Newborn car seats for an older Ford Focus?

[WalkingBookworm]

Subject says it all really! We have an 04 Ford Focus (without Isofix points) and the rear seatbelts seem to be too short to fit the 0+ car seats we tried at a local shop today. Anyone know one that is likely to work?

We had the same problem. The only car seat would could get was the Maxi Cosi Cabrio with the Easybase. Because the seatbelt secures the base rather than having to go round the seat it works. It's an expensive option but actually because the car seat clips on and off the base, really convenient to use in practice. And of course, it has to fit so the expense is cheaper than replacing the car!

I would look for a car seat base that can be fitted in with the car seat belt. So the Maxi-Cosi easybase, graco autobaby with base etc.

Forget about silver cross car seats. No base available.

How about the older britax cosy tot/rock a tot/rock a tot premium. Not sure of the latest version has the alternate routing but just not advertised?

They have an alternative belting routing, where instead of going across the top it across underneath. It's for shorter seat belts and I had a car that was like that.

It was easier to take baby in and out of the car seat rather than the car seat out which was a bonus IMO

Here you go apparantly britax do have a current version that fits

www.britax.co.uk/car-seats/fit-finder

the maxi cosi cabrio fits in fine with out the easy base (my mum has a focus which i use sometimes)
the britax should also fit in,ad a graco with base would fit.

if you put the first part of the seatbelt over the carseat then put it around the back of the carseat before you clip it in,then tighten it it fits fine.theres just not enough length to click the belt in before you put the other part round the back of the carseat!
because of the way the belt buckles are in the bottom of the seat you should be able to fit most seats in as you wont get buckle crunch.

Thanks for the suggestions guys - family stuff came up and so we have put off the shopping for a few days but have made a note of suggestions!

XP had an 03 Ford Focus and we managed to fit a normal infant carrier in it - you have to tip the seat forwards (ie towards the back of the car) to get the belt into the back slot, but once the seatbelt is in place you then push hard on the seat, above the baby's head (if the baby is already in the seat) to stretch the seatbelt out again to its maximum.

We had the Mothercare Travel Tot but I wouldn't recommend it as it isn't very padded for a newborn. I borrowed a friend's Maxi Cosi Cabriofix one day and this fitted fine as well - still had to do the tipping forward, routing seatbelt then pushing back into place thing. HTH