Need Suggestions for First Car Seat for 2014 Mini Countryman, Urban Living, Airplane Travel

Seeking your experience input and helpful suggestions!!! We have first baby coming in 2 months and this car seat research is overwhelming due to so many options to consider for the particular criteria we have:

1) ** reputably safe
2) ** desired legroom in 2014 Mini Countryman: Husband 6'2. Wife 5'6. Take monthly road trips greater than 1-2 hour duration. For passenger comfort & safety - neither of us wants to push passenger seat all the way forward.
3) ** active travel light lifestyle: live in large urban city. Want lightweight & easy to use seat to easily port seat from Mini to taxi to airports. Likely 5-6+ flights/year.
Might not get stroller right away, like idea of walking/hiking with baby carriers) but like options that would fit with small urban stroller.
4)** Long use. Would like to avoid buying more than 2 seats in first 2-3 years, if possible. Possibly long baby arriving (previous test showed 80th percentile)
5)** great style and comfort.

Pros/Cons on any in the following list hitting above criteria preferences:
Chicco KeyFit / NextFit, Maxi Cosi line, Graco Snugride or MySize, Combi Coccoro, Cybex Aton, Britax Boulevard or Roundabout

Welcome to Car-Seat.org and congratulations on your upcoming new arrival!

It's hard to find the "perfect seat" and some of your desires are a bit in conflict with one another so I have listed my recommendations from the seats you are looking at based on each of your criteria:

1) ** reputably safe: All car seats are safe if used correctly. Some car seats may have certain features that provide an additonal margin of safety, but there's no way to know for sure which car seat would perform best in any particular crash you might encounter. All of the seats you mention are highly recommended and I wouldn't worry about the safety of any of them.

2) ** desired legroom in 2014 Mini Countryman: I don't have specific experience with this vehicle, but as a small car owner myself, I would recommend the Pria, the Aton, the Coccoro, the Nextfit, the Britax convertibles, and possibly the Keyfit. In our 2010 Impreza, we have used the Nextfit, the Coccoro and the Aton. The Pria fits well too. The Keyfit was a bit too big.

3) ** active travel light lifestyle: It is generally easiest to fly with an infant seat. I have flown with the Aton and found it very easy to install in taxis because of the European belt routing for the baseless install. The Coccoro is almost a hybrid of an infant seat and a convertible -- it is a convertible car seat but it can also be used on a Nano stroller or a Baby Trend "snap n go" frame, making it convenient for taxis and travel. It also has the European belt path for easy seatbelt installation. I have also flown with a Britax Roundabout on a dolly and found it fairly easy, but definitely more difficult than an infant seat or a Coccoro which are lighter and can be used with a stroller.

4)** Long use. If you are okay with buying two seats in the first 2-3 years, virtually any of the seats on your list will work -- a combination that we used was an Aton and a Nextfit, for example. If you want to have as few seats as possible, the Pria or the Nextfit are probably your best bets from your list -- but I wouldn't necessarily want to travel frequently with these seats as they are big and bulky. The MySize would also be good for longevity, but it takes up more space.

5)** great style and comfort. For style, I don't think you can beat the Cybex and Maxi Cosi seats. For comfort, it's really hard to say. I would have said the Nextfit or the Pria, but my toddler thinks that the Scenera NEXT is more comfortable than either of these (which I never would have guessed!).

If you are like me and love the convenience of popping the baby in and out of the car and onto a stroller, then I think the Aton is a great seat. We used it with the Baby Jogger City Mini and love it. Unfortunately, it has a shorter shell height than many other infant seats, so your tall baby might not fit in it as long as you'd like.

Since it sounds like you aren't totally sold on the idea of an infant seat anyway, I think my overall recommendation in your situation would be to get a Coccoro and a Nano stroller. Unless your baby is very heavy, s/he will last in the Coccoro at least as long as a tall infant seat (and probably longer) and you will get most of the benefits of easy travel and taxi use that you'd have with an infant seat.

Another idea if you like the idea of a convertible car seat would be to get a Pria with TinyFit or a Nextfit to use from birth and then get a $45 Scenera NEXT for travel. The Scenera NEXT is so light you could probably just hang it off of the handlebar of whatever stroller you are traveling with and it is easy to install and use in small spaces.

Best of luck!

Nedra's in love with the Coccoro right now because she just got one and they're a lot of fun at first. IME, the Coccoro is great for installing in tight spaces, and it's lightweight (and so cute!), but it's not something I'd want to pop in and out of cabs.

I would not plan to frequently (un)install many of the car seats you mentioned, other than the infant seats that are designed to pop in and out. In your position I would:

1) Decide whether to start with an infant seat or not. They have a lot going for them when it comes to weight and convenience, but they also tend to take up more space front to back than convertibles, especially once the baby has good head control and the convertible can be installed more upright. (Note that there are big exceptions to this. Convertibles that can't be installed upright, convertibles that take up tons of space anyway...)

2) Once the baby is in a convertible, have 2. One should stay in your car more or less all the time; the other should be for cabs and air travel, and it should be a Scenera NEXT. I've installed many of the car seats on your list. With the possible exception of the Chicco Keyfit, none of them are nearly as easy to move from one vehicle to another.

I'll second the recommendation for the coccoro. I have installed mine in lots of cars quickly using the European belt routing without issue. At least I don't think it is harder than a baseless infant seat.
The problem with a larger convertible from birth is that it will take up a lot of room rearfacing at the newborn angle. You might be better served by a smaller seat for the baby as a newborn and a larger convertible down the road when baby can sit more upright.
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