a not quite 3 year old needs a new car seat, advice please

[rowanmac]

I have a tall skinny almost 3 year old. He weighs just under the magic 15kg. We currently have a Maxi Cosi Tobi which is on max extension and the springloaded shoulder straps come round his shoulders not over. I feel if we hit anything he is going to be catapaulted out.
Mothercare say we should keep him in this seat as it is safer than buying next size up. I cannot believe this is true.
Will probably buy one of the 3 highest which rated seats ie Maxi Cosi Rodi, Britax evolva ultra2/3 or cybexSolution X. Any thoughts on these too.

Is his eye line above the top of his car seat?

I have a similar problem with both my boys and have just posted a similar thread. However, I'm not so concerned about moving my 2.8 year old into a group 2 seat even though he's not, as you say, at the magic figures. He is also tall but does weigh just over 15kg, he's just nowhere near the magic 4 year old mark. I figured that his current seat and the group 2 are both forward facing, and as long as I buy one with a 5 point harness rather than using the adult seat belt, can there really be much difference safety wise. There is no way on earth he's going to make it to 4 years old before we have to change up!

Go to the Which? website (if you're a member) to see the safest models available. If you're not, I'll be checking this out in the next couple of days and can post the results here if you'd like. They do extensive testing and crash test all of them.

You could get the britax 123, and remove the straps when he reaches 18kg to turn it into a high backed booster. I'm surprised mothercare didn't suggest this.