Cybex X2, or Kiddy cruiserfix car seats

[ExpatHotspur]

Hello, our Octavia VRS is due to arrive next month. Our son is now over 15kg, a large child, and has outgrown his RF group 1 car seat, so we are looking at the next 15-36kg car seats. We narrowed our preferences down to the Cybex X2, and the Kiddy Cruiserfix pro. We like the which/ ADAC (German AA) recommendation, adjustable reclining back, and memory foam padding. We think we need to buy the next seat in advance of the Octavia's arrival, as he is squashed, so we are interested to hear about any experiences current owners may have.

 

If you happen to have the Octavia VRS, do the profiled rear bench seats make fitting difficult?

How easy/cumbersome are either of these particular seats to fit? His current Group 1 seat is a 20 minute struggle.

My wife is concerned we will have to remove the rear head restraints, as has been suggested in the Which reviews she was reading, is this the case with the Octavia?

Our son can sometimes wriggle free of the shoulder straps of his current 5 point harness group 1 seat, are there any similar issues with either of these seats.

 

I appreciate my request is specific, I am debating whether to ask if we can borrow a demonstrator this weekend for an hour to test fit the candidates, but though I'd try this first. 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

http://cybex-online.com/en/carseats/solutionx2fix.html

http://www.kiddy.de/en/car-seats/4years-12years/kiddy-cruiserfix-pro.html

 

[kitset]

Is your current seat (and car) isofix? Both of the seats you've linked two are, which means fitting in the vRS will take all on 10 seconds.

I have a combo car seat/booster seat for my 3.5 year old. As a result it still has a tether over the back which makes fitting a 30sec job. But the booster seats you're looking at are snap in and go.

Isofix bolts are really well positioned in the vRS, and I don't have a problem with the profiled rear seat, it's not deep. I use a small towel under it to flatten it out and save damaging the seat. I have the car seat headrest in front of the rear seats actual headrest and didn't feel the need to remove it.

Doesn't really answer your query directly, but might be useful!

[GTR27]

What brand/model is your seat with the top tether? I'm looking for a 15-36kg isofix seat with top tether (Australian requirement). Isofix was only approved two years ago, and we only have two seats on the market for around £500......each.

[ExpatHotspur]

Thanks kitset, I didn't think I'd get a response, your insight is fab. The previous two (Group 0/ group 1) seats we have/had weren't ISOFIX, I will check when I get home tonight if the Ford we currently have use of is ISOFIX prepared. If it isn't, do you think its possible to fit your booster using just the belts if necessary? The Octavia arrives in about 3 weeks, so if I need to do this it would only be a temporary solution. 

[Yogi-Bear]

If you happen to have the Octavia VRS, do the profiled rear bench seats make fitting difficult?

 

The rear seats on a vRS are not profiled... they're flat as a pancake (especially compared to those in my old BMW 1 series).  Pretty much any child seat will fit on them without issue.

 

The only thing I hate about ISOFIX on some cars is the requirement to use Top Tether, which kind of negates the quick/easy fitting.  I believe the Octavia requires the use of Top Tether...

[ExpatHotspur]

What brand/model is your seat with the top tether? I'm looking for a 15-36kg isofix seat with top tether (Australian requirement). Isofix was only approved two years ago, and we only have two seats on the market for around £500......each.

 

Jesus, I think we are looking for the same thing, and the two we are looking at in the Czech Rep are 115-145 GBP. What are the import taxes/ how soon do you need it, importing sounds like a cheaper bet for you...

[GTR27]

No import taxes for us under $1000 AU's (£550). Just have to find somewhere that will ship to oz for a reasonable rate. If you have a link, that would be great!

My son is 4 in a month, he is 115cm tall and 20kg. Just want to get a solid mounted seat. The seatbelt retained ones that I've used all suck.

[ExpatHotspur]

GTR27 : i'll be investing some time test fitting/ examining the two we have picked. the Czech online/ macro supplier is Malvik.cz. If you view this in Google Chrome, you can right click and translate the website to English. I'll inquire about whether they will ship to AUS/ how much it'd be if you would like?

[GTR27]

That'd be awesome if you could. Cost me 119 euro to ship a few things from superskoda......scary! Shipping from the UK seems much more reasonable than from mainland Europe for some reason.

[themanwithnoaim]

Sorry I don't have a vRS but, the back seat profile is the same in all O3's, I'm not sure why you are so concerned with the isofix in a 15-36Kg seat, the car's seat belt is gonna retain the child if the seat moves with the car's seat belt and the child isn't that safer in a side impact collision than the seat being sured to the side of the vehicle? 

 

Having seen some of the on-line videos of the ENCAP side impact testing I move away from the idea of a fixed child seat feeling all that side support of the child car seat could also work as a protection buffer in the event of a side impact.  Personally, we also ordered the Crew Protection system for the rear side airbags but, thats a whole new arguement for each parent to make their own decission on.

 

Regards

T

[1600cr]

Expat, we have a Kiddy Guardianfix pro 2 which fits no problem, loads of leg room and fits in seconds with the isofix.

It looks identical to the cruiserfix (bar the impact cushion and ours being a group 1/2/3)

How old is the little one ? Group 2 is recommended 4yrs up, our daughter is 2 and 3mths and although heavy enough to loose the impact cushion and just use the seat belt we're holding off untill she's a little older.

