Maxi-Cosi Priori Convertible Car Seat, Phantom

We LOVE this car seat. We bought the infant seat and loved that one as well. This chair fits in United's small seats on flights, as well as our older Euro cars. We live in Europe and had a lot of seats to choose from, US and European. This seat is far and away the best buy and wonderful quality. Our son gets to see out the windows of the car, he is comfortable for our long flights back to the states. The padding on the seat is very comfortable. The one glitch is that it does not work with most carseat travel systems for getting through the airport. I often have to travel without my husband. So I bought a small travel folding luggage cart, like people use for other carry on luggage and strapped it on. That worked so well, when we landed after an 11 hour flight, my son was still asleep. I put the chair on the cart, secured the straps and wheeled him off the plane and through customs. Good thing as the stroller I gate checked did not arrive, yet again. We are now buying a...Read more

I had this seat for my first kiddo. It was the first upgrade from a baby car seat and he loved it the instance he was put in it! It is comfortable sturdy and believe me if you have the latch system installing it is a breeze. There are a lot of pros on this seat and I confess a few cons but nothing is perfect.

Lets do the pros first, Ok admit it every one, it is such a stylish and fun looking car seat! It is compact and weighs much less than most of those monstrosities out there (except the combi cocorro new seat) It latches with ease to the latch system. Unlike what some reviews claim, the cover is easily removed and machine wash safe and re-installing it is a breeze. My son loved the recline position and his cute big head never dangles forward like a rag doll! Now last and MOST IMPORTANT it is really really (and I mean REALLY) Safe and sturdy! we actually and sadly put it to the test! We had a BMW 3 series and got rear ended (we were at full stop at a stop sign) by a...Read more

We originally purchased the Britax Marathon but sadly it was way to big to rear face in our compact car. After going back and for the between weather to buy the Priori or another smaller Britax we decided to go with the Priori because of it's fun colors and I guess just to try something new. Now I am pretty much wishing we had gone with the Britax.
The Priori is nice and has the latch system which is wonderful but the safety harness twists easily, the crotch pad is tiny and just gets in the way, the buckle is not always easy to latch and getting the cover off to wash is a real pain... I pretty much had to take the whole darn thing apart.
On the upside it is a great size for compact cars, the color variety is fun and it has a cup holder to set the sippy cup in. All and all though I wish we had just gone with the smaller Britax (Roundabout or Diplomat).