Nuna TODL NEXT car seat review

Searching for the best car seat to keep your baby safe on the road can feel like a mammoth task. Do you want one with extended rear-facing? That spins 360 degrees? Or one with ISOFIX? One popular choice which is suitable from birth up to four years is the Nuna TODL NEXT. Here's how dad-of-two Joe got on with it when he put it to the test.

The Nuna TODL NEXT has also won a 2024 Mother&Baby Award!

Overview of the Nuna TODL NEXT

Awards

As well as winning in 2024, the Nuna TODL NEXT won Gold in the Mother&Baby awards 2023 for Best Multi Stage Car Seat.

Nuna TODL NEXT key features

Steel Strength Technology: The car seat is made from resilient, top-of-the-line plastics and steel reinforcement, making for a heavy-duty, secure shell.

Side impact protection pod: By attaching the side impact protection pod, you create an additional safety zone to protect your child. It works with the integrated foam to significantly reduce the force of impact.

Grows with your child: The support wedge and merino wool infant head and body inserts can easily be removed while the one-hand, height-adjustable head support has six different positions. The shoulder harness also expands as the headrest raises.

Testing the Nuna TODL NEXT

"As a family, we were able to test this seat on our daughter, 12 months and son, 36 months. We tried this seat in multiple vehicles on all of its settings for both of our children in a selection of different scenarios. My son once asleep tends to stay asleep but my daughter wakes up quite easily so testing the swivel function was particularly eye-opening. We installed the seat in an older vehicle using the seatbelt function too for testing purposes and although this took longer it produced a secure hold which also meant slightly more room for the driver/passenger and would also suit smaller vehicles should this be an issue for you."

Putting the Nuna TODL NEXT together

"This car seat was delivered in two boxes; the base and the seat. Firstly the ISOFIX base is key to a simple installation. If you’re not the type of person that enjoys complicated instructions I implore you to opt for ISOFIX. It’s fair to say this is a staple these days with almost all vehicles having it installed as standard from 2005 onwards.

The ‘foot’ of the base has clear indicators which will tell you if there is ample tension on the base, meaning the car seat is secure, but also if the swivel has disengaged correctly, which is a really nice touch."

Using the Nuna TODL NEXT

"The first thing I noticed about this seat is how lightweight it is. With modern materials at their disposal Nuna has been able to produce a really strong-feeling seat that is light enough to make taking in and out of the car less of an issue. From my experience, half the problem with this is the awkwardness of trying to bend the seat through the open door coupled with the weight of the seat. This feels like less of a factor here.

With other seats, I have found swivel features to be clunky, especially when adding the weight of a three-year-old to the equation. There are toggle buttons on either side, that when compressed release the seat from its fixing allowing a super smooth revolving motion. This means you can front or rear face your child and turn them to the side to make getting your child in and out of your vehicle super easy."

"Our youngest used the seat with the additional padding which came pre-installed on the seat. On your average day, she loves nothing more than twisting herself to make it as difficult as possible to adjust the straps securing her in the car seat. A big tick from me, the button hidden underneath the padding on the seat when compressed allowed smooth adjustments to the harness as well as easily tightening once the child is safe in the seat. Even with my son, who is also notorious for being hard to settle, the harness goes on easily and the rubberised shoulder supports grip him nicely while you tighten everything up.

This seat was installed in two separate vehicles to test the space remaining for the passenger/driver which has been a factor when testing other seats. The profile of the seat meant that no space issues were found even when the seat was reclined, of which there are five positions.

We tried in our family car (Kia Stonic) and a smaller vehicle (Ford Fiesta), no problem. You receive a side-impact protection device with the seat that is installed on the side next to the door for extra piece of mind, this also did not compromise space or when using the swivel feature. As the swivel feature was so pleasant to use we also found that rather than judder our kids to the side to release them from the seat, they remained asleep which was an unexpected bonus!"

Final thoughts

"It’s worth noting that most of these features I’m listing here are present in many other seats on the market but I have never found them to be anything special to mention. With this seat everything feels like it has ball-bearings, really smooth to use and at no stage does it feel flimsy or unreliable. Other models' features such as the swivel have strained somewhat after adding a heavier child but I have not noticed this with the Nuna TODL NEXT. Other aspects such as the adjustable headrest are easy to use when changing from baby to young child.

With other competing seats available the two key points to take away from this seat review are its smooth operation and lightweight construction. I believe this is the smoothest car seat I’ve ever used. Add on the ease of installation (you can install with the seatbelt if you do not have ISOFIX in your vehicle), its sturdy but lightweight build and its age range being suited to most family’s needs you won’t go wrong opting for this baby and toddler car seat."

Emily Gilbert is the Features & Reviews Editor for Mother&Baby and has written for the website and previously the magazine for six years. Specialising in product reviews, Emily is the first to know about all the exciting new releases in the parenting industry.