Car seats for 4 year olds

[itshappened]

Hi I'm looking for a new car seat for my 4 year old. We currently have the maxi cosi Pearl with the isofix. Having looked at options, there are seats that will go all the way to 12 with the car seat belt to strap them in, but also some that will go to 7 or 8 years old. If possible it would be great to hear what you recommend and how your children have found the different kind of car seats as they get older. Obviously safety is the most important factor, but my child gets terrible car sickness so comfort is important too.

I chose to have isofix even after 4 so we didn't have to remember to strap them in when the kids weren't in the car.

Whatever you go for the size of the seat can vary massively - we have two of the tallest, widest seats available as I wanted safe ones and I knew my children would be tall. My 9 year old still just fits in his HBB. (Monza Nova 2) The depth is also an issue as they get bigger - some aren't very deep and so don't support their legs.

I didn't go for rear facing after 4 as it wasn't available for my eldest and the youngest could see his brother FF, the design of my car also made a very large RF seat difficult. Younger one has the most recent Britax Evolva which I would also recommend if you are happy with forward facing.

Depends if you want the child harnessed or not.

HBB are either isofixed to the car then seatbelted child .
Or both child and HBB seatbelted .

If you want a harnessed seat you'd need to look for one with a higher kg limit.
The evolva is 18kg harnessed, then remove the harness at 18kg and use the seatbelt.
The same as the pearl for weight, so no point buying the evolva with a harness.

There are some HBB with crotch straps, that stop children sliding under the seatbelt.

The joie bold or cozy n safe Excalibur both 5 point harness to 25kg. As far as I know they are 2 of very very few that harness to 25kg