When looking for car seats safety was my top priority. I knew I would be spending all 9 months (well 8 in my case) of my pregnancy doing what I could to look after my babies so I wanted to ensure when they came into the world they were safe where ever we went. My other requirement was that I had car seats which were suitable for use with my travel system (iCandy Pear). After looking into this and speaking to other parents the Maxio Cosi Cabrio Infant Carrier seemed to be clear winner.
***Maxi-Cosi Cabrio***
The Maxi- Cosi Cabrio is a child car seat which is suitable for children from use from birth to around 13kg (around 12 months). The product has a side protection system which offers optimal protection against side impact if you were involved in a collision.
The Maxi-Cosi Cabrio has an integrated sun canopy on the top of the car seats which is easily pulled out from the top of the seat. Within the car seat, there is a small storage compartment. There is an ergonomic handle which uses a push button to adjust making it very easy to carry the car seat. The harness has beltpads and crotchpads attached for extra comfort for your baby. The harness has been designed to be very easily adjusted in one pull so you can adjust it to a length which fits your baby.
The car seat is suitable for use with a static 3 point seat belt or with the Maxi Cosi, EasyFix, FamilyFix or EasyBase. The Cabrio must always be fitted in a rearward facing position and never positioned on the front passenger seat if there is an airbag fitted which cannot be immobilised. The Maxi-Cosi Cabrio conforms to standards ECE R44/04
The car seat weighs 3.25kg in total. Which is pretty much average in comparison to other similar products.
The Cabrio is available in over 10 colours ranging from bright pink, blue to plainer colours like black and brown. I opted to go for the product in "black reflection", black with a dark grey trim.
You can purchase Maxi-Cosi accessories to go with the car seat which include a footmuffs (available in 8 different colours), a mosquito net, summer covers to keep you baby cool and "travel buddies" which are toys which you can attach specifically to the Maxi- Cosi carseats.
***Stockists***
The Maxi-Cosi Cabrio is sold by a large number of retailers. This is both online and in store in a wide variety of colours. Large retailers such as John Lewis, Mothercare, Halfords and Boots all stock these infant carriers. You can check on the Maxi-Cosi website for stockists in your area by typing in your postcode.
***Cost***
My local baby store was selling the Maxi- Cosi Cabrio for £110.00 when I purchased two of these. Prices vary between £95 to £125 depending on where you purchase the infant carrier and also depending on colour. Prices are generally higher for the plainer more neutral colours.
***Using the Car Seat***
The Maxi-Cosi Cabrio can be fitted into all cars in a rearward position using a static 3 point seat belt. Basically you thread the lap belt and shoulder belt through the hooks on the back of the infant carrier and then click the seatbelt into the seat buckle.
With practice this is very easy and takes around 30 seconds to do. In this position the car seat feels very secure however when I use the car seat in this way I do find myself double checking just to make sure it is firmly secure and the seat belt is attached into the hooks properly.
I purchased the Family-Fix Bases to use with the Maxi Cosi Cabrio. These fitted using the Isofix fittings within my car (a 59 reg Seat Leon). Once the base was fitted I found it very easy to fix the infant carrier to this, it is a simple case of lining the seat up into the correct position on the base then pressing down. Once you hear a beep you know the car seat is secured into a safe position, which filled me with total peace of mind and stopped me constantly checking the seats. Attaching the car seats using this method can be done using one hand and in less than 10 seconds, which was brilliant for me at times when I was carrying two screaming babies to and from the car in the rain!
I was very impressed with the overall design of the Maxi-Cosi Cabrio. It looks very padded and secure without being overly bulky. The padding also makes this look like a very comfortable option for your baby as the back and sides of the seat are heavily padded. The Maxi-Cosi Cabrio comes with a head hugger inside which gives more support for a small baby and makes sure their head doesn't move around when you are travelling. The head huggers for us were an essential in the early days, especially as we used the car seats to bring home from hospital two 4lb babies. Now thinking back to this time the boys looked lost in their car seats but were adequately supported. We removed the head huggers at around 7 months and there was still enough padding and support once removed.
