Baby seat advice

Hello

I'm expecting twins by the end of this year. We got our Evoque last December without the thought that kids would be coming this soon!

Our Dynamic has the sports seats and we have purchased the cabrio maxi-cosi seat(s) which has the option of a seatbelt or the iso fix base attachment. I tried out the seats in the car and I couldn't believe how much space they took up! Our seats at the front have to be pushed quite forward due to the design of the sports seats which curve into the rear facing back of the baby seat - the baby seat takes up about 70cm in length.

I want to know if any owners with babys could let me know if most seat brands would take up this much space?

Also would anyone advise the iso-fix option to the seat belt option - is the iso base unit fairly easy to remove and attach to the Evoque?

As this is our only car can't believe it but sort of feel like we should have got something bigger now, with the twin stroller in the back there isn't much room for other things. I dread to think how we are going to get places plus do shopping, holidays etc?

Hi Alex.
I have a 1 & 4 year old and totally know where you are.
In my opinion the seat belt version works better as you don't need the big arm out the front of the seat base so you can get the seat further back.
The good news is that our 4yr old has plenty of room in the back with my seat a good way back. We are lucky that the wife has a car too as I use my RRE for work so I am on my own most of the time.
The boot space was an issue at first and I bought a Thule roof rack and box for the pram but 1yr old using pram less and less so only need for holidays now.
It gets better I promise and you will find a good number of spaces to put bags etc!!!

Congratulations Alex

I have an 11 week old...... He is transported around in a Jane rider matrix system. Its an excellent system as he can travel flat sideways. This does take up 2 seats though, so you wont be able to use it that way round. As you can see, upright, backwards facing fits but its pretty tight. Doubt you could have the front seat all the way back....No problem for us, but might be an issue for some.

The pic was taken in a showroom model, and I think was a pure...so I guess its en even tighter fit with sports seats..



We also use the new to market matrix isofix base. Its excellent, saves messing with seatbelts and seems much more secure. Not cheap though, the isofix base was £180!

We use the concord neo system with isofix base. Fully recommend isofix base, espesh with twins. Use with isofix in evoque and don't have one for the other car and it is so much easier with the base. Plenty of room in back and front. Soon to be out of this and intro forward facing car seat tho.

Hi Alex, I'm afraid I can't give you much advice on current car baby seats as it's a good 7 years since I last had this problem with the wife's Mini. However, what I would say is don't even consider using the seatbelt fixing option if Isofix is available. Seatbelts were never designed to restrain child seats and despite all the clever fitting designs, it's a poor compromise compared to Isofix where the seat is directly connected to the car.

Seats with separate Isofix bases (where you can leave the base in the car but remove the seat) do tend to take up a lot of room, but I know it certainly used to be possible to get Isofix seats where the seat fits directly to the car without a base which take up much less room, though not as handy if you're swapping between two cars.

I'd personally say that using Isofix should be your number one priority here, even if it means you need to reconsider the seats you've already purchased.

Nightfox, whilst I agree isofix is better, seat belts ARE designed for the purpose of restraining people and baby seats. And seat belts are fixed directly to the car so very little difference. There is absolutely no way that RoSPA would allow seat belts to be used for child seats if they were not up to the job, and seat belt fixing utilises less space behind the front seats - I only mention this as I would not wish to panic anyone who currently has their child seat secured via seat belt option.

(27-08-2012 03:05pm)Bodlyfunctions Wrote:  Nightfox, whilst I agree isofix is better, seat belts ARE designed for the purpose of restraining people and baby seats. And seat belts are fixed directly to the car so very little difference. There is absolutely no way that RoSPA would allow seat belts to be used for child seats if they were not up to the job, and seat belt fixing utilises less space behind the front seats - I only mention this as I would not wish to panic anyone who currently has their child seat secured via seat belt option.

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to imply that setbelt-restrained seats are in anyway unsafe, just that I'm convinced that Isofix is a safer option.

Isofix was a pretty new thing when I first bought a car seat, so I did quite a bit of research at the time. It would seem that Isofix came about to address a number of perceived failings in seatbelt-restrained child seats:

With a traditional seat, there's no clear indication of when the seat is correctly fitted, and in checks it always seemed that a massive proportion of them were fitted incorrectly. I think it's one of those things where you think only other people get it wrong, but on a few occasions I've come to the end of a journey to find the child seat loose after I was sure I'd fitted it properly. With Isofix, it's either fitted (with green tell-tales showing) or it isn't.

Although traditional child seats all pass stringent tests, the fact is that there are so many variables affecting how they fit and work in every different car - things like seatbelt anchoring point, strap angles, fastener position, seat rake, seat profile etc will all have an effect on how the seat weathers an impact. Again, Isofix removes most of these variables with two rigid connections.

Traditional child seats rely on compressing the car seat as much as you can and holding the child seat against the car seat with the seat belt to keep it in place. Ultimately, in a high-impact collision the force on the child seat can compress the car seat much more, potentially allowing the child seat to move as it 'bounces' back.

I know you always have to be sensible and not get carried away with child safety, but personally I'd always go for Isofix if it was an option, though quite happily used a seatbelt-restrained seat in my non-Isofix Discovery.

I 2nd Isofix. Much more secure than a seatbelt as the childseat is fixed directly to the base, which is fixed directly to the frame of the car. I think you'll find that all child seats to begin with will take up space as they'll all be rear facing. Once you've got the isofix base attached of course, it's far quicker and easier to put the seat in, and take out of the car, than messing around with the seatbelt too
You'll find the maxi cosi cabrio fix can be used without the isofix base if you want, but I don't think you'll same any room. As it sits on top of the base, the depth from rear to front seat will prob be similar.

When I was shopping for baby & child seats I found the Isofix seats still had movement in them, but the seat belt type where very solid.
I was all so told by the trained shop staff that the seats with the support legs can't have a mat under them.
We have all ways ended up buying the seat belt type (Maxi Cosi).

If the shop will sell you the seat with out first trying it in your car, walk away.