Best car seat for occasional use

[CocoaBeanPlease]

Hi,

Does anyone have any recommendations for seats that are good for occasional use, e.g. small trips/weekends away?

We live in central London and don't have a car, so we do not yet have a car seat for our 16m old. We are going to a wedding out of town next weekend and will have to take a 10min cab ride from the station to the hotel. We were planning to borrow a seat, but that has fallen through. As this is probably not the last time we're in this situation, we're thinking of buying a seat of our own.

I've been trying to look online, but am having trouble figuring out what would work best, so thought I'd give mumsnet a go. Unlike everyday seats, it's not going to be used often and probably not for long trips, so it doesn't necessarily have to be as comfortable. Ease of installation and light weight are much more key as we would be using it in different cars and lugging it around.

Many thanks!

legally you don't need a car seat for cab rides. With such a short one I'd be inclined to just keep a firm grip and not sit in the middle back seat.

But as far as recommendations go, we invested in a cheap spare one from Argos to keep at GPs. Can't remember the brand, but the style was one that will eventually split into a child booster seat when the time comes. It was only about £30 and is perfectly adequate for occasional use and not too bulky to store.

Otherwise look at freecycle, because officially you can't buy second hand, as you probably know.