We also looked at the Cybex Pallasfix 2 at the time we bought the Kiddy but ruled it out as it was too bulky/heavy.

[Huskoda]

It worth bearing in mind that ISOFIX is only rated to 18KG, so you're not going to be able to get a bigger seat that is approved for it.

 

I'm in the process of looking for a group 1 rear-facing seat for our little one.

[Redline Greenline ii]

We've got a Kiddy seat without isofix. According to which testing the isofix was only 1% safer in their tests. It's apparently less of an issue for group 1 and up. Ours is consequently very easy to set up even in the cramped back of our Fabia. I pick up our Octavia at the weekend so will let you know if it's a problem.

[ExpatHotspur]

themanwithnoaim - Thanks for your insight. Could you elaborate a little on your point, in the event of an accident, the seat/ isofix points/ car belts are designed to absorb the energy of the crashing a predictable & safe way, are you arguing the ISOFIX works against this?

I searched on youtube for "ISOFIX rationale/ ISOFIX EURO NCAP performance" and drew a blank. I'd be interested to view the videos you make reference to if you can find the link.

I have read conflicting evidence of ISOFIX Increasing/ decreasing risk of injury is both frontal and side impacts. 

http://www.which.co.uk/baby-and-child/baby-transport/guides/isofix-child-car-seats/are-isofix-car-seats-safer

http://www.britax.co.uk/customer-service/faq

 

HuSkoda - Thanks for your input. I've done some searching on the 18kg limit. Is your interpretation of this rating limit simply that above 18kgs the ISOFIX points aren't guaranteed to secure the seat in place, or that it is "incorrectly/illegally fitted" to have a 18kg+ infant sat in a seat with ISOFIX points engaged? My understanding is that this weight limit is for Rear facing ISOFIX seats only? Again, do you have useful links?

 

1600CR - You are the people we imagined we were looking for! :-) We thought we were going to get the Guardianfix pro 2 until my son had a test fit a few weeks back and realized he was on the limit already for the impact cushion addition, meaning we wouldn't use that feature and could go for the group 2 version. My son is 2 years 4 months old, 15.6 kgs, 94 cms tall.

 

Do you have/ use a top tether on your Kiddy? If yes, where is the third point in the Octavia? Now I’ve learnt a little about what these are/ what they prevent, I’ll be asking about them at the store at the weekend…

 

Thanks all for your input; this is/was much more valuable than I initially thought it would be :-) 

[ExpatHotspur]

We've got a Kiddy seat without isofix. According to which testing the isofix was only 1% safer in their tests. It's apparently less of an issue for group 1 and up. Ours is consequently very easy to set up even in the cramped back of our Fabia. I pick up our Octavia at the weekend so will let you know if it's a problem.

 

Thanks, I'm asking questions I could answer myself if my car was here already, I really appreciate you taking the time to input into my request. If your seat is non ISOFIX, does that mean it is held in place just with seat belt, no tether or foot? Could i pry and ask what your childs height/age/weight is? The trouble we have is that the group 1 RF seat we currently use is now a squash, its difficult for him to climb into/ out of, and (perhaps selfishly) i want to avoid muddy shoes on the leather of the back seats (I want to turn him round to get mud on the back of the front seats instead :peek: ) Do you have any links to substantiate the "1% percent safer" you mention, I'm interested. Thanks

[Redline Greenline ii]

Thanks, I'm asking questions I could answer myself if my car was here already, I really appreciate you taking the time to input into my request. If your seat is non ISOFIX, does that mean it is held in place just with seat belt, no tether or foot? Could i pry and ask what your childs height/age/weight is? The trouble we have is that the group 1 RF seat we currently use is now a squash, its difficult for him to climb into/ out of, and (perhaps selfishly) i want to avoid muddy shoes on the leather of the back seats (I want to turn him round to get mud on the back of the front seats instead :peek: ) Do you have any links to substantiate the "1% percent safer" you mention, I'm interested. Thanks

We put him in it when he was just over 10 months - he's big - but I can't quite remember what weight he was at the time. He was squashed in the maxicosi we had before and fitted well into our Kiddy Guardian Pro 2. It does indeed just sit on the seat and the belt holds it in place by looping around the front restraint cushion. He loves it!

I will try and dig out the exact page on which but if you're a member and you bring up their best buys, just compare the fix and non fix versions.

[Huskoda]

HuSkoda - Thanks for your input. I've done some searching on the 18kg limit. Is your interpretation of this rating limit simply that above 18kgs the ISOFIX points aren't guaranteed to secure the seat in place, or that it is "incorrectly/illegally fitted" to have a 18kg+ infant sat in a seat with ISOFIX points engaged? My understanding is that this weight limit is for Rear facing ISOFIX seats only? Again, do you have useful links?

 

Yes, you're right. I saw it as I was looking for rear-facing ones. The overall ISOFIX testing limit is 30kg.

[1600cr]

All the tests I've read point to isofix being safer, simply because it means the seat is easier to fit correctly vs a belt anchoring.

Our Kiddy doesn't have a top tether or a leg support for the isofix as it's secured by the seatbelt instead of having its own harness like some Group 1s.

I'm sure either of the 2 your looking at will be good, if your satisfied he's ready for Group 2 without the impact cushion.

Edited 20 October, 2014 by 1600cr