So, my life is about to get considerably busier :-D
I guess at least some folk on here must have children small enough to need a child seat, or indeed babies. What's the thoughts? What's good, what should I avoid?
Had you asked in another 6 months time we'd all have known how you spent lockdown.....
Can't help, my daughter is older than a P38 so never had need to fit one.
Congratulations!!
We used a Jane lie down carrycot thing which had clips to work with seatbelts and a wide velcro'd strap to keep the little bugger in place. A full lie down option is great as it's not good idea to have a really small baby sitting in a car seat for very long as they slide down and can't get back up. This way you don't need to stop every 45 minutes, which is a real PITA if you've just got the little screamer to sleep and you're making progress.
Later on, the P38 doesn't have isofix so it's just a case of using the belts. I've got a couple of sit up seats for older kids here we don't use anymore...they have isofix and seatbelt attachments.
Do you want them? Never crashed!
One of those (we got it second hand with the matching pram)
The Jane lie-flat one is similar to what my sister has, which is the kind of thing I was looking at. Typically the kind of journeys we'll be doing is up to my mum's which is a good hour and a half, and up to Skye which is about six hours - so the 45 minutes thing is a big win.
So, you rate those, then?
Yes, they're great. They also save space as you don't need to take a carrycot AND a child seat. They have a rounded base so you can rock them on the floor, too.
My son is 8 now so I'm way off on pricing, but we managed to get the pram, the lie-flat carrycot, and the rear-facing child seat for about £350 off eBay. One user, super clean, etc etc.
The carrycot and the child seat both clipped to the pram (obviously not at once!) so you could transfer his sleeping Lordship from the car to the pram without waking him up. Or at least, not incurring his tiny wrath.
The child seat came in handy later for short trips and when he was old enough to sit up and wanted to see where he was going in the pram.
Once he grew out of those two, we just re-attached the standard cloth and straps to the pram so he could sit in it direct and we got the car seats we still have today.
Congrats
Similar story - Maxi cosi pebble https://www.maxi-cosi.co.uk/car-seats/pebble-pro-i-size we used it with a isofix base ( pre RR) but you can also get one that uses a belt. If your wife is driving she will probably want this to go on the passenger seat (air bag off) and rear facing - maxi cos uses the stabilising leg on the base to go to the floor. I think we effectively skipped the carry-cot in car step, though we had a pram (stokke xplory) for the lying flat stage, which can be used as a push chair later on - and forward or rear facing.
Good luck - you can spend a fortune on this stuff, but the second-hand stuff can be truly un-hygienic, and IMHO only buy decent brands, even if 2nd hand, so that you can sell it on... I sold my one while I was in Halfords looking for the next size up - a couple were looking to buy a new Pebble and I sold them my old on the spot :o)
congrats
i also have older children but when we did have kids we had a classic rover and the problem with car seats is the shape of the back seat , you will have to go and try all the seats and see which one fits best against the rear seat and the belts ( il have a bet that it's the dearest one?) the rear mount for the seat is on the roof
PS after they grew out off the captual we could not find a suitable seat so we had to use a foam booster seat ,(illegal now) with a strap that moulded the seat belt so it didn't cut into their little necks . that my 2 cents worth.
Can you turn the pass airbag off in a P38? Maybe a nanocom/dealer setting?
Also, if you buy second hand the vendor must supply the full printed instructions which nowadays are usually in a dedicated compartment on the seat. And, yes - read them. There can be some wrinkles that make a real difference between makes/models of seats.
That's what we had: https://www.jane-uk.com/en/Jane-Trider--Matrix-Travel-System-Red-and-Jet-Black/m-3216.aspx
But a previous model (Slalom Pro). We lived in the countryside so 3 wheels was a better choice for us, they do a four wheel version for smoother surfaces which is a bit cheaper. (It also comes with keywords like "Urban" and "Cosmopolitan" lol)
Like you, I researched the hell out of this 9 years ago and that's what I came up with - but I guess there will be other options by now.
Morat wrote:
Can you turn the pass airbag off in a P38? Maybe a nanocom/dealer setting?
No, it's not an option on the P38. So I'm guessing it's rear seats only for things like car cots/child seats in the P38?
I suppose you could unplug the airbag. You'd have to live with the SRS light. I doubt that the police would think this was all a good idea though.
Harv wrote:
I suppose you could unplug the airbag. You'd have to live with the SRS light.
Not if you took the bulbs out as well.....
Rear seat then. You'd feel a bit silly if the passenger airbag was unplugged when you crashed with an adult passenger.
I never allowed our son in the front seat anyway, too much of a distraction for the driver. If the baby needs attention, pull over somewhere safe.
I'd leave the airbag well alone..
I've had my younger brother and sisters in the back aswell as my Nieces and Nephews. "not at the same time"
All of them in Graco child seats, which fitted without issue..
I believe those were the ones..
Personally I wouldn't have Kids in the front, too much risk, and my siblings like to press buttons and pull levers..
I don't fancy going from D to P at 50mph LOL
Afaik if the airbag system detects a fault in most cases, it will not deploy any of them. Not sure if that's true of the p38 specifically, but certainly what's said about other vehicles.