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Kiddy Cruiserfix 3 Review by Best Buggy

We have been huge fans of Kiddy car seats since we got our Guardianfix Pro 2 a few years ago. Unfortunately a change of vehicle meant our Guardianfix no longer fitted our car, so with Master BB about to grow out of his 25kg harnessed seat, we were delighted to find that the new 2017 Cruiserfix 3 car seats did fit in our car. The new 2017 colours are vibrant and for the first time we let Master BB and Little Miss BB choose the seat colours they wanted. Master BB chose the Night Blue and Little Miss BB chose Royal Purple.
I must say I breathed a sigh of relief as we fitted the Cruiserfix 3′s into our car ahead of a long journey. To know the children were in some of the safest car seats in the world was reassuring, after being forced to use seats previously that we were never totally sure about due to various reasons.

Fitting the Cruiserfix 3 seats was very easy. The Cruiserfix 3 is an ISOFIX seat but can be used without the ISOFIX if desired. The ISOFIX arms simply fold away – also handy for storage. I like ISOFIX particularly for an older child because you are more likely to have an empty seat after day a school run or Brownie / Cubs drop off, and this means you don’t need to stop to secure the seat in, (to protect you from the seat hitting you in the event of an impact,) once the child gets out. These Cruiserfix 3 seats have been the first ISOFIX seats where I have successfully managed to fit the seats without asking for help! There is a new seat belt clip behind the shoulder which holds the seat belt in place. This has made it simple for Little Miss BB to put her own seat belt on if she wants to.

Both children are well over 18kg, so are the perfect weight for using a Group 2/3 car seat. We had a few issues fitting Master BB correctly in the seat because he is tiny for his age (9th centile) and his eyes were above the eye indicator height even though the seat belt appeared to be positioned correctly over his shoulder (the instructions say there should be 3cm between the shoulder and the headrest). However, with a little help from the lovely people at Kiddy, they recommended that we lifted the back rest another notch and the eye level indicator was then inline with Master BB’s eyes.

One of the best things about the Kiddy car seats is the massive height range of the seat backs. The height range is substantially higher than the Rodifix which Miss BB previously had. Miss BB at 133.5cm tall is nearly at the UK minimum 135cm height to no longer use a car seat, but don’t tell her, because with the Cruiserfix we plan to keep her in it in our car until she is 150cm (the minimum height in Europe). The seat height is very easy to adjust. There is a handle on the rear of the seat which you squeeze and pull upwards. The seat doesn’t just grow in height, but the width also expands to ensure a snug fit for a small child or room for growth for a school age child. What we love most about all the Kiddy car seats is the chunkiness of them. There are no other car seats with as much obvious protection built into them in all the right places especially to protect the shoulders and the head area. Just look at the large protective pieces either side of the children’s shoulders!

We wondered whether Master BB would transition into a high backed booster (HBB) using just the adult seat belt. It had been a couple of years since we last tried him in a HBB and it hadn’t gone well. Master BB liked the the snug fit of the seat which we think means he feels secure. He didn’t lean out at the side which he does in several of our other seats. A huge plus of the Cruiserfix for Master BB is that, even though there is no recline on the seat, the shaped head support cradles his head even when he is asleep, thus there is no head loll and he can sleep comfortably whilst travelling. However, we did find that when Master BB leaned forwards to get a toy from the back of the seat in front, or when he moved a lot, that the seat belt did pop out of the shoulder clip. We think this is probably due to Master BB moving excessively though, as we have never had this happen with Miss BB.

There is an inbuilt leg extension to give depth to the seat as the child grows larger. Ours are quite stiff to pull out, and once out, they are a rounded shape, so don’t really support the thighs where legs need it most.

One of the features we love the most is the new sliding feature on the Cruiserfix 3. This feature is also on some of the other car seats in the Kiddy 2017 collection. Should the car be hit from the side, and there is door intrusion, then the seat will slide towards the centre of the car to move the child away. This is very clever. It also makes buckling up simpler, especially when there are three car seats across the middle of the car, because the Kiddy seat can be slide sideways to allow more room to get your hands in between to do the buckle up. However, we found that the seat on the drivers side of the car naturally slides inwards as we drive, which means that each time we buckle up, the seat is covering the buckle and we have to slide the seat towards the door. We don’t have the same issue with the seat on the passenger side. When we removed the Kiddy seat from the car to try out a different seat, this is the feature that we missed the most! It really is a big benefit to be able to slide the seat to buckle up.

On the 2017 Kiddy car seats here was a potentially life saving addition of a reflective silver panel on the side of the head rest. This makes the seats highly visible from outside, so that in the unfortunate event of an accident, the car seat can be clearly seen whether in the day, or by torchlight at night.

We have had to wash the fabrics a few times, and it has been very easy and logical to remove and refit the fabrics. The new fabrics have dried overnight ready to be popped back on again in the morning. The fabrics are much better quality and feel more luxurious than the old fabrics, and they have a secret hidden message in morse code “Kiddy we love our kids”. The seat has plenty of padding. We have done many miles in these car seats and the children always seem supremely comfortable. They have a great view out of the window.

For us the icing on the cake was the recent news that the Cruiserfix 3 was the latest test winner in the latest 2017 ADAC crash tests. Kiddy now have a test winning car seat in every car seat Group, so whatever the child’s age, Kiddy some of have the safest car seats in the world.

The Kiddy Cruiserfix 3 gets a huge thumbs up from us, and a Best Buggy 5 gold star rating for being protective, comfortable, luxurious and gives the perfect fit for the child as they grow.

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