Car seat confusion!!!

[boatgirlie]

Okay so me and the hubbie went to Mothercare to purchase two car seats to be told hubbies car is fine and any seat will fit in whilst mine is cack!

We were told to choose a seat then they would advise us whether the seat would be suitable for my car by looking at their computer mebob. How idiotic does this sound??! Surely it would be easier to search by vehicle??

Anyways before I start trawling through the millions of seats available I thought I would ask my fellow mums!

Does anyone have an Audi A2 and which car seat for a 10 month old is best (or worst!) All advise will be gratefully received :-)

do you have isofix?

i would get a rear-facing group 1 seat.
britax 2 way elite is good and fits in a LOT of cars.

Thank you!! :-) No don't think it has isofix :-(

what stage car seat are you looking to buy?

Both maxi cosi and britax have a car seat finder on line - have you looked at that. You put the car in and they tell you what fits.

From www.rearfacing.co.uk - an excellent website about safe car travel for infants and children:

"Essex County Council has six Road Safety Officers, who are working to inform parent about safety issues relating to car seats. As part of that, they run a "try before you buy" service for children's car seats. (...) The centre is open Tuesdays 12.30?15.00 and Fridays 10.30?15.00 and is situated at Lubards Farm, Hullbridge Road, Rayleigh, Essex, SS6 9QG. You can reach the centre on 01268 297593 (leave a message on the answer machine if there isn't anyone available to take your call)."

Please note that if you are not in that part of the country, the ladies who work there will be happy to advise you by phone or email - they are compiling a database of which carseats are compatible with which make and model of car, and are completely impartial as they do not sell any carseats themselves.

Hope this helps. By the way, if you are looking for a carseat for a child between 1-5 years, please do read the website's information on rearfacing seats - 5 times safer in a frontal collision.

the in car safety centre in milton keynes is also good

as an aside, i've never ever had good car seat advice from either mothercare or halfords.

Yep the In Car Safety Centre in MK stocks a wide range of seats and will help you try before you buy - but they also sell them, so you might get slightly more impartial advice from the Essex bunch.

I think I need a stage one, I've just found the car seat finder sites but many people have recommended the maxi cosi as a better alternative to the Britax prince. Unfortunately the maxi cosi website recommends the isofix seats for my car when i don't have isofix!! :-)

I think you can get isofix installed. STage 1 is 12months - 4 years ish?

The best car seat is the one that fits your car regardless of brand. If it doesn't fit properly then it's not going to do much in an accident to protect your child.

bear in mind that a lot of people go by the Which? report as a kind of bible when it comes to goods like this.

unfortunately their reports are not based purely on safety.
for example iirc when we looked for a car seat for ds1 several years ago, when you actually looked at the full results the Britax group 1 seat scored better than the maxi cosi.
it did however lose points on the ease of fitting, how good instructions were etc etc and so the maxi cosi came out top.

now, personally i am capable of reading instructions and getting a car seat fitted properly. or getting someone else to do it if i can't- in which case, looking purely at safety the Britax would have been the one to go for.

so please don't be swayed by people recommending a particular brand. do your own research. Which reports are ok, but as I've pointed out the safest seat doesn't necessarily come top. you need the best fitting seat for your car, which may not be the one everyone else speaks highly of. iyswim????

Thank you all for the brilliant advice! I didn't realise car seats where such a minefield! Thanks once again though :-)

i too would second the britax two way elite and using a rear facing group 1 as they're much safer.

I would stick with the baby seat for as long as humanly possible (ie when they outgrow it either by length or weight) - no Group 1 seat enables you to take a sleeping child out of the car without disturbing them!

After that (DS is nearly 15 months and still in his baby seat - had him weighed the other day and he is well under 13kg even with clothes on) I am going for the Kiddy Infinity Pro. It seemed a good compromise on rear facing as it puts less stress on the neck in an accident than a 5 point harness, and I liked that it had good side impact protection. Also it's very practical for me as I don't drive and it's a lot less bulky than most seats to put into different cars.

MY DS at 2.3 is still under 13kg too pity the darn car seat doesn't fit in our latest car

I live round the corner from the Essex seat help morning and they are brilliant.They always give great impartial advice .

I would head to your local Audi garage and get them to find out if you've got Isofix and a tether point.

We're getting a Jane Exo - it seems comfy, reclines and has a patented system to reduce the G-force when installed with Isofix. I'm trying to find somewhere to see it before buying because we need to check it'll fit in my Clio. Unfortunately I don't think a rear facing seat will because the space is too small between the rear seats and front seats. However DD will be in her Maxi Cosi Cabriofix until the last possible moment.

We have an Audi A4, and have two Britax Evolva car seats. DS just outgrown his Mamas and Papas stage one, he seems far more comfortable in his new one (he's 8 months and dd is 2.5 yrs)

PurpleCrazyHorse our britax two way elite fits well in my mums 3 dr clio and leaves good space in the front seat! better than my golf!