Baby car seats

[monkeyman]

A Few short weeks ago I found out that my partner is expecting our 1st child and we are now starting the long and expencive road to getting all the kit for our new arrival. Weve been to many shops for advice on whats the best car seat for the 'Roc and we know that all Maxicosi baby seats will fit in the back with the Isofix system. Does anybody recomend any other baby seats that will fit the rear seats of my 'Roc that either use the seatbelt or isofix? Any help will be most appreciated.

[Wappingwooly]

Congrats monkeyman, I am in exactly the same boat as you, and have heard of people who have had problems getting baby seats in the bucket-like seats of the Roc, so any advice from people who have had to comtemplate this would be greatly appreciated

[bianco]

congrats

I put my baby seat in the front seat, which is a lot easier when taking the little one in n out.

Bu seriously the only thing that really maters is that the seat MUST be rear facing because 95% of accidents are sudden stops (from a Spanish research paper)

[trix]

I put my baby seat in the front seat, which is a lot easier when taking the little one in n out.

you have no rear seats!!

Congratulations Monkeyman

[monkeyman]

Thanks guys n girls. I always thought you shouldn't put a baby seat in a front seat with an airbag, even if you can turn it off. We've been advised to get a seat fitting if we get a baby seat that uses a seat belt to make sure the belt goes round it and that it fits in the seat its self.

[Shaun]

Thanks guys n girls. I always thought you shouldn't put a baby seat in a front seat with an airbag, even if you can turn it off. We've been advised to get a seat fitting if we get a baby seat that uses a seat belt to make sure the belt goes round it and that it fits in the seat its self.

I would not put them in the front airbag on or off (ROSPA recommendations also) , we had both a recaro baby seat and a maxi cosi seat (we had two cars), they both fit fine in the recaro bucket rear seats on my old car, you need to go and have a teat fit somewhere, John Lewis tested both cars for me and it's a free service too.

[littleyellowspider]

You will get seriously jarred off getting a newborn in and out of a rear facing baby seat in the back of your Scirocco. Saying that, it'll the whole seat you'll be taking out and putting back in, won't it? In which case, it shouldn't be too bad. Not the most inspiring view for the chiddler though.....

Time for an 5dr Golf R for you.

Congratulations.

The times, they are a changin'

[littleyellowspider]

Talking of airbag deactivation, when our daughter (who turned 4 on 19th Dec) was born I was driving a Cayman S. I didn't realise that a passenger airbag deactivation switch wasn't standard. I paid to have it retrofitted at a cost of approx £400.

Twice Holly and I went out in that car on our own!! Expensive trips huh?

Still, the look on the woman's face as she watched this Porsche park up in the parent and child space was priceless. I even bought a Quinny Zapp because it was the only stroller that would fit in the front boot!!

Damn I miss that car.......

[monkeyman]

Time for an 5dr Golf R for you.

I wish. Can't afford one of them, however I do keep coming back to the 2.0tsi Jetter with a DSG. Same engine and gearbox, just in a bigger car with a more accessable boot. And its cheaper than both the 'Roc and GTI with just as much power.

[egobreed]

We have maxi-cosi priori xp seats (2, for twins!). They're non isofix, as my wife's C-max didn't come with Isofix points as standard. They were OK in the back of the Roc, with a tensioner to get them in nice and tight, and the base is narrow enough to fit quite snugly in the 'bucket'.

Fitting them is a bit of a pain, but I found that sitting backwards on the driver's armrest worked ok! Despite the inconvenience though, I'm still glad that I have a Roc compared to my previous Mk V Golf. It's totally worth it.

Obviously though, for a newborn you'll need something rear-facing and the non-isofix Jane seats that we had at that point would have been a total pain in the arse with a 3-dr car...

[Deagol]

With all four of our kids we went from the standard VW Bobsy (G0 ?) newborn rear-facing seat, through VW Isofix seat with removal seat back, which converts into a booster cushion. These have all been in:
1997 Polo 5 door
1999 Golf 5 door
2002 Beetle
2007 Touran
2010 Scirocco

The 5 door / 3 door thing is no real difference except that the wider-opening on the 3 door actually makes it easier to install / remove either type of seat - as long as you've enough space to fully open the door. Beetle was by far best for strapping in the youngster as it's a car you can virtually stand up in. Also, the VW branded seats seem to be £10 / £20 cheaper than the Britax Roemer equivalent.
VW seats are really hard-wearing too and when we needed a spare plastic clip for the Newborn one, Germany posted three over free of charge, after we e-mailed them.

I can't comment on Maxi-Cosi, as I've never used them.

[bianco]

This is a BeSafe izi combi x2 (made by HTS in Norway)

BeSafe.jpg

[monkeyman]

Went to mothercare today for a seat fitting and both Maxi-cosi isofix bases fit in the back seats, but they dont sit flat on the seat touching only at the front due to the isofix fixing being so high up the seat, however it is secure. We also had the Silvercross and Mothercare car seats tested which are not isofix and require the seat belt round them. They both fitted very well in the bucket but the Mothercare seat makes the baby sit very upright.

[bianco]

If it is too upright, then the babys head will hang forward when sleepning, instead of leaning to the side. Baby sleeps just fine, but it looks rather uncomfortable

[twads]

Time for an 5dr Golf R for you.

I wish. Can't afford one of them, however I do keep coming back to the 2.0tsi Jetter with a DSG. Same engine and gearbox, just in a bigger car with a more accessable boot. And its cheaper than both the 'Roc and GTI with just as much power.

NO NO NO! Dont be swopping the Roc for a Jetta you will end up hating the child! End of the day it could be an ugly baby so dont rule out adoption either see how you get on with the Roc you maybe surprised.

I used to have a left hooker New Beetle before son came along. Had a maxicosi babyseat (had isofix for daughter brilliant clunk click every trip in 2 secs no messing with seat belts for first 9 months anyway) Maxicosi fit onto loads of popular pushchair frames like bugaboo, quinny etc. Wouldnt even be put off by boot space if get right pushchair. I got a Quinny 3XL and had to take all 3 quick release wheels off to get it in boot of beetle but soon had it down to an artform. Wouldnt recommend a bugaboo got one when daughter came along and that took up probably over half of boot in Zafira VXR and thats a HUGE boot. Plus pushchair has no brake, cr@p off road or on beach etc. Website shows then as all terrain and to be fair can get bigger snow wheels which help but still not the best and lack of a brake is bad really. If its going to be used for more than just round shops look at Quinny, Mountain Buggy etc.

Anyway fingers crossed theres enough leg room in back for a forward facing car seat (im 6ft 2) as will be ringing garage at 9am to put a deposit down on a Roc. Downsizing from a A6 3.0tdi quattro le mans as split from the ballache and chain so clocking up a lot of miles seeing kids so thought go for a 2.0tdi and should easily 1/2 fuel costs. Should be practical enough for my needs.....hopefully plus I will be Daddy cool

All the best and take this time to have Sunday morning lie ins etc as soon they will be a thing of the past