Car seat for travel - Joie Stages or can I do better

[JustKeepSw1mming]

Hi everyone, I need advice on a car seat.
I am travelling to NZ, and need a car seat for a 17kg, 101cm, 3.5yr child. For multiple cars, don't know if they have isofix. Child is currently rear facing.
I think we will get a Joie Stages for the following reasons

1. Can still rear face while on holiday, so safer option than moving into high backed booster
2. Sear can be installed using seat belt, so hopefully is quite universal
3. Can use as a highbacked booster when back in UK, once child is bigger
4. Not too heavy
5. Hopefully quite quick and easy to put into car.
6. Reasonable price.

We will do a few car trips of 1-3 hours as well as some local journeys.
Are there any better seats which would be suitable?
Thanks in advance for advice!

Do you know what vehicles you will be using? They are quite big and don't fit into all cars, I could only just get it into my midsized car rear facing

These look fab tinyseats.com/eu/seats/tinyseats-two

Thanks for your posts. A variety of cars - taxi to airport in UK, probably a Subaru estate (legacy?) but probably other cars too...
Maybe better to look for a narrower forward facing seat...

The distance of the journey is irrelevant really.
It's a perfectly legal and safety tested car seat

Is the seat legal in New Zealand? That's the first question.

Yes, NZ accepts car seats which conform to the ECE (EU) standard.

It's a good option for what you want. I would be a tiny bit anxious about being so close to the weight limit, but I think that's the only concern.

I would look up the short seatbelt method and practice this in case of any issues.

I would not plan to use it as a permanent HBB because it only goes up to 125cm (approx) so won't last long enough and I don't think the belt fit is that great. However it's fine for a spare for this.

Some other, similar options to compare to:

Graco Slimfit R129 - newer safety regulation and longer lasting HBB mode. Higher weight limit.
Graco Extend LX R129 - newer safety regulation. FF and RF fitting.