Group 1/2/3 car seat?

[Ivysaurus]

My child is 1 and I am looking into getting the next size up car seat. any recommendations? I'm after one that is rear facing until approx 4 years, preferably goes up to group 2 or 3. The main one I'm looking at so far is the Joie stages or joie every stage. I want to spend under £150, just seems like I can't find any alternative to the Joie ones but there must be some out there?

What is your child’s height percentile. You can work it out using the red book. If it’s above 50% then they won’t be able to rear face in the joie until 4

Try joining the face book group car safety UK and reading their pinned post it contains loads of information.

I found the Joie Stages/Every Stage to be a right pain when rear facing because of where the seat belt sits. Which was annoying as it ticked every other box for us. I didn't manage to find another similar one so in the end spent a bit more on the Axkid Move which will last until around age 6 and then I'll just get a cheap high backed booster.

As a PP said, it's important to think of the size of your child. I had a Joie Spin 360 which I assumed I could use rear facing until age 4 but my daughter outgrow it by weight just after turning 2. We've gone for an Axkid Minikid instead which rear faces up to 25kg and I really like it.

Joie are definitely the best of the budget range. You'll pay a lot more for the same features and safety standards in another brand. Just make sure they fit your car even if it says so you need to try it

That's interesting he's around 75th centile for height. I've also seen photos of the way the seatbelt goes and it did look a bit awkward to get child in/out

Just looked at the axkid move it looks great, £225 though but I will consider it. Seems like there isn't much choice for rear facing car seats which is crazy, they all should be in my opinion

The next time I have money spare, I was planning to go for this one. It looks good and costs less. DS is tiny though so probably will get a lot of use out of it!

Graco Slimfit All-in-One Car Seat, Group 0+/1/2/3, Pearl Grey https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07M91MSYD/ref=cmswwrcppapiii_7s6bEbJ4WP36Y

That Graco looks pretty good!!

The Graco one seems to have the same seat belt set up as the Joie when in rear facing mode. It might not be as annoying for you as it was for me though, I knew I was going to have two babies in rear facing mode at once and thought my back might not forgive me getting them both in and out around the belt! I think I managed to get the Axkid for £200 from In Car Safety Centre with a welcome discount from them, might be worth a look. It is a really nice seat! I agree with you, it's a shame there aren't more rear facing options out there.