Rear facing combination car seat and small child

[SuzysZoo]

I have a query regarding combination car seats, the kind where the kid travels rear facing from 0-13kg and then forward from 9-18kg. I am keen on a rear facing seat but underfloor storage narrows my options. In a combination seat, you don't need tether straps or a support leg and they look quite lightweight, which is good. As my child is such a titch, she will be able to rear face until about 3.5 (13kg). However, I don't know whether this type of car seat is suitable to rear face for so long. The weight limit is ok, but are they really reclined and unlikely to be comfy rear facing for a 3 year old plus? Does anyone have such a seat and a rear-facing 3/4 year old (still under 13kg)?
Thanks

have no experience with combi seat but my dd was very small for her age and so was in a normal rear facing seat till 19 months when she finally reached 20lb and she hates it as she couldnt see anything, couldnt interact and was too laid down.

We had a Concord Ultimax for a while (DD outgrew her infant carrier at 7 months and info on RF Grp1 seats was harder to come by). We got a BeSafe IziKid when she was about 18 months as she had got extremely unhappy in the Ultimax.

In our experience, the routing of the seat belt made it harder to get her into the seat. We also found the seat to sit much lower in the car and suspect that the inability to see out was the source of much of her frustration. Before we got the Ultimax we did look at the Britax First Class - IIRC it sits a little higher but the seat belt routing was even worse, such that it was almost impossible to get her in and out. In the IziKid she can see out of the car well and there is plenty of space so she can climb in and out by herself (she's nearly 3 now).

Based on our experience, I wouldn't recommend a combination car seat. There are some RF Grp 1 seats that don't require a support leg (although I think they do still need tether straps) and in your situation I think I'd be looking at one of those. Good luck

hi i've no experience of the group 0+/1 car seats but have a britax two way elite as i had underfloor storage when i got the seat. it is very light and easy to move from car to car, fits in small cars(3 door clio! ), is rf or ff to 25kgs, ds is comfortable in it. it does need tether straps but these really are no problem.

we got it from www.incarsafetycentre.co.uk

if you are going to be moving it about a lot get another set of tether straps and leave them in the other car. we have done this in dp's car.