Trying to narrow down a car seat for your newborn? The Nuna Pipa RX could be the right rear-facing car seat for your family car.

Nuna has a reputation for being THAT car seat brand. Despite being used for a utility purpose, all of their car seats and strollers are beautiful and really easy to use. That being said, Nuna has a lot of car seat options and with an initial scroll on their website, the selection is overwhelming. I’ve tested every car seat on their website and want to talk about my favorite rear-facing option – the Nuna Pipa RX.

If you’re new here- I’m Kelly the Car Mom and helping families find the best car and car seat for their needs is my thing. I’m a Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST), mom of four, and if there is one thing I know better than anything, it’s how to set up a family car to make it work for any family’s needs.

So without any further introduction, let’s break down everything to know about the Nuna Pipa RX and if it’s the right rear-facing car seat for your newborn.

Nuna Pipa RX Overview:

The Nuna Pipa RX is one of the most popular rear-facing car seats on the market. It’s what I would call the Instagram influencer car seat. With all the hype surrounding popular products like this, it’s natural to wonder if the quality truly lives up to the price. I’ll say it here first – it absolutely does. This is the car seat my second youngest, Fred, uses on a daily basis because it’s that great.

The Nuna Pipa RX is an infant rear-facing car seat, sometimes called a pumpkin seat because of its shape. These car seats are installed with your child facing backward because this is the safest way for your baby to face in the event of a collision.

What makes infant car seats, like the Nuna Pipa RX, so great is their convenience. These seats have handles, which means you can take them out of the car and use them as a carrier without waking your baby. The Nuna Pipa RX comes with a base that stays installed in the car. This way, you can easily click the car seat in and out of the base, making transitions much smoother.

My Favorite Features:

The seat design is gorgeous!
Full coverage canopy
Rethread harness for adjustment (the best option you can get on the market)
Made of a washable jersey material

Before even touching this seat it’s giving a whole other level of sophistication and style. The premium fabric cover and jersey-knit-insert with warm earth-tone colorways. For those who want an aesthetically pleasing car seat, this is it. My favorite combination is an SUV with a rich saddle interior and the Pipa RX in “pine.”

Starting with the exterior, the canopy extends to full coverage with a quiet zipper and magnetic attachment for sun, wind or rain. There’s a mesh peek-a-boo viewing window on the back of the canopy as well.

Moving to the inside of the seat, you’ll find integrated harness holders so the straps are completely out of the way while placing a wiggly infant into the seat. The harness adjuster button is easy to access and tightens really smoothly. There’s no jamming your fingers to press the button or struggling to get it tight.

Speaking of adjusting the harness, this seat has my favorite kind of harness for newborns, a rethread harness. I know what you’re thinking, “Kelly, why would I want to manually move the harness up as my infant grows?” This is because it’s easier to get a correct and safe fit on a small child.

The shoulder slots in the seat are visible so you know it’s at the right height for your child (at or below the shoulders.) With a no-rethread harness, you adjust the harness by moving the headrest/handle up and down to change the harness height. It can be difficult to visualize the correct height and often adds bulk behind a baby’s head, which isn’t great for ideal newborn positioning. While I love and recommend the convenience of a no-rethread harness for larger and older kids, it’s not my preference for a tiny infant.

The organic jersey removable insert also helps give a comfortable fit for even the smallest of newborns. The insert slides in and out, so no fussing with the harness to remove it. It should be removed when your child gets a snug fit without it, at approximately 11 pounds, according to Nuna.

The head insert can stay in the seat until the top harness slot is needed (but most parents switch to a convertible seat before that milestone happens.) The soft head insert has energy-absorbing foam, is comfortable and not bulky. Oftentimes you’ll hear CPSTs recommend removing bulky head inserts, if allowed, because it can push baby chin-to-chest when they’re particularly small. That is rarely the case with this seat and the added comfort of the head insert can be used from birth.

Can You Wash The Cover?

Before moving on to the installation features, I want to mention that the seat is Greenguard Gold certified, naturally flame retardant, free of added FR chemicals, and machine washable! Handwash-only fabrics are ridiculously impractical, so I appreciate Nuna making the Pipa RX easy to clean.

As always, follow your manual, but once you remove the cover from the washing machine, a pro tip for drying is to roll the cover inside a towel or two. This removes all the excess water for a faster dry time. This means you can wash any spills or stains and have it ready to go in a few hours.

Let’s Talk Price

I want to be the first to say that this car seat is expensive. With the car seat and base being sold together for $325, you can definitely find cheaper car seats on the market.

One of the most common misconceptions I hear when parents begin car seat shopping is associating a high price tag with a safer and overall better car seat for your child. This is absolutely not the case.

As a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, I want to make it clear that any car seat eligible to be sold to consumers has to go through rigid safety testing to ensure all regulatory federal standards are followed. The Nuna Pipa RX is not significantly safer than every other car seat on the market because of its price tag, but that also doesn’t mean it’s any less safe than the rest.

If this seat is in your budget, I absolutely think it’s worth the hype and is an excellent choice, but if not, there are a ton of other great car seats on the market.

