RS4 Baby Seats ?

[Timster]

I've got the maxi cosi family fix isofix base. You can tilt the seat once its in place. It was about £130 from mothercare. It works perfect with the maxi cosi pebble seat with clips into out buggy. Very easy to lift out and in and has led sound lights and display confirming the everything is connected. Would definitely recommend.

Great.... the little bugger better be worth it.

[adsgreen]

Personally I wouldn't bother with the "travel systems".
Regardless what the blurb says the little buggers outgrow the group 0 seats after no more than 6 months. Way before that however, they'll be heavy enough that carrying them in the seat from the car to the house is a chore so it gets pretty limited what you can do with them.
Also, the poisition of the baby within the group 0 seat is far from ideal. Newborns are best wheeled about flat and manufacturers only recommemend max 2 hours in a car seat and I can see why.
It might look like they are in a similar position when they were in the womb however they were effectively suspended in zero-g in a liquid environment so no big pressure points. In the group 0 all their weight is on the lower back which is fine for a while but not something you'd really want to do long term.

[Timster]

But thats what our thinking was with the travel system ie use the Carry Cot thing when it's in the chassis (to keep it nice and flat).
No ?

Travel system = Carry Cot + Car Seat + push chair, all on the same chassis ?

[adsgreen]

Thats ok but there are travel systems that allow the group 0 car seat to be clipped into the pram so you don't have to take junior out. The idea is great but in practise not so for the above reasons.
Carry cot is great - we use our "sports bag" for number 4 and he's 4 months.

[Nickyboy]

The number one priority with a car seat is safety, if you look on which magazines website you can sign up for a 1 month trial and have access to thier large review of car seats. I would suggest doing this and finding which one is the safest. Once you have done this then worry about the rest of the points. I know the ISOFIX rated very high for safety. Trouble is I was looking at group 23 seats and you need a group 1 so I can't offer much advice this way as I have only researched group 23.

[Timster]

Yup... already a member of Which

... that's partly how we got to looking at the Maxi-cosi.
Good tip though.

I guess part of the problem is "mum" has now pretty much fallen in love with a "system" and it's becoming irrelevant whether it's practical, expensive, upside-down or whatever.

I just want to make sure that it's all compatible with the RS.
I can completely see that most of it is going to be a complete waste of time & money. Have already considered a spot in the attic where I can store this unused b*llocks.

[adsgreen]

ha - yes, no fighting that one
What ever you do don't use common sense! Just surrender - only fight the fights you can win

One of the biggest tips I can give to any new parent is don't fall for the bullshit guilt trip. Buying all the gadgets and gizmos under the sun doesn't make you a good parent and vice versa. You'd be surprised at how little you actually need. This obsession with buying off roaders/mpv's as soon as you have kids baffles me.
For example, when we had two children we all went on a week away to machester and took swmbo's cooper s. People said we were mad but it was fine - makes you think what you must take rather than all the crap that goes with it. For reference, we had 2 group 1 seats, 1 suitcase, 1 double pram (phil n teds), 2 inflatable kiddies beds + pillows, enough change of clothes for the week and odds n sods.

It's been no different with the RS4 now we have 4 kids - people said we need a 7 seater but no way.

[gilford]

We bought the Quinny "system", never again, it cost a fortune and was pants! We bigged it up though, then my mate and his missus had a baby and we flogged it to them, there problem now......

I rushed out and bought an M5 when we first found out we were expecting, sold it when Macy was about 6 months because it was too big and bought an E92 M3 coupe, perfectly adequate! Sold that and bought an RRS HST after believing all the hype around "you need space" and hated it! The RS4 is perfect and ticks all boxes I think

[HYFR]

u pregnant Tim ?

[sonny]

u pregnant Tim ?

prob to many pies...

[Timster]

Yup

[HYFR]

i cant tell whether you are being serious or not ?!

[spikeyboy101]

Remeber rule #1 - pics or it didnt happen

Personally as already mentioned saftey was the #1 priority for us - hence why as soon as i could i want with ISOfix, the benifits are in the ease of fixing teh seat, its due to IsoFix securing the seat better giving better sideways movement protection (ie seat doesnt move sideways in a collision) and also forward damping in a front end collision (the IsoFix tethers cushion the impactand reduce the G's generated).

For Stage I/II/II i would recomment the Recaro Young Sport (http://www.recaro-cs.com/en/products/ch ... iii.html)- just sold one of these on Ebay which we had from age 1 to 8 - great seat and great value for Money, doesnt come with IsoFix though.

We also went for the Recaro Monza (http://www.recaro-cs.com/en/products/ch ... atfix.html) which is a Stage II/II seat - this does come with IsoFix. Did find that the Isofix meant the seat was held off the actual leather a bit more.

For Stage 0 we used a Mama's and Papas travel system which had the base fitted in the car and seat just clipped in -found it very easy to get the seat in and out, then went to the MaxiCosi Priory XP - again a very good seat - one of the biggest benfits over the Recaros is that it tilted toi let the little ones sleep better without their heads nodding all over the place.

Seat protectors are a must though - i would go with heavey due ones, you can get some thin ones, but they soon pass the pressure onto the actual seat.

Just resign your self to spending a small fortune on Child seats, especially if you have two cars.

Congrats for the little one on the way, you will love it (most of the time)

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Stats have shown that a correctly fitted rear facing seat with belts has no worse or better safety record than an iso fix unit.
The reason Isofix was invented was not to make the seats inherently safer but because sweedish rearchers found 40%-50% of belted in seats were not done correctly and that what was causing the higher injury rate.
For rear facing seats there is no difference even in a side impact as the belt should be fitted correctly to avoid any movement.

Remember Isofix has a much much lower energy threshold than belts hence the considerably reduced weight limit.

For forward facing seats isofix is better as the seat is anchored to the car so in a forward collision the seat is not adding to the childs momentum. IF properly fitted - I've seen many a parent fit an iso fix seat and not realise that some cars/seats must also be tethered at the top too as the metal connection is not strong enough to stop the seat coming away due to forward pivoting of the connection. With belts this is naturally prevented by the good ole 3 point shoulder strap.
Problem is that recommendations are that up to 4 years old kids are rear facing (how the feck anybody manages to get a 4 year old rear facing is beyond me) but the 18kg weight limit means that there are not many 4+ year olds that can really go forward facing with isofix... catch 22.

So again it comes back to my first point - don't give into guilt trips about having the best of everything.

[Timster]

Can't I trap the blighter under that elasticated cargo-net thing, we get free with the Avant ?

If a 24 case of Special Brew doesn't slide about, I'm sure little Chardonnay wont.