Summary Maxi Cosi Vela
Neutral Recommendation – At $370 the Maxi Cosi Vela; is more expensive than the britax brava. The shoulder height markers are lower and the Isofix does not work as well as the britax system.
Additionally; the harness is harder to tighten in rear facing mode; and the back angle your your child appears in many cases steeper.
Introduction
The New Maxi Cosi Vela APS Convertible Car Seat; is the replacement seat for the maxi cosi Hera which has been tested as an A4 to approximately 30 months. Visually the Maxi Cosi Vela seems to be almost identical to the old Hera but wider.
The older style maxi cosi euro nxt and the maxi cosi Hera, despite the statement that they were ERF (Extended Rear Facing Seats), the height markers for the three markers they were considerably lower than the britax and infa secure seats meaning that at most you would only get roughly 18-24 months rear facing before your child exceeded the second marker and you will only get approximately 3 years before hitting the exit marker on the seats
In Rear Facing mode it is not possible to access harness at the rear due to fabric covering then ribbing of the seat. This is an issue as many Car seat fitters recommend pulling the straps from behind when it is not possible to tighten the harness normally.
Maxi Cosi Recall
Anyone familiar with the Maxi Cosi Euro or Hera; will be aware of the recall issues where the fabric got caught under the harness release lever, with the Vela, they have attempted to prevent this issue but have gone to the extreme as the solution presented for the euro nxt was sufficient, with the fabric cover being difficult to lift to reach the release lever to loosen the harness.
Installation
Many installers will testify to parents asking about the stabilizing bar ribbing being exposed and the potential to hurt or injures the child feet. In many instances. Parents have complained that it was hard on the children feet; and wrapped a towel around the stabilizing bar so the exposed ribbing did not present any issues for their children. Maxi Cosi have placed a thin fabric around the stabilizing bar to help eliminate this issue.
The Maxi Cosi vela car seat has a new no twist harness system; this is to ensure the harness straps are positioned correctly at all times. Any expereienced fitter; knows that; the only solution to prevent twisting of the harness is to use thicker webbing for the harness (quality components). Test it for yourself; feel the thickness of the webbing on both; britax and infa secure and then feel the thickness of the maxi cosi harness
Visually the Maxi Cosi Vela appears to be much wider than previous versions (read euro and hera). When the other two manufacturers are coming out with narrower seats; I am puzzled as to why they would not make the Maxi Cosi Vela narrower. NOTE the vela slim is the same as the vela but the fabric is tighter to the shell.
Summary – maxi cosi Vela
Not Recommended – There is very litte reason to upgrade your current euro or hera to the vela. When others are considering this their first carseat. the seat is wider than other on the market. The seat appears bulkier than other and it is harder to operate; from both a installers perspective and a parental perspective