Group 1 car seat recommendations?

[Arborea]

We're off to Italy in July and will have to rent a car to get around. It looks as though we'd be better off buying a car seat for our DC (will be almost 3 by then, fairly petite) because it could cost up to £70 to rent one - and I'm a bit about the quality and safety of a hired seat.

We use a Britax dual fix rear facing seat here, but don't think it's practical to bring it with us (it's large, heavy and isofix only), so we're looking for recommendations for a belted seat that we can take with us, and which will be a 'spare' when we're back in the UK. We're looking at belted seats in case the car we're given isn't isofix compatible.

The Dualfix will do DC for another year or so, at which point we'll need to size up to a Group 2, so we're willing to spend a decent chunk if there's a good group 1/2 seat that we'll get good use of as DC gets bigger. I'm expecting DC2 in September so ease of use is next priority after safety!

Sorry if I've posted in the wrong section (fairly new to MN), but all suggestions gratefully accepted!

[eastmidswarwicknightnanny]

Joie stages is a rear facing seat and pretty universal easy to move from car to car

[captaincake]

I second the joie seats. We have a joie steadi for a holiday seat, I would go for that or the stages. There's the tilt too which is a bit cheaper but to me wasn't worth it because the harness doesn't go up with the headrest you have to undo and rethread it, it takes longer to fit and unless your child is at the shorter end won't last long enough. Just got to watch out for buckle crunch, they seem to be a bit prone.