height. We also had it comfortably fitting in the rear seat of a Skoda Superb with enough space up front for my 6ft6 FIL. Legs weren’t straight though, that is really unlikely with any combination of seats / cars.

It is safer for a child to be more upright once they move into ERF seats like these. Head flop isn’t a concern and it may be that they need time to adjust to being more upright. Slumping or body flop is a fit issue that needs to be corrected. Ensure that bottom is to the back of the seat, straps level and no lower than 2cm below the shoulders, take the slack the straps around the legs first, then pull the strap to tighten the harness. You also need to make sure you have the correct inserts in for the child’s size.

Another vote for the a Axkid minikid, we were also looking at the Britax max safe pro but it was just so huge that we ended up going for the minikid. We’ve been really happy with it so far and my DS seems comfy in it.

@PaperAirplanesFlying this might seem a strange question but what is the buckle
like on the Axkid?

We’re genuinely over 100 miles away from an Axkid stockist so I’d be ordering it blind and I’ve recently had to find a car seat for another family members car that had a low faff buckle compared to the Joie seat/buckle they had installed - Britax being the lowest faff, Joie the most faff - and realised that whilst I am more
capable than my family member, I do not have the patience for faffing about with buckles after years of Britax simplicity whilst getting the other DC in and out of the car with varying degrees of cooperation.

I’d recommend the axkid minikid too.
Buckles wise my only point of reference has been maxi cosi seats so I can’t compare it to the britax but I’ve not found the buckles faffy at all and I manage to get a car seat refusing 2 year old into it regularly with relative ease.

The Axkid Minikid 4 Pro is the rebranded Movekid which was the updated version of the Move. I’ve seen in car seat Facebook groups people complaining about heads slumping forward in Axkida not irregularly. I think the seats are very upright and there’s not many recline options for them.

That said, they are the most compact ERF seats other than the Sky, which as you’ve noted, has a much shorter shell and is often outgrown at around 110cm. The Britax and BeSafe are much bigger.

The Axkid buckle is two bits that you hold together and plug into the main bit, not sure how well that description works but I’ve uploaded a photo that should be visible in a bit!

They are quite small so it can be a little bit faffy but it’s definitely not a major issue, DS is sometimes fairly… resistant to going into his car seat but I’ve never struggled to get him buckled.

@toastofthetown thanks for that, something to consider for sure as the child it’s for is a bit of a floppy one!
I’ve not ventured into the Facebook groups yet for reviews etc as I remember from buying the Max way plus that some of the groups are ferocious!

@PaperAirplanesFlying thanks so much for the photo, that really helps!

Honestly, I’m cursing myself as I almost bought 2 Maxway plus seats originally which would have solved all the problems now, but made do with the now rather dated Two way elite.

I have an Axkid Movekid in a Seat Arona, installed with the recline foot out, and I can drive comfortably at 176cm. It’s been in a Kia Ceed estate/Nissan Juke and Fiat 600 too fitted with a bit of legroom, and I’m ok in the passenger seat in front of all of them. I also have a MaxWay Plus in our other car, and find the Axkid less bulky and the buckle easier. DS prefers the Movekid. It’s the predecessor to the Pro, and can be found for £265 at the moment.

Yea the groups are ferocious and have their own car seat safety opinions which a rent backed by any actual data (like the frequent assertions that forward facing a child in a harness is dooming them to near certain internal decapitation) and they are run by salespeople so so of course the people who don’t sell
Britax won’t advise those seats, but there are frequent posts for fit checks and that has kind of given a baseline for issues that people have with the ERF seats. I have seen more complaints of head flop in the Axkids than the Avionaut, BeSafe or Britax seats. But beyond infancy it’s not dangerous and as they get older people have success in getting their children to look at the car ceiling to counteract it.

@BarryManilowsWardrobe Thanks for the direct comparison; I am a big Britax advocate, having been really impressed with their customer service standards over the years.

@toastofthetown Yes, that’s why I’m keen to keep out of those groups to be honest!

The head flop is probably a non issue for most, but it’s a bit of an anxiety issue for me really as DC was born with airway issues that have required surgery and whilst the amazing consultants have told me the fact he’s naturally a very relaxed, floppy, slumpy child will have no impact on his breathing now post procedures, I do worry!

I may wait until payday and order a Britax (going with what I know) and an Axkid and compare them side by side as it looks like the only stockist of both near me is a 4 and a half hour round trip!