To see all of my tested and approved rear-facing car seats, check out my post: Best Car Seat for Newborn: Complete Infant Car Seat Guide.

Nuna Pipa RX Installation

Why I Like The Nuna Pipa RX From An Installation Perspective:

Takes zero time at all! Seriously, it’s done in seconds and so easy to do correctly.
Rigid lower anchors
Load leg
Do not have to remove car floor mats
Offers European-belt-path baseless installation

Now for the installation details - in the time it will take you to read this sentence, I would have had the entire car seat and Relx base installed already. Now maybe my top speed comes with a little bit of practice, but the five-second installation really is as easy as it gets.

As a CPST, I’ve installed countless seats, but this is one of my favorites. The rigid lower anchors easily click into place and the load leg is dropped to make contact with the floor and the anti-rebound panel pushes into the car’s seat for a snug fit. That’s it! There’s no fighting or muscling any part of this installation.

I will mention one error I do tend to see with this seat is the load leg is extended too far. When this happens the base lifts off the car’s seat and isn’t making contact - we don’t want to see this. Be sure to only extend the load leg so it touches the floor and the visual indicator turns green, no further.

Nuna Pipa RX Bases

One very important detail I want to point out is that there are two compatible bases with the Pipa RX seat. The two are the Relx base sold with the seat and the original Pipa series base.

As someone who has used and installed both, I much prefer the Relx base. The original base has some quirks when installed in certain family cars and is not as easy to use. Additionally, the Relx base has an on-the-go recline while the original Pipa series base does not.

If you have multiple family cars, I highly recommend purchasing a second Relx base for any additional vehicles versus saving a little money on the original series base, despite its compatibility with the Pipa RX.

Another practical win for the Nuna Relx base is that Nuna doesn’t prohibit the use of car floor mats. Some car seat manufacturers do not allow any floor mat underneath the load leg, which can be frustrating for those of us who live in winter climates and track salt/snow/mud into the car. So long as the load leg indicator turns green, you can use or not use a floor mat underneath it.

Alternatively, Pipa does give you the option to install a car seat without a base using the European-belt-path baseless installation. The seatbelt slides through the belt guides near your child’s legs, then the shoulder belt portion wraps around the back of the seat, through another guide, and then locks into place.

The wrap-around seatbelt functions like a load leg, limiting forward rotation in the event of a crash. That’s why European installation is considered an advanced safety feature - it’s also easier to get a tight install without the base!

Width, Height, and Weight Of The Nuna Pipa RX

The Pipa RX isn’t Nuna’s most lightweight seat, but it still is pretty impressive at 7.6 pounds without the canopy and inserts - or about 8.5 pounds with them. This seat will fit babies 4 to 35 pounds and up to 32 inches.

The maximum width is 17.5 inches, and its length is 25.2 inches, so it can be narrow and three-across compatible in most family cars with a wide and deep bench seat. The total length of a seat is somewhat irrelevant because the slope of your specific car’s bench is going to have a much bigger impact on the overall footprint (and front-row legroom.)

Generally, seats that offer the advanced safety feature of a load leg tend to be larger front-to-back. If you have a smaller car with limited space, I would consider a more compact seat like the Pipa Urbn. I’m currently using the Pipa Urbn with my newborn Libby for its incredible third-row access.

Which Strollers Are Compatible With The Nuna Pipa RX?

There are many strollers compatible with the Nuna Pipa RX, but one of the most seamless options is, of course, Nuna’s own line of strollers. The entire Nuna collection offers a perfect fit for the Pipa RX, and are all gorgeous. However, as Nuna strollers are known for being on the pricier side, it's understandable to explore other alternatives that offer similar compatibility.

For those who are looking for more budget-friendly options without compromising on features or versatility, the UPPAbaby Vista and the Mockingbird strollers are great choices to consider. I’ve tested both and think they are great options to consider.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Mockingbird stroller and how it measures up, check out my post: Mockingbird 2.0 Single-to-Double Stroller Review: Does It Actually Work For Two Kids?

Is The Nuna Pipa RX The Right Rear-Facing Seat For You?

If a seat loaded with advanced safety features (load leg, anti-rebound panel, rigid LATCH, European belt path routing) premium added FR-free fabric, and stylish colorways to coordinate with your mid-sized or larger SUV appeal to you, then absolutely.

If you have a smaller SUV or sedan, I’d recommend testing out your legroom in advance of purchasing the seat. While it’s harder to find baby gear to test out in person, Nuna Pipa RX is available at Nordstrom. Start there if you’re unsure!

After using this seat for Libby and swapping in and out of press cars easily, I can say it stands out as an all-time favorite for me. Packed with safety features and ridiculously simple to use, I can’t say enough good things about it. That being said, if the Nuna Pipa RX is out of your budget, there are still excellent infant seats on the market that are just as safe and stylish.

Have you ever used the Nuna Pipa RX? Let me know in the comments! And to keep up with all the latest tips for your family car, check out my recent posts:

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