Wheelman

It's all in the title!

LeeMac

iTrader: (1)

get yer money out you tight git

Wheelman

If I was tight I would just go and buy a cheapo seat from Mothercare/Halfords/Argos...

pele

They sell the Recaro in Halfords...

Wheelman

I know Halfords sell them, I just thought someone might know somewhere cheaper. The point is all the named retailers do sell very cheap child seats which are probably best avioded if you very care about safety! I want a Recaro because I know the quality is good (since I already have one for my elder child) .

chuckster

To be honest I've avoided Recaro because I doubt they've done the research that companies like Britax etc do..and thats despite me being a lable/brand freak.
Sorry I cant help on the original question
C

PSI3

Bought mine from Blade Volkswagen in Gloucester (01452 415000) a couple of years ago, they are a Recaro dealer and did me a discount at the time -
Much better than the normal cloth covered plastic items.
simon

sillysi

The AA did a survey of child seats which can be found on their website. The Recaro came out as one of the worst seats for protecting kids, I have a Maxi-Cosi Rodi Dots which matches the grey/black interior of my DBM WRX. It got good reviews and can be found for £59.95 on many internet sites. Which magazine are doing a test of car seats in the next issue.

Jolly Green Monster 2

Agree with what has been said above..

The recaro seems more style than safety..

Went for a Britax Eclipse after a few weeks of research..

There are a number of websites

Britax for example

try doing a search using www.lycos.co.uk or www.google.co.uk

JGM

Edited because my URL got muddled... my fault of course


[Edited by Jolly Green Monster 2 - 5/9/2002 12:46:29 PM]

alistair

Try Motorsport World

I would partially agree with the above - the Recaro Start is not great for kids below about 2 and really comes into it's own above about 4 when it's loads better than a booster seat. You can use it up to around 12 years of age apparently.

danielson

In my opion I wouldnt go for the recaro as I have a similar seat not recaro but bucket type and it is very poor in design(looks cool)my wife has a normal type bought from mothercare and it is much better

Jolly Green Monster 2

Ahh you speak wise word danielson!

NICKBG

has anybody had problems fitting their car seat into the back of their car? we have a graco one and find that the car seat belt doesn't fit round the back of it

Jolly Green Monster 2

No problems in my MY96 UK Wagon..and Britax Eclipse.

Although if fitted to the middle lap belt the buckle doesn't allow the belt to follow the contour of the Britax Eclipse belt guide bit.. hope that makes sense?

But otherwise no problems.

I presume your child seat uses the seat belt as the childs belt rather than having another 5point harness for the child?
So the belt is not long enough?

I went for one with a 5point harness as it was reported as being alot safer but doesn't help if you already have one etc..
I think you can get seat belt extensions although I dunno how safe they are, that the buckle clips into and then it into the other part of the buckle.

I can only give an opinion from the Britax as this is the only one I have tried.
That only uses a length of belt equivanlent to not far off if you clipped it into itself with no one sitting in it. Probably 6inches or so more than that.

JGM

sillysi

My old Britax Freeway is no good in the MY01 WRX as the seatbelt buckle rubs on the plastic side of the carseat. In an impact there is a good chance that the buckle would break. The Rodi I have now fits fine, it uses the seatbelt to secure her highness, she is 4 and too big for seats which use a 5 point harnesses.

Jolly Green Monster 2

I was shocked the otherday when I realised that my daughter was suppose to be able to fit in her current car seat until 4...

Cannot see it happening as she is 19months and already her feet are on the back of the drivers or passengers seat.. although once she is slightly bigger her knees should allow the legs to drop down between car seat and front seat...

She will be kicking me in the back of my head and complaining about my driving soon... even now she moans when I don't use the windscreen wipers in time with her "The wipers on the bus" sing along tape!

I am not sure I understand the buckle rubbing problem.. the plastic of the seat goes from car seat base upwards so any car seat buckle is going to touch it?
I must be missing something as in an impact the buckle wouldn't break from simply holding a piece of plastic no more than holding a person? please elaborate...

JGM

NICKBG

ok thanks i also have a britax one which we had for our first, the second one is due next week so we havn,t experimented yet, but we were warned about it when we got the car, thanx for your help, and shall let you know how we get on

danielson

Ah thank you Mr Green Monster

sillysi

JGM,

I had the same problem, no way would she fit in her seat when 4 years old.

Regarding the buckle, the instructions that came with mine stated that the buckle should not make contact with the side of the carseat due to a chance of it breaking either the carseat or the buckle, also the carseat can move about. If you put the carseat in the front of the car you will see that the buckle does not go anywhere near the carseat. The belt is the only part that touches the carseat. I had this checked at a council carseat fitting day and they confirmed it. There are different types of base some are tubular frames, the Britax all seem to be the large plastic type. Not many people had seats suitable for there car when checked at the coucil day.

Hope that explains it.

Si.

Scott WT

What do people think about the 'child seats in the front' issue. I've always known that rearward facing seats (for real little'uns) should not be used in seats with airbags, but the manual on my recently acquired STi7 goes to great lengths to discourage using ANY car seat in the fromt passenger's seat.

Is this just 'ar$e covering' or is there anything in it?

Scott

Jolly Green Monster 2

Sillysi,

I think I am with you now..

If I fit the seat to the middle lap belt then the buckle definitly touches the plastic.. not sure about when in either side in the back, I shall check.

We bought ours from Halfords as we had a money off voucher..
We asked about trying it first... yeah sure and the guy carried it out and fitted it in and he had absolutly no idea of what he was doing... anyone not knowing anything about them would have taken the guys advice and the fact that he fitted it in the car and said it was fine as the gosbel etc..
Scarey really...

I think they are only just starting to consider kids more and more in car crash safety tests, the first "child-like" crash test dummy is not that old.. previous ones of scaled down adults were not accurate.. and some people doing crash tests on car seats now..
About time.

JGM

sillysi

I've got side airbags so I can't use a carseat in the front. The airbag comes out with such a force that it could damage a childs head which would be in line with the airbag. Not so bad for adults as they are taller. I wonder what we will do when airbags are standard in the rear.

Jolly Green Monster 2

Tiz due to the airbags Scott..

one of the reasons I am still driving around in a MY96... also the money but a big thing is that there is only a drivers airbag and the older crappy tweed style seats are far more baby friendly..
you can remove the headrest making easy access from rear to front passenger seat. You can pass a baby between the seats.
Also and main reason a bit of baby sick improves the look of the seat no end
I suspect I shall buy some recaros or something similar second hand once my family has grown up enough etc.. by which time I may well have changed the car anyway.

JGM

chuckster

Get a 22B, no airbags at all, I only bought it because I had me kids safety in mind
The S3 has a switch in the glovebox (which can only be operated with the car key) so turn off the passenger airbags - very cool, I was forced to buy that car too
Chuck

Nimbus

Pics of my recent purchase...












Matches the seats quite well. Looks a closer match in the flesh. The photos have made the seat look pailer than it is.

Seat is Britax Renaissance in "Inspiration" fabric. Did quite a bit of research and test fittings before buying. Very pleased with it.

I think it looks

Somerset Yokel

With the new WRX models there is also the ISOFIX offering. This is a new system that connects the seat to the car rather than to the seat belts I believe. Britiax have one called ISOFIX Duo, for about £160, but they are only just available and will only fit some cars.

You can check out the compatability on the Britax web-site.

Leabg

apparantly you shouldn't have any child that is still in a car seat in the front of the car with an airbag whether they are rear or front facing, we didn't realize that until Daniel was nearly 3 years old, he had been sitting in the front since he came out of the rock a tot, I had a micra then so it didn't make any difference but he always liked to sit in the front of nicks car cause thats what he has been used to. Now he has to go in the back all the time

Leanne