The safety harness inside of the seat is very easy to use and adjust. Two straps go over your child's arms and there is a harness which goes between your child's legs with the main clip on. The two shoulder straps lock into this and easily click into place. You simply release the harness by pressing a big red button on this clip. This is covered by the crotch strap so your child can't release themself. Obviously this isn't an issue when you have a newborn and actually you do need to push quite hard on this button to release, but in our case because we have two 12 month olds who get up to mischief constantly, anything is possible!
The size of the harness is very easy to adjust by pressing a small button on the seat and then pulling the harness to make it bigger or smaller. This takes less than 30 seconds to do and is worth doing regularly to make sure your child is held in quite securely as you often find if they have been wearing a bulky jacket one day, then a light jacket the next day, the harness will be very slack around them and does need adjusting.
The Cabrio has a carry handle which is attached to the centre of the seat. In order to adjust the position of the handle there are two buttons on either side that need to be pressed.
You do need two hands available to do this. There are three main positions that the handle can sit in. Forward, to use for carrying and when your baby is travelling in the car, pushed back so it sits flush around the top of the seat, so you are able to get your child in and out of the seat and also pushed back and locked so the handle sits at the base of the seat. This means you can use the Cabrio as a chair for your baby, as the carry handle gives sturdy base, which is handy if you need to feed your child at a friend's house say and don't want to take a baby bouncer with you.
The Cabrio also has a sunshade which is a piece of black stretchy material fixed into the top of car seat which can be pulled over the top of the seat and fixed onto the carry handle with two small hooks. As a sunshade this is very handy and keeps the sun off your child. It also is helpful to pull this over if it is raining and you want to quickly run from the car to the house to stop the rain from getting on your child. For a longer period the sunshade would not give adequate protection from the rain in my opinion.
Up until about the ages of 6 months old (when the boys started weighing nearer 12lb) I could actually manage to carry two car seats at once for short distances to and from the car. The design of the carry handle makes the car seat very easy to carry and because the seat is reasonably light this was not a problem. I did find however as the boys got heavy it was important to carry the seats using two hands for the sake of my back!
The Cabrio is a quality product and is very durable, ideal for babies. I think the black reflection colour I purchased my car seats in helps as if there are any marks on the seat the material has wiped clean and not stained and even after 12 months of being used daily the seats look as new.
A benefit of the Maxi-Cosi Cabrio is that it is compatible to use as part of a travel system with a wide range of manufacturers and models. This includes iCandy, Quinny, Bugaboo and Mothercare travel systems. I purchased car seat adapters when I purchased my pushchair ( iCandy pear) to make this possible. Most travel systems state which infant carriers are compatible to use with them so it is worth checking before purchasing. Maxi-Cosi also recommends that you do not put young babies in the Cabrio for periods of over 2 hours if you are using the infant carrier in this way.
The car seat states that the car seat is suitable from 0kg to 13kg (as a guide 0-12months) however it is worth noting the guidelines for moving children up to the next stage car seat is based upon weight not age. My boys are 12 months old and will be in this stage car seat for a while because they are small (not quite 8kg).
***Overall***
This has been a brilliant purchase for us and I would definitely recommend the Maxi Cosi Cabrio to other parents. For your child the car seat is an extremely safe choice and has so many features to ensure your child is carried securely and comfortably.
For parents this is a very simple and easy car seat to use.
This is a more expensive choice if you consider that there are a lot of cheaper alternatives on the market, however in my opinion you can't put a price on child safety and comfort and I feel the Cabrio has been worth every penny of the £110 (x2) .
I personally would recommend for those parents who have travel systems to purchase a Maxi-Cosi Easy-Fix or Family-Fix base to use the car seat with. Although the Maxi-Cosi Cabrio is very easy to fit using the seat belt, the base saves so much time and you have the instant peace of mind that once you hear the base click and beep, you can be assured the car seat is fitted safely and your child is secure. An excellent product for keeping your child safe!
Max-imum Cosi-ness for my babies 
