My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Confused about car seat regulations? Find baby car seat advice here.

Car seats

If you have two rear facing car seats...

27 replies

HootShoot · 02/10/2013 07:30

What car do you drive? Our toddler is in a rear facing be safe and whoever is sitting in the passenger seat has their knees virtually on the dashboard. We've just found out we are expecting baby number two and don't think we would be able to fit two rear facing seats in our current car. So can you share what cars you driveso we can start car shopping!

OP posts:
Report
littleoaktree · 02/10/2013 07:35

What will the age gap between them be? i've got 3 years between mine and I found that when ds2 was too big for the stage 0 rf car seat I was happy for ds1 (then 4.3) to go ff as he was too long to be comfortable in the erf seat by then so ds2 is now in the erf (a britax TWE) and ds1 is in a ff seat. The stage 0 one and the erf one both fitted fine in our car - ford focus estate.

Report
BillyGoatintheBuff · 02/10/2013 07:37

We have two rear facing seats in ours, we have a wedge under the toddler one, so that it is not leaning back as much and gives a few more inches to play with :) we'll get a wedge for the other one when DH remembers to order one.

We're on oz though so cars etc are different (I think).

Report
HootShoot · 02/10/2013 07:38

Hi littleoak, my dd will be two and a half when this one is born. I think we will struggle to fit in the infant seat and the rf toddler seat so it will be a problem from the get go unless we ff our dd at two and a half which I would prefer not to do.

OP posts:
Report
HootShoot · 02/10/2013 07:42

That's interesting about the wedge Billy, I've not heard of anything like that, I'm not sure if they have anything like that in the UK.

OP posts:
Report
TeaandHobnobs · 02/10/2013 08:28

I think the problem is not so much the car, but that the Be Safe is massive! We have a Cybex Sirona which takes up
so little space 6'4" DH can sit comfortably in front of it (we have a VW Golf estate). The Britax Dualfix also took up less space than the Be Safe.
However if you'd still rather replace the car, there was a thread the other day about erf seats and I think Mercedes was recommended as having lots of back seat leg room? VW and BMW estates should be good too.

Report
FreeButtonBee · 02/10/2013 08:31

We have twins in be safe izi go seats with isofix. We have a Nissan qashqai. Annoyingly, you can't really use the middle seat but no issues with the driver/front passenger seats

Report
OodAlpha · 02/10/2013 08:32

We have a TWE behind the passenger in our (old, smaller than current ones ) yaris. Dh & I are both small but dd1 is taller and has no probs sitting there.

Report
TarkaTheOtter · 02/10/2013 08:34

Not sure Mercedes will be much better. We have a c-class and a ford focus and in both cases need to put rear facing seat behind passenger so driver can sit comfortably.

Report
vikinglights · 02/10/2013 08:47

we have a toyota avensis verso, its not wonderful for DH with a ERF behind him, but it is manageable. My oldest 2 are now in highback boosters so we only have one ERF, which is in the middle. This allows both front seats a bit more leeway but the floor tethers (that go round the rails of the front seats) mean that they don't go all the way back so DH is still a bit cramped.....

We have a TWE in the grandparents car but we can't have it behind the drivers seat as it needs to contact the seat in front (no support leg) which means you can't adjust the seat that is in front of it so no good for the driver

I agree the besafe is massive, our main ERF is a britax nordic secura which is no longer in production

I've been looking at the skoda superb estate, excellent legroom in the back (ergo good for erf), but width is a challenge for three child seats, could be good if your not planning more than 2......

Report
ceeveebee · 02/10/2013 08:52

We have a VW Tiguan and have two Cybex Sirona for our twins. We went for an isofix type because otherwise we would have had to keep refitting the seat every time we moved the drivers seat (and as DH is 12 inches taller than me, that happens every time I go to drive the car!)

But surely you can get a group 0 rf seat for baby - should fit easily in the seat behind driver? Then when baby needs to move to the next stage, your dd will be nearly 4?

Report
onedogandababy · 02/10/2013 08:53

We have vw passat estate and dd is in a be safe izi combi. Is there really no space for the infant seat behind driver's seat? Guess it depends how tall you are though..
We've managed to get 6'4" passengers in the car with the be safe, though not that comfortably, fine for shorter trips, but probably not more than 45 mins!

Report
HootShoot · 02/10/2013 09:16

I hadn't realised the be safe was so massive! We wanted a seat that was isofix but could be changed to ff when it went in the grandparents car who don't have isofix so it seemed like the best option at the time. It does take up so much room though and is pretty uncomfortable for the passenger on long journeys.

I think the infant seat fits fine with the seat belt but is a bit
Tight with the isofix base. Maybe the solution is to change the erf caf seat but it was so expensive! We were hoping to trade our car in without having to spend any more money (wishful thinking perhaps).

I shall have a look at all the cars you suggested though - thanks everyone. By the way - what is a TWE?

OP posts:
Report
ceeveebee · 02/10/2013 09:22

Cybex Sirona is isofix only, and can be rf or ff. Very expensive though, think they were about £350 each, but suitable from birth I think.

Report
HootShoot · 02/10/2013 09:31

The be safe is fixed with a seat belt when ff so we can still use it in the grandparents cat. It's great that there are mord erf seats available now but there is still quite a limited choice when you take car types into account aren't there? It's all so complicated!

OP posts:
Report
blueberryboybait · 02/10/2013 09:34

We have 2 Besafe X3 isofix and a Cabrio fix in our Grand Scenic all isofixed. DH is 6ft 3 and can sit very comfortably in both driver and passenger seats.

Report
HootShoot · 02/10/2013 09:35

Car obviously. The be safe is far too big to fit on MIL's cat.

OP posts:
Report
HootShoot · 02/10/2013 09:35

Car obviously. The be safe is far too big to fit on MIL's cat.

OP posts:
Report
onedogandababy · 02/10/2013 09:59

Hootshoot, whereabouts are you? I went to see these people //www.securatot.co.uk, they will fit lots of different rf seats into your car so you, dd & passenger can try it out. There may well be a company nearby to you who'll do the same.

Report
blueberryboybait · 02/10/2013 10:20

Onedog - they fitted my seats too. So pleased with their fantastic service.

Report
onedogandababy · 02/10/2013 10:52

Blueberry, they're great aren't they Grin

Report
HootShoot · 02/10/2013 11:31

I'm in Surrey, I did nearly go to securatot but in the end went to a place in Marlow that only gave us tge choice of two seats. Wish I had gone there now!

OP posts:
Report
OodAlpha · 02/10/2013 11:40

TWE two way elite :)

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

HootShoot · 02/10/2013 11:42

Thanks Ood Smile

OP posts:
Report
Camwombat · 02/10/2013 11:52

We have a twe too, plus have also fitted a maxi cosi ff (what friends child has) and a rear passenger in our car. I have no worries about fitting two car seats in.
But we have a mondeo estate which is currently the largest estate on the market.

Report
onetwothreefourfive · 03/10/2013 08:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.