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Very frustrating day trying to get a child car seat for my Rapid Spaceback 2014.

 

Three seats tried in the group 1-3 range - the type that fit in with the seatbelts. None would fit - main problem was the child seat interfering with the seat back so it fitted at an angle (Except the Jolie which when you tugged on the straps simply shot forward and upwards at an angle!.

 

Tried a group 1 seat with a built-in ISOfix base - which no matter how they tried, the demonstrators could not fit it - the isofix bars were too far below the seat cushion for it to engage, even with the plastic guides fitted! This particular seat is one they have found usually fits very easily.

 

Any recommendations anyone - without spending huge sums of money?

 

To give you some idea, these are the ones we have tried

 

  • Elite Isofix Black Shadow Group 1
  • Nania Imax Premium Group 1-2-3
  • Jolie Elevate Group 1-2-3
  • Graco Endure Group 1-2-3
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Well, for those who find themselves in the same position ...

 

Tried a Mothercare Sport Group 1 seat - this comes mounted on a sub-frame which is slightly narrower than the child seat - the difference is enough to allow it to fit flush against the backrest without being twisted sideways. Has the bonus that the car seatbelt is a lot easier to thread through.

 

Full marks to the staff at both ToyRUs and Smyths in Odbury for spending lots of time trying different products, and for the suggestion from the girl at Smyths for considering looking at a group 1 instead of a group 1-2-3 seat.

 

And for the assistant at Mothercare in Solihull for spending very little time trying their product (very little time 'cos it fitted well). Then offering to watch me fit it to make sure I got it right. And also for suggesting that if I had an orange one it would be half the price (they only had grey on display)!

 

Halfords next door to M'care also had a couple of their own-brand seats with a similar construction.

Edited by RMurphy195
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I've used Recaro seats as the boy has grown up a part from a couple of years with a hand me down Maxi-cozy.

Once-upon-a-time recaro were the recommended seats for Skoda (and they matched my VRS trim).

 

If you'd asked 6 months ago I could have let you have a Recaro base to try but I've dumped it now unfortunately.

 

Halfords sell Recaro so you might be able to try from there.

Edited by Aspman
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we've always had to remove the headrests on our rear seats to try and get the kids ones to fit more flush. I do remember this sort of thing being an issue with the seats on my Mk 1 Fabia vRS.

 

We have a couple of Concord Transformer T seats which seem to fit fine in Mk2 Octavias (elegance and vRS),  a Yeti and a new Fabia.

 

http://en.concord.es/products/driving/car-seats/transformer-t/

 

The isofix conectors are on straps, not rigid struts and that flexibility makes fitting much easier as you can do one side, then the other, then tighten them up.

I think the XT versions have rigid ISOfix connectors

 

you can even get the versions which have a front cushion/pad which is held in by the seatbelt and lets you put even smaller kids in, but ours were always moving over from a 0/1 seat anyway

http://en.concord.es/products/driving/car-seats/transformer-pro/

 

they don't seem to be on many chains' "shop floors" very often. We found our first one in an independant baby shop years ago and then bought online since then. (2 for ourselves, 2 for grandparents' cars)

 

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Thanks all -

 

ISOFix - the seat we tried did have the horizontal bars out of the back, on ratchets so once clipped in the seat could be firmly pushed back against the car seat. Unfortunately the fixings ratchetted back while trying to clip the fixings into place! The demonstrator was at first pleased that we'd decided to try that one -famous last words!

 

I did think the isofix fitting needed to be at a downward angle at the end (Mothercare had one in stock that was designed like this, but £400 I don't have!), I really do like the idea of the ISOFix-on-a-strap approach I suspect this would make it one less thing to think abut if you have more then one car. Or when you swop the car!

 

Most of the Group 1-2-3- seats we tried did indeed need the car headrest removing - which is not made any easier by Skoda, other cars you just push a catch in on each of the mounting sockets while pushing the headrest up with the back of one hand. The Skoda has the easy catch on one of the sockets, but on the other you have to push a narrow piece of something into a small hole. The car key is too big for this. "Really Clever Thinking" (Not)

 

The Mothercare one is a few inches shorter than the Group 1-2-3 ones so the headrest can remain in place in the raised position.

 

I think next time around I should measure the width of the flat part of the seat back, and the overall height, first. That will be when we get the group 2-3 seat later on, assuming we still have the same car.

 

Cheers - Richard

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Wow, what a journey. We have had lots of good experience buying car seats for our rapid - apart from the maxi cosi pebble plus isofix base which mothercare sold us then a few months later when moving eldest son up a group told us they shouldn't have sold it as it doesn't fit! They swapped it for a nuva all singing and all dancing one (the ironic thing is that the pebble isofix base is the correct fitting but the pebble plus (newer car seat) wasn't.

 

We found that britax and maxi cosi have been very good. I also have had to remove the headrest but didn't seem to have the same issue.

 

We have also tested the maxi cosi pebble with isofix base & britax duo plus (forward facing isofix) in a real life collision where a lorry hit us from the rear pushing us in to an on coming volvo. My view is that we all came out of the crash (including out 3 week old child, 2 year old, my wife and I) with the rapid doing all that it should and folding in the right place absorbing most of the impact energy. Both seats were replaced by insurance but trying to buy car seats at 6pm in Oxford to get us home was interesting but that was more of an issue with our insurance company!

 

I think the rapid is a fantastic family car with its huge boot and safety features :)

 

Sorry to hear you had such issues...They grow up soon enough...

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I recently bought a group 1, 2, 3 seat from Halfords. Their own brand, it was by far the cheapest option too (£120.00 I think, but that might have been discounted) It is isofix, all one unit, not the separate base and seat. Once the two isofix arms are located and connected the seat pushes back and locks in place snug against the car seat. We just have to raise the rear head rest on the car seat to accommodate the child seat. Very easy, we are very pleased with it. Fits our Rapid, which I'm sure must have the same rear seating as the sportback version.

 

matt

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I have the Graco Affix Stargazer car seat (bought from Mothercare) for my 3.5 year old son ( he's tall for his age).  I had it in my old Ibiza too. It fits well enough and is well secure.

 

I got this seat because several others didn't fit in my old Ibiza. Thankful when I changed to the Rapid it still fits and I haven't needed to buy another one.

 

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My experience if it is any help, we got a baby seat and 2 bases for the Octavia and mk2 Leon by BeSafe - IziGo.

 

(We found mothercare VERY unhelpful, and went to a local baby shop instead)

 

The ISOfix mounts are shown on the Octavia, the seat base has little plastic clips that clip to help show and guide it onto the mounts on the Leon.

 

Extend the horizontal mounts, slot in at about a 45 degree angle, lower then extend the vertical mount and lock in place.

 

They did query the Octavia fitment, at first it seemed raised off the seat, but the veritical mount just needed lowered a little.

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