Talk to me about ISOFIX car seats....

[Furbytom]

The time has come for our son to move from a rear facing car seat to a Forward facing "group 1" seat.

He is currently using a Maxi-cosi Cabriofix on an easy-fix base, but that base is annoyingly not compatible with any other seat.

Anybody have any recommendations or ones to avoid? We want to keep with an ISOFIX seat. This will predominantly be installed in the back of our Fabia vRS estate.

Cheers for any advice you can give!

Tom

[Huskoda]

Now that ours is outgrowing his group 0 seat, having done research on the safest seats, I've gone for a rear facing group 1+2 seat (Besafe IZI Plus). I didn't go for ISOFIX as its limited to 18kg rear facing and I was surprised to find the belt fixed seat was far more stable than the ISOFIX group 0 he had before. It doesn't budge a mm. It is a permanent fixture in the car now as it took nearly an hour to fit, partly because I had to unbolt the front seat to fit the front anchor brackets.

They're looking at changing the law to make it mandatory for children to sit rear facing longer (15 months rather than 9). I was also surprised that the standard Euro test is at low speed and has no side impact testing, which is why I went for a seat that passed much stricter testing.

 

Edit: Would like to add, this is probably not the best seat for a Fabia, since the front seat is just useable in our Ceed.

[Furbytom]

Ahh yeah hats right I think the law is changing in 2018 so they have to remain rear facing until 15m.

I think I will have a look at seats which give a rear and forward facing option.

[mdon]

My recommendation is go for cybex, they are the best for safety. We currently have the sirona which is both rear and forward facing and won best in class in German testing. It's not cheap but it's worth it!

[Furbytom]

My recommendation is go for cybex, they are the best for safety. We currently have the sirona which is both rear and forward facing and won best in class in German testing. It's not cheap but it's worth it!

Looks pretty decent and also has a side swivel feature?

Seems abit bulky tho?!

[Ratboy]

I have a Recaro Monza Nova IS - the one with the impact shield. It got the best marks in the WHICH? test. It super comfy and has excellent side impact protection. It's also got speakers built into the head rest so I can plug my wee mans tablet in and he can watch his cartoons/films whilst the wife and I still get the radio on! When he gets over 18kg it gets used without the impact shield - it grows with him and can be used till he's 12! Amazon have the best deals.

[Tim1631]

I have just bought this.

Should be £200 now £90 in the sale.

3 reclining positions and 3cm thick padding.

http://www.pramcentre.co.uk/car-seats-and-carriers/9-months-11-years/vib-b-tiger-sps-isofix-car-seat/22827

Edited 22 November, 2014 by Tim1631

[Raf_]

I'm planning on a new seat for the lil one after Christmas, haven't decided on any yet but we've decided what features we want, rear facing, swivel, isofix.

As mentioned above the law's changing and there must be a good reason for them to want rear facing seats, my car's lowered so having it able to swivel should help with the bad backs lol, I've seen too many incorrectly fitted seats with seat belts, I've even done it myself isofix is a lot safer in my opinion.

Gonna be fun trying to choose as the important bits are comfort for the monkey and ease of use for us, some of the new ones look really complicated

[mdon]

Looks pretty decent and also has a side swivel feature?

Seems abit bulky tho?!

Yeah it swivels really easy and has side impact bars that pull out so in a side impact they act as shock absorbers. It's not small however it fits in the rear of the wife's focus with no issues and I can still fit in the passenger seat in front of it no issues and I'm 5'11.

[Th3Grinch]

Im crossing a similar problem. Dont buy the recaro ones. I didnt think much of them at all. I now need to fit a 3yr old in the back aswell as 2newborns due in March. Havent the foggiest what my plan is. Only one I can think of is the newborns either side and eldest in the middle. Not sure 3seats will fit across though.. its a minefield buying car seats. We didnt get it right at first. We've had 3 seats now for him.

[mcdeli]

Cybex Pallas has been great. Had it from 12 months. 18 months later and i can imagine it lasting the 10 years. It is bulky but it has been on plane rides. And survived some serious car sickness in the summer sun.

But.. We just got a new baby 6 hours ago so i need something else for the ride home!

[Raf_]

Cybex Pallas has been great. Had it from 12 months. 18 months later and i can imagine it lasting the 10 years. It is bulky but it has been on plane rides. And survived some serious car sickness in the summer sun.

But.. We just got a new baby 6 hours ago so i need something else for the ride home!

Congratulations m8 [emoji2]

[mdon]

Cybex Pallas has been great. Had it from 12 months. 18 months later and i can imagine it lasting the 10 years. It is bulky but it has been on plane rides. And survived some serious car sickness in the summer sun.

But.. We just got a new baby 6 hours ago so i need something else for the ride home!

Cybex sirona is suitable from birth to 4 years. I honestly can't find a better seat than the cybex stuff.

[fabiamk2SE]

Get a recaro one mate. Will go well in the BMW .

[mcdeli]

I got a Cybex Aton 3 for the new baby. Reviews i read hinted that the hood wasn't the best and it was light. Actually i think the hood is great and it is a bit heavy! The Aton has a great adjuster for a really good new born fit. There is an Aton 4 so the 3 was cheap. I didn't bother with the Isofix mounting.

I feel good with teo Cybex seats in the car. I have seat back protectors. All i need now are some seat protectors for when my toddler is getting in and out...

[pkr]

We have two recaro young expert plus seats (http://en.recaro-cs.com/child-seats-details/recaro-young-expert-plus.html) both on the recaro isofix bases in a mk2 Octavia. There is just enough room for the table to come down in between them both. They have been in and out of many cars and to be totally honest, as much as they look the best IMHO they have been a major pain whilst transferring them. They will only release off the base if you adjust the base to the fully extended position meaning, when you put them back in you have to readjust the whole base again (not sure if that's the case with any others). They are very heavy so if you do have to swap them etc. they can be a bit cumbersome. If you plan to use the seatbelt along with the base or just the seatbelt if they are being temporary fitted to a non-isofix setup, it is very difficult to feed the car belt to the receiving car buckle. There are good points, like I stated, they do look amazing, we have a pink & black one and a orange & grey one, both of them in the back of the car looks a very fitting setup for the vrs. (Pm me for pics if you want). They are very safe and comfy. Easy to buckle the actual child seat buckles. Washable covers. Built to last, the eldest seat has been used for nearly 4 years and it still looks brand new. The negatives are mainly if you don't plan on keeping them in the car permantly for what ever reason but the positives are what they are. Hope this helps.

[Furbytom]

Cheers everybody for the advice!

We went for this in the end:

http://www.maxi-cosi.co.uk/gb-en/products/car-seats/toddler/2waypearl.aspx

It wasn't cheap but offers the advantage of being able to be used both forward and rear facing and swaps between the two really easily. For us it means we can keep little man rear-facing for much longer which is the safer option. Then when he gets abit bigger/older can swap the seat to forward facing mode without needing to buy another seat.

It does cut into rear cabin space quite a lot when in the rear facing position (front passenger seat has to be moved forward a fair bit) but wasn't nearly as bulky as some seats on an isofix base can be.

It's very sturdy/stable and mini-Furbytom seems very comfortable and content in it!

[mdon]

Cheers everybody for the advice!

We went for this in the end:

http://www.maxi-cosi.co.uk/gb-en/products/car-seats/toddler/2waypearl.aspx

It wasn't cheap but offers the advantage of being able to be used both forward and rear facing and swaps between the two really easily. For us it means we can keep little man rear-facing for much longer which is the safer option. Then when he gets abit bigger/older can swap the seat to forward facing mode without needing to buy another seat.

It does cut into rear cabin space quite a lot when in the rear facing position (front passenger seat has to be moved forward a fair bit) but wasn't nearly as bulky as some seats on an isofix base can be.

It's very sturdy/stable and mini-Furbytom seems very comfortable and content in it!

That's a good seat, when I was looking for a second cheaper seat for grandparents etc that did both way we looked at that seat and really wanted it but couldn't justify the cost for a as and when seat. It has very good test results!