Seat recommendations for my small 5.5 year old?

[eclipse]

It's been a long time since I've been in the market for a seat, but ds' Britax Marathon is expiring soon, and he's starting to suggest that it's a "baby" seat, so I'm starting to look around for something new.

It will be used in the middle bench of a Ford Windstar. He's almost 5 1/2 and he's very small, so I don't really need something with a super high harness weight, though I do still plan to keep in harnessed. He's a little guy - only 40 inches the last time I measured him, though he's grown a tad. so maybe 41 inches? He's also under 40 lbs - 38 or 39ish. I'd like one that does eventually switch to a belt positioning booster. I don't have a budget figured out yet, but I'd rather spend as little as I can while still keeping him comfortable and safe. He's my youngest, and probably last, child, so I won't be handing it down to anyone else in the future.

Any suggestions on what to start looking at?

[an_aurora]

I'd look at the Evenflo Maestro, Graco Nautilus, and Britax Frontier85.  Of those, the Maestro and the Nautilus have the same harness height (18") while the Frontier's top slots are 20".  All three turn into boosters, but the Maestro's booster is pretty short, so it would be outgrown by the time the child outgrows the harness by height.  Of course, it's also the cheapest, and buying a Maestro now and a high-back booster later would still be cheaper than the Nautilus, and the Frontier by far.

[DahliaRW]

If he wants one that looks like a "big kid" seat, the nautilus looks a lot like the turbobooster (just bigger) with a harness.