Travel system/pushchair advice please

[Peanut2011]

Hi I'm gonna be a 1st time mum in May & want to start looking into everything I will need to buy.
I'm thinking of a travel system but need to make sure that whatever we get that the car seat will be ok for a Ford Focus that doesn't have Isofix. I have heard that the seat belt in the back of the Focus are not very stretchy so car seats maybe limited.
I am 6 foot tall so need something that has long handles & I wil be also walking my 2 dogs every day too.
Any help will be gratefully received, K x

Hi have you thouht about getting a seat with a belted base as appose to isofix if the belts are tight my friend had that prob ith her lexus.

You will find a lot of prams come with the option of fixing the seat onto the chassis or certainly come with adaptors to do so.

Off hand m&p sola, urbo
Bugaboo
Bebe confort streety/Loola
Britax vigour

All those have ajustable handles.

Again you will find that you can buy a base for most makes of carseat.

i had a maxi-cosi cabrio that i used in my mums focus,it wasnt easy to put in and out but it did fit.
best thing to do would be to go to halfords/mothercare and find a carseat that fits,then choose a pram/pushchair

What age is your Focus?
Mine is an 08 but I have not looked at the back seat beats ever!

I spoke to the agents and they said they can fit ISOFIX for me? Maybe worth a look.

I am also due May and cant believe how hard the decision is to pick one.

Thanks for all the advice ladies, I think I will go & window shop for a bit - I don't want to buy something & then end up buying another later cos I'm not happy x

Don't buy the Graco Mosaic Travel System if you want to use a belted base. I have a 53 reg Ford Focus and the leg of the base compatiable with this travel system does not touch the floor so can't be used.

The car seat does belt in without the base but only just and you have to tip the seat right up in order to fit the belt round.

You are correct that the belts in the rear of the Focus are very short so you would be best to go to Halfords and get them to test which seats will fit. I wish I had done this but I bought my seat from Mothercare on the advise of the sales person that it would fit in the back of a Focus on the base. They didn't have it in stock so had to order it then when it didn't fit they wouldn't exchange it because I hadn't tried before I bought even though it wasn't possible to do so.

I then went back to Mothercare for them to demonstrate how to fit the seat with the belt which they did incorrectly so I would avoid Mothercare altogether.

Re: Isofix and seatbelts:

You can fit the Isofix Easybase (or whatever it is called) with a seatbelt, and when use it as normal.

Don't get a Quinny Buzz - big and clunky, steers very badly, not big for town, not sturdy enough for country.

DH is 6'2" and get on fine with our Phil and Ted's Sport. Really nice to use too. Slim enough for shops and chunky enough for bridleways etc. You can fit a MaxiCosi Group 0 car seat on these too. Nice big shopping basket.

you can get a non isofix base for the maxi cosi, I think the easy base 2 is the non isofix version, which fits with seatbelts.
as ppl have said, take to halfords or mothercare to see if the base will fit.
Bases are much easier anyhow, I had one for mine and it was best thing I ever bought. Just plonk the seat on and it clipped in, then press the button and lift and its straight back out.
Most pushchairs are compatible with maxi cosi with the use of adapters, so you have wide choice available.
Def. go with a three wheeler if you are off roading. The mothercare my3 is quite reasonably priced and does the job, plus the seat converts to a carrycot (saving storage) so you have a true lie flat option for when your baby is tiny.
Also, the main seat can rear face which I think is really important when they are small.
I think mothercare brand doesnt get a lot of consideration, but I had an urban detour for DS and it pushed beautifully and stood up to a full year of abuse at the stables with no real signs of wear.

We fell foul of Focus seatbelts too, if it's pre 2005 you'll be v limited as far as I know. We ended up with a Graco car seat that clips to a base, it's really comfy for baby and easy to fit with seatbelt in other cars but it's heavy and doesn't fit on my M&P Sola!

I am not 100% sure but my friend works for M&P and thinks that their new car seat may work in a Focus. I can highly recommend the Sola, it's a great pushchair. With a May baby you can get away without the carrycot, though I did use it quite a bit for my May baby :) enjoy!

ps Maxicosi go on Solas too with the adaptors they sell in M&P.

Hi, I'm due in April and feel your pain re travel system choices! After much deliberation we went for the mutsy 4rider light, package is available at House of Baby. The handle is adjustable up quite high and a lot of the reviews made the point that it is good for tall parents.

We went for the maxi cosi cabriofix and have gone for the Easyfix base as this can be used with isofix or a normal seatbelt. Our current car has isofix but we will be changing it in the summer and not sure the next one will have.

Good luck