There's absolutely no doubt that rear facing is safest so that is ideally the way you should go. You can get isofix or ones with belts. I bought a maxi cosi tobi for dd when she was about 8 months but before i ever used it i read about extended rear facing seats and how much safer they are, so I sold it and bought a maxi cosi mobi. It rear faces till 25kg (about 6 years). DD is only 15 months but is very happy in it. She couldn't care less that she can't see me, she doesn't know any different. And there's a gap for her legs when she's bigger.
She is also on 75th centile for weight and 25th for height but still has room in her stage 0 britax car seat. We still use that quite regularly. I think a lot of people don't realise how long a child can stay in the smaller seats.
I have lots of friends with similar aged children who moved their children forward facing far too early IMO. They all believed their dc's were either too big at around 9 months or didn't like being rear facing. All of these children have been in my car rear facing in at least one of the maxi cosi mobi, besafe izi combi or britax stage 0 and have been absolutely fine. Not a peep from them, and most have fallen asleep in them too!
We do have a kiddy guardian pro in dp's car. This is because he has a 3 door and it's very difficult to get into the back so a rf seat would have been very awkward. The kiddy seats are the safest type of FF seats and worth looking at.
Do not assume that all car seats are "safe". If you research crash tests you will soon find out that's not the case, and it's amazing some of them are still on the market!
Good luck in your search, you might need it! 