Baby Seats

[Wozza]

Not a very exciting thread for most of you but for those with small children.......

Took the 500 down to Mothercare to try some seats for fit but because neither Maxi Cosi or Britax have 'tested' their seats in a 500 yet Mothercare refused to let us try the seats in the car.

Tip 1 - tell Mothercare you own a Fiat Panda and i'm sure they won't notice the difference

Therefore, decided to buy a Maxi Cosi Priorifix seat from the net (Penguin model black and grey matches a Sport interior perfectly colourwise!)

The information I am about to share with you is about our experience of fitting the seat and in no way implys that the seats are safe or suitable for use in a 500, etc, etc, etc...

Before the Maxi Cosi arrived, I moved our Recaro Expert Plus seat from our Subaru into the 500. This seat is HUGE and was a bit of a struggle to fit past the passenger seat and into the back of the car. However once in, it fitted nicely on the ISOFIX bars, alebit, the rear headrest had to be removed. The split fold seats work fine with the car seat fitted.

When the Maxi Cosi Priorifx arrived (great service from preciouslittleone.com) it slotted into the 500 much easier and I have to say, the fit seems perfect. I have never felt a car seat feel so securely fixed in place (we use the ISOFIX bars and the seatbelt at the same time). The rear headrest remained fitted and our little one (1.5 years) has a great view out the front of the car and out his side window.

Getting him into the seat has also proved a lot easier than expected, bearing in mind its only 2 doors.

Finally, we bought a Quinny Zapp to keep in the boot of the car. It folds up tiny but still takes up half the bootspace!!!

Hope that helps a little??


Marc

[Mark Elvin]

Originally Posted by Wozza

Finally, we bought a Quinny Zapp to keep in the boot of the car. It folds up tiny but still takes up half the bootspace!!!
Marc

We bought one of those as it fitted in the boot of out (real) Mini, just.

[dawesy]

CHeers Wozza. Ours is due any day! Baby that is and need info on car seats for the 500 which arrives a little later!!

Good to hear gettign into the back is all OK adn not too much of a struggle..

Don't suppose you've been usign the fron seat at all haev you?

Will

[Paul]

We got a Zapp just before they came out in the UK from Holland it served us well, not sure what we're going with for baby number two, as we're now in a 'orrible grey Toyota, so boot space is not an issue!

Good advice on the seat front though, and we've always found it very easy with a three door with a baby in the back (albeit a MINI, so bigger doors than the 500).

[Wozza]

Hi Will,

Congratulations and good luck. By God you're going to need it....

Don't put babies on the front seat - they are much safer in the back, especially as you can use the ISOFIX fittings.

I would recommend the following set up:

Maxi Cosi Cabriofix baby seat with ISOFIX base. The base stays in the car at all times and the baby seat simply "clicks" into place - no faffing with trying to get seat belts in the right place etc.

The Maxi Cosi Cabriofix can then attach straight on to the Quinny Zapp chassis and you're off in a flash!

[Paul]

Try not to use all in one systems too much, as it's apparently been shown to be a risk to baby's spine if they frequently remain in the car seat for extended periods, apparently around two hours at a time.

[Wozza]

Yep - Good point Paul - Maxi Cosi recommend no more than 2 hours at a time and definately don't leave babies to sleep in the seat, however tempting sometimes it may be seem.