Britax Marathon Vs. Regent???

I'm going to assume you need this for your 4 yr old. The only cons to the Regent is that it's a huge seat. It's also been recently discontinued in favor of the Frontier. The Regent has higher harness slots than the MA so you could keep your child harnessed longer. I have a 7yr old still harnessed in mine. I had a Marathon which recently expired and has since been destroyed and my 4 yr old was still able to fit into it. It would be a great seat for your new princess though.

The Frontier is a great seat with high harness slots and becomes a booster seat later on. It would probably be the last seat you'd need.

I'd highly recommend you go over to http://www.car-seat.org/ or the car seat boards on Babycenter and chat with a CPST (car seat tech).

for your little princess, I highly recommend keeping her rear-facing as long as possible! more & more studies keep coming out as to why this is best. the Marathon rear-faces to 33lbs I think it is and now there are other seats that rear-face to 40lbs! the Graco My ride I do believe and the Sunshine Kids Monteray- I think it is

for your 4 yr old: a Frontier or Regent is fine. The Regent is being discontinued, so you can find them on sale- they are 'good' for 6yrs from their date of manufacture. the Frontier is actually 'good' longer, I think it's 9 yrs, and when your child outgrows it as a seat (might even make it to 5 or even 6 yrs old as a seat!) then it converts into a booster that has good reviews.

someone mentioned a 5-pt harnessed booster- this is the
Safeguard GO and it's one-of-a-kind. I'm not sure they're available right now, as I think they're tweaking the design or they're changing who manufactures them- something.

I would keep your 4yr old in a 5-pt harness for as long as possible.

My six yr old is in a Regent in both of our cars. My 3 yr old is still rear-facing in his Marathon.

RESEARCH is key! check out the link the previous poster gave you: carseat safety org...

We had the Marathon (and loved it) and my son at about 4 went into the Britax Frontier. It converts into a booster, so it lasts longer than the Regent, if I am remembering correctly is just a huge seat that keeps them harnessed longer than Marathon does. The Froniter keeps them harnessed until 80 lbs, then converts into a booster for up to 100 lbs. It also has cup holders which the Regent does not(or did not when I was looking last year).
Check out elitecarseats.com, it will allow you to compare them side by side.

Also, The Frontier takes up as much room as the Marathon, the Regent is bigger (take up more space on the back seat).

Only drawback to the Frontier I can see is you have to be 2 to use it and it's only for forward facing, so you still need a seat like the Marathon between infant carrier and Frontier.

We have a Regent. It is for older children, 3+. It is also much larger than a Marathon. I would not buy a Marathon for a older child.

I have both.. and my girls are using the Regent right now.. I really like it b