Joie - I-Spin 360

Joie i-spin 360. Bought it 2 months ago and can't complain...

I have a Joie I-spin too. Quite tight in my small SUV (MG ZS). My niece has identical car seat and she has previously kicked the drivers seat when in my car but she also refuses to rear face so it's a battle. However had no issue for space with both those seats in my sister's Sportage.

I've had no issue fitting two Joie I-spin 360 car seats into a Kia Sportage plus a pram and seated buggy board and all the bags you need for a day out. My brother in law comfortably drives the car too at 6ft 3 or 4(the Sportage is my sister's and I borrowed it when I had her toddler and my baby for the day).

I dunno about everyone else, but we really didn't do much driving in the newborn stage. It might literally have just been home from the hospital in the first month or two. Definitely wouldn't bother with a seat that you can lift out - bulky for no real benefit, and compromising on safety for convenience when baby can't even stay asleep in it for long. We got the joie ispin 360, liked it enough to get another for baby 2.

We bought a spin seat for our second and I wish we'd had it for the first. It's not just useful at the baby stage, it's probably even more useful at the toddler stage when they are wiggly little monsters. The only thing I don't like about it is how huge it is. We have the Joie iSpin and it barely fits in our Ford Focus. I'm not tall and have short legs and I can't put the seat back as far as I'd like. Once she goes front facing it will be better

Maxi-cosi Pearl 360 i-Size. Not sure if it’s available in the US. The fact that the iso-fix base and seat are separate makes it much easier to fit and remove. I also have the Joie I-Spin but it’s so heavy that it’s a pain to fit and remove.

I've got an older Joie Arc 360. It's super easy to install (ISOFIX), it can be rear/forward facing with different angles of sitting too. My kid loved it since the beginning, very comfy too. The fact that you can face it towards you when unloading/loading is a great plus. I thought I am not gonna need that, but it was a blessing once my kid grew over 10kg. It has a baby insert, now we are using it without. Kid was in the seat from the start and it should last until he's maybe 3-4. I've got a booster with fixed back for the older one, I am gonna give that to the little one and then get a booster without back for the older one. The only problem with the Joie is that is was super hot in summer, the kid was sweating a lot. I had to get cooling liners and change them frequently. But it's the price for safety... I got mine from Nishimatsuya, it was a display model, so it was super cheap. I probably wouldn't go with a second hand, since I know what my kid did to it ;)

Well.. no obviously, using a car seat is. Getting a black cab is probably safer than a regular cab without a car seat like others have suggested. Black cab drivers are rigorously tested and excellent professional drivers, I would trust them to not get in an accident over a random unregulated uber driver :) If your question is what is the safest option it’s get a car seat. I can recommend the joie 360 we have it and have used it in multiple cars easily

I barely used our car seat in the pram. It's safest for baby to be flat so I decided that I didn't want to get into bad habits. I had the Joie360, but used the car seat that came with the pram for the early days. I found the spin really useful as I had a small 3 door and had experience of trying to get a car seat in the back, it wasn't that easy. But the spin meant I could have the seat facing me ready for baby then swivel her to rear face when she was strapped in.

Definitely think it's worth it - much easier to put them in and do the belts up safely with them facing you. We also had to turn our son forward sooner than we'd originally planned due to car sickness problems so it was good to have the flexibility and to decide for different journeys etc. The only thing I'd say is that we have the Joie 360 and it is AWFUL to clean - fine the covers are washable but that doesn't help with the many crevices and fact that stuff is basically funnelled into the bottom inside of the seat, major problem for us with travel sickness challenges! The only way we've found to clean that is to blast it with a shower, which is hard when it's huge and unwieldy, and then means it's out of action while you struggle to dry it for days!

I've had a joie 360 since birth and my toddler is now 3. It's been amazing, and so easy to get a squirmy toddler in the car. Also easy to tighten the straps enough!