ERF seats with forward facing options.

[SockQueen]

DH has just written off our car, and we need to get new car seats. I'm after help with options for DS2, who is 2. He was in a GB Vaya i-Size - a swivel seat which is basically the same as the Cybex Sirona, and that was fine, but he is 90th centile for height and weight, so would likely outgrow that in just over a year or so, therefore we'd like to get something that will last a little longer - 25kg at least. However, while we'll be keeping him RF for now, and ideally until 4 (DH is illogically against RF, though is keeping quiet currently seeing as he crashed the car with both kids in it), I would like to have the option to go FF at some point. I've looked at a few seats on the In Car Safety Centre website, but haven't found much that will do this - the Britax Two Way does, but then the harness is only to 18kg when FF.

Any ideas? Bonus if they're stocked at Halfords as that's where our insurers want to get them from.

I don't think Halfords sell any erf 25kg seats.

Rear only
Axkid minikid
Axkid move
Britax max way
Ff to 18kg
Two way elite
Britax multi tech III

Ff to 25kg
Diono radian 5 (I think)

The Diono Radian 5 seems to be unavailable in a couple of places I've checked.

There are a couple of new rotating seats that say they go up to 36kg - Cosatto All in All and Chicco Seat4Fix - are they any good/safe?

They are both harnessed to 18kg so unlikely to be much better than what you've had before. You might get a bit longer possibly because I think the serona has a harness that's on the smaller size. But at 90 percentile I doubt you'd get to 4 harnessed in them.

From what I've read I wouldn't get one of the combination seats as they're a compromise to cover the range of ages.

Hope everyone is ok, must have been a shock

It does seem sensible to buy a 25kg seat, there is a helpful list here (it's old so there might also be newer seats not on the list):
csftl.org/european-car-seats-25-kg-weight-limit-seats/

Personally i would get the Britax Max Way Plus as it's the seat we have and it's great. But it's RF only so if you want FF, I think your options are:
Diono Radian 5 (this is both RF and FF so best option I think)
Cozy N Safe Hudson or Excalibur (FF only)
Joie Bold (this has the highest harness height so it's the best option if DC are tall, but FF only)

Have you checked the terms and conditions of your car insurance? What does it say about replacing car seats? It seems unfair to insist that you get the new seats from Halfords - if it's not in the T&Cs I doubt they can do that.