[REHW]

I need a second car seat as I am going to be regularly transporting my little girl, (as oposed to my wife), who is about to be 3 (Weight 15kilo). I am considering the Best Buy from the Which report, which is the Concord Lift Protect which retails for around £65.00

Having scoured the internet and also spoken with them I am not clear if this will will fit in my Mini Cooper S Convertible on the leather seats. Does anyone have experience of this seat or any others in this class ie. The Maxi Cosi Rodi XP and the Britax Hi Liner

In particular will it fit the convertible.

[Rakey]

the Concord seat would be last on my list of those seats

Main reasons being is that there products are over complicated, far too many moving parts for what basically should be a seat. There are too many things to go wrong. Yes you will probably understand how to use it with time, and that is if you do figure it out, but what if you need to let someone else use the seat in another car? A friend of mine that is one of the leading experts in car seats also very much feels the same.

The Maxi Cosi is a great seat, very simple to use, and the lock offs help to give a tight fit in the car.

I also wouldn't pay any attention to the Which report, they basically wrote that report to sell copy and when they did all their testing they did not test the seats in the correct manner, they tested to a draft European Standard, that is not even completed.

The best way to find out what fits your MINI is to visit your local Independant Nursery Store, they will let you try seats in the MINI and you can see how easy or not so easy they are to install, this will also show what fits well

If you want some more advice then there is a sticky thread in this forum, all about buying car seats

[REHW]

Rakey,

Thanks for your note. There are no retailers in the west Modlands selling the Concord so I can't try or see the seat so I think its out now.

The Britax Hi Liner is also out as it does not sit into the seat of the convertible having tried, which leaves me the maxi cosi Rodi XP although there is a problem with this also in that once in the height of the back cannot be adjusted due to the head of the child seat being wedged just under the head rest which is fixed to the roll over hoop.

My options I think are therefore to either remove the head rest, which is fixed and will have to be unscrewed in the convertible, or buy the expensive BMW car seat.

Russell

[Rakey]

Quote: Originally Posted by REHW

Rakey,

Thanks for your note. There are no retailers in the west Modlands selling the Concord so I can't try or see the seat so I think its out now.

The Britax Hi Liner is also out as it does not sit into the seat of the convertible having tried, which leaves me the maxi cosi Rodi XP although there is a problem with this also in that once in the height of the back cannot be adjusted due to the head of the child seat being wedged just under the head rest which is fixed to the roll over hoop.

My options I think are therefore to either remove the head rest, which is fixed and will have to be unscrewed in the convertible, or buy the expensive BMW car seat.

Russell

I have seen our Silver Cross Explorer fitted in there and that is fine, might be worth considering

[REHW]

Well I have now resolved this one with the acquisition of a BMW seat. Expensive but a small price to pay for the little ones safety. I couldn't find a silver cross to try as suggested above but I liek the idea of isofix and it will last until shes about 12 so we should see some value out of it.

I asked for some discount and they knocked 12.5% off the price which made it stightly more affordable.

[Rakey]

Quote: Originally Posted by REHW

Well I have now resolved this one with the acquisition of a BMW seat. Expensive but a small price to pay for the little ones safety. I couldn't find a silver cross to try as suggested above but I liek the idea of isofix and it will last until shes about 12 so we should see some value out of it.

I asked for some discount and they knocked 12.5% off the price which made it stightly more affordable.

did they charge you VAT on it?

car seats only have 5% VAT rate since the April 2001 budget

[REHW]

I don't think there was any VAT on it. Thats what he said to me, although I haven't checked the invoice.

The seats great, beautifully engineered and fits perfectly, as you'd expect at the price!

In percentage terms its a small price to pay and is still less than I spent on hifi for the car.

RW

[Rakey]

Quote: Originally Posted by REHW

I don't think there was any VAT on it. Thats what he said to me, although I haven't checked the invoice.

The seats great, beautifully engineered and fits perfectly, as you'd expect at the price!

In percentage terms its a small price to pay and is still less than I spent on hifi for the car.

RW

a good way to view it, wish there were more parents that saw their childs safety as you