Kiddicare Midi SP car seat review

The Midi SP has a multi-recline seat and fixes into your car using the car’s 3-point seatbelt. It uses a 5-point safety harness to strap your child into the seat, whichever way they are facing.

The Midi SP also features deep head and body supports with dense foam padding for added protection, shoulder pad protectors and a padded head and back support cushion. However, this is a no-frills seat so don’t expect masses of padding to cocoon your little one.
As a multi-group car seat, it’s not travel system compatible.

What we love

The Kiddicare Midi SP is fantastic value for money. With an RRP if £80, but being sold at £38.99 (at the time of review), you’d be hard pressed to find a cheaper car seat. Add to that the fact it can last the first four years of your baby’s life, and this is the seat for you if you’re watching the pennies.

The recline on this basic seat is fantastically easy to manoeuvre, super smooth and quiet - if my daughter ever did fall asleep in the car I’m sure that moving her seat wouldn’t wake her up. The recline is multi-position too so for babies or toddlers facing forwards for the first time, you can recline it just a bit so they’re not sat bolt upright.

The shoulder straps are adjusted using clips at chest height on your child. I found this a much easier way of fitting the straps to the right size rather than fiddling around between toddler legs to shorten straps. This is especially handy when one day my daughter Freya needs only a t-shirt and the next a bulky winter coat.

This Kiddicare Midi SP seat is super light and really easy to install in both directions. Although it is slightly more complicated when rear facing, it’s not rocket science and having done it once it remains obvious what to do next time.

The cover, whilst not being the most plush fabric or generously padded, is really easy to remove and simple to wash. A bonus for those like me with children constantly demand food in the car and make a terrible mess!

What to watch out for

As I’ve said, this is a no-frills budget seat and as such has very little in the way of padding. On a very long journey the seat may start to feel rather hard in spite of the padding and nappy that cushions Freya’s behind.

Whilst this seat reclines far enough, and is rear facing to accommodate a newborn, I think small and premature babies may look completely lost in it. I don’t think it would give them enough head support, so I would be reluctant to put a very young or small baby in this seat.

Once installed, the Midi SP is very solid and sturdy, and the manufacturer says it has added side impact protection. However, I felt it wasn’t made from materials of the quality of some of the more expensive ones on the market, and so didn’t get that same feeling of total confidence that it’d perform as well as those higher priced items in a crash.

Who is the Kiddicare Midi SP car seat best for?

New parents after spare from-birth seat with longevity.

MadeForMums verdict

This makes a fantastic second seat, for a partner’s car, grandparents or occasional carers. It’s great value for money and all of the comfort issues become irrelevant if only used on short or occasional journeys. That superb value for money still exists even if bought just to use forward facing for a toddler.