Parkway, Turbobooster, or Recaro Young Style?

Hi.

My soon to be 3.5 yo DD is currently 42" tall and 41 lbs. We have a Husky for the minivan, but I'm afraid she's almost out of her MA in dad's car. She'll be in his car around 3x per week to go to school. I'm looking for the next candidate for a secondary seat which we would also use in Grandma's car (checked on a plane 2+ times a year). She's very safety conscious - in my sleep deprived state I actually forgot to buckle her in once or twice and she stopped me from starting the car until she was safely strapped. Thank goodness for my smart little girl! We now do a "Is everyone locked and loaded?" verbal check before starting out.

Our second child, DS is 9 weeks old, 25.5", and 16 lbs - we expect him to take over the RA and MA (once DD's out of it) for the time being.

1) At what age can DD be in a bpb?
2) What are the differences between the Parkway, Turbobooster, and Young Style? They all seem pretty similar except for the superficial bells and whistles (cups, arm rests, fabric pattern).
3) Are the armrests a feature or a bug?
4) Any other suggestions? (The combo/booster seats don't fit my DD - we tried everyone available and they were all too small except for the MA. which is why we bought the Husky about 1 yr ago. )

Karen

[Joolsplus2]

She'll probably fit in the Marathon for another 2 years...but since you have to hand it down... well, she won't ;). Here's big kids in the Marathon, fitting happily up to 49 inches http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/FFAlbum.aspx (my dd is 5 months older now, in the yellow one, and she's still "at" the top slots, not quite "above them" and her ears are no where near the top of the seat.)

Anyway, I really don't like to see kids in boosters till at least age 4, and 5 is better...generally they take SO MUCH reminding to sit still that either the parents don't do it, and kids develop terrible seatbelt habits, or I feel bad for the mom who's stresssed out reminding the kid to sit still! ;) (SOME little kids, almost always the ones without siblings, are better in the car than others, but boosters simply aren't "quite as safe" as harnessed seats, so I hate to see them rushed out of their secure harnesses, on principle).

Anyway, enough ranting!

So, which seat is best? Um...kids are loving the Style, but I'd really wait till you can see one in the store and judge for yourself. The Parkway fits little kids remarkably well, is light, easy to transport, and is impossible for dads and grandmas to get wrong, since they can't mess up the armrests (it's amazing how much training some people take to not do the seatbelt wrong over the armrests...). And the Turbo is nice, but doesn't actually undergo side impact crash testing like the other 2 do (though it does have nice deep headwings, and we can presume that's better than nothing...still...if you don't have side impact airbags, more protection from the booster is better than less, IMO).

Wait a couple months and keep looking around so you can compare seats side by side and really see what you like the best, I think.

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx