Car seat for a 12 month old - we don't own a car so it needs to be easily moved

[NineUnlikelyTales]

DS needs a forward facing carseat but I am anxious about which one to buy, because we don't have our own car and it would need to be used in various different people's cars, eg grandparents, friends, taxis etc.

The maxi-cosy Priori is reasonably priced and doesn't seem too heavy, but I have no idea how compatible different carseats are with different cars. Is there much of a difference? And are these seats easy to fit?

I am totally confused

Some shops have a list of which cars any given car seat will fit in (I know Halfords do) but it is not always comprehensive - our car, a skoda fabia wasn't on the list for the car seat I wanted, but I took the car along to try it, and it fitted. I think on the whole most car seats fit in larger cars, but not always in small cars. So probably go for the seat with the least depth. With a forward facing seat, the seat belt generally goes through the back of the seat, so there isn't the issue of the seat belt not being long enough, which was a problem I encountered in some small cars with my rear facing seat.

I also do a lot of moving car seats about and think the maxi cosi fits in pretty much any car but its worth getting halfords to check it just in case. The priori fitted our car and my parents car, but the tobi didnt so definitely worth checking.
I went to Halfords to get my car seat and ended up getting the Bebeconfort iseos tt cos the man talked me through it and it sounded right. The car seat is fairly heavy but i can lift it easily from front door to car, and have also carried it further when at a friends house who didnt have parking outside her house (and i'm only little and 6 months pregnant too). It's easy to fit, feels very secure and has fitted in every car i've tried it in which has been a few!

I wonder if you may be better off with the britax freeway it has a small base so may fit a wider range of cars, can be fitted with lap belt only and is quite light for a stage 1 car seat.

We've just had this dilemma! Do you know which cars it will mostly be going into? We've got a Honda Civic (N Reg and only two doors) and Halfords said the only one that would fit is the Britax First Class. We tried a few Maxi Cosi ones and none fitted. Even the Britax one was difficult to fit because of not having back doors but we got it in eventually, after the Halfords lady and my DP both got in the back of the car and used brute force to get the seatbelt tight enough!

So if you know most of your friends, parents, etc have newish cars there shouldn't be a problem, but if they have older, two door cars then might be best to double check. If they all have really new cars you can get Isofix seats which are much easier to clip in and out and can be also used with seatbelts in older cars (more expensive though).

we have anewish honda accord with maxi priori seats in, but have s reg toyato starlet,we had to buy mamas and papas seat that was fitted

In older 2 door cars, provided there is no airbag, you could put the babyseat in the front - that's what friends of mine do in a peugeot 206

mamas and papas protec.

Lightweight, fits in solidly. The design of the seat means the recline can avoid buckle crunch even with really high seatbelts.

And you can carry it over your shoulder using the straps while pushing a buggy.

Thanks a lot for these, some great advice here.

Hi there - I am the same and I have bought one from Argos about £40 i think. It fits in most cars

Also reclines well

The problem with the cheap argos one (there are two, one for £35ish and one for £45ish)is that it doesnt have side impact protection which was a must for me...

If you know what you want, it's always worth having a trawl online - kiddicare.com tend to have really good prices