I like to tell folks who ask about my job situation that my car is my office.
By virtue of the fact that I am a Don't-Like-To-Stay-At-Home Mum, I spend a lot of time driving the kids to different places - on outings, for playdates, and for classes. Since they are therefore on the road a fair bit, it is important to me that they stay safe while we travel.
I am glad that they are, by and large, happy to be in their carseats. There was a point of time when Noey would scream blue murder every time I put him in a car seat, but thankfully that stopped after he turned 8 months old. Now, the carseat is his favourite place to fall asleep.
Meips has been pretty easy-going about her car seat, thankfully. She's had to make do with Noey's hand-me-down car seats but she's been a champ about them. Except that these days, she'd rather sit in Noey's car seat than her own. So when I was recently given the opportunity to review a Recaro car seat, I decided to ask for one for her. With a special request that it be in her favourite pink too.
This was my first encounter with a Recaro car seat, but the name wasn't unfamiliar to the husband. Well-known for their bucket seats, which are found in racing and luxury cars, Recaro has a reputation for marrying design and quality with functionality. I was interested to see if the same could be said of their child seats.
The model that Meips was given the privilege of testing out was the Recaro Young Sport. There are a few features which I look out for choosing a car seat for my kids and here are my (and Meips') comments on how the Recaro Young Sport measured up.
1. Safety -- Of highest importance is of course the safety features of the seat. In this regard, I was particularly impressed by the Recaro Young Sport. It's huge head side supports are immediately obvious, and you would notice the side supports for the torso as well, which envelope the child neatly when seated. This keeps Meips snug in her seat and offers me comfort that she will be bolstered from any side impact in the event of an accident. The seat also comes with a 5-point harness, which I think is a must for keeping young children safely seated.
2. Comfort -- The safest seat is of no use is it isn't comfortable! The Recaro Young Sport comes comfortably padded, and with a smooth, almost suede-like material that felt really nice on the skin. I thought that Meips might complain about the head side supports blocking her view, but in truth, she hardly noticed them at all. They instead came in handy when she needed to sleep, providing great head support for her to just nod off. And she nodded off quite a bit! The seat had a good seating position, though I would have preferred it if it allowed for more of an incline when Meips was sleeping.
There was only one problem: the positioning of the buckle was a little too low for my little girl. Maybe she has chubby thighs or perhaps it's the particular unit we got, but Meips found that the buckle got in the way a bit, and used to prefer to sit with her legs, erm, wide apart. I couldn't figure out how to adjust it, or whether it was even possible to make the buckle higher and therefore more comfortable for her. That was a pity as the seat was otherwise comfy.
3. Ease of Installation -- This was an easy car seat to install -- just pull through the car's 3-point seat beat through the slots behind the seat, clamp down the strap on one side and you're good to go. I was able to fix it up myself without referring to the manual so that should tell you how easy it was! And if you do need to refer to the manual, you'll find the instructions very clearly explained.
4. Ease of Maintenance -- By this I mean: This the seat easy to clean? This is very important to me seeing as it would be carrying my not-too-careful toddler around. We do have a no-food policy in the car, but kids are just dirt-magnets. Or maybe just mine. Anyway, the short answer for the Recaro Young Sport is yes. The seat covers are all removable for washing. Whew.
5. Versatility -- This I felt was the Recaro Young Sport's main selling point. This is truly a car seat that grows with your child, allowing you maximum mileage out of the car seat. This seat is designed for children from 9kg up to a whopping 36 kg. Your child could sit in it from 9 months of age up to 12 years, if you really wanted to! This versatility is achieved through the use of removable cushion positioners, an adjustable headrest and harness, and the fact that this same seat can be used as a booster seat without the 5-point harness as well. I let Meips try the seat as a booster, and boy, did she relish being "just like kor kor!" The long shelf-life of this seat is definitely a plus for me.
Overall, I thought the seat was a good one, and but for our issue with the low buckle, could have been a great one. If you're in the market for a car seat that will grow with your child from the point he graduates out of an infant capsule to the point where he probably has no need for a car seat, I suggest that you go check out the Recaro Young Sport. On top of its sterling safety features, it is definitely value for money on that count.
* The Recaro Young Sport retails for $588 (inclusive of GST) at Mums & Babes, Uber Garage and selected Kiddy Palace outlets.
* This post is sponsored by Rise & Shine, in conjunction with Mums & Babes. The Recaro Young Sport was loaned to us for the purpose of this review. All opinions are strictly my own and based on our user experience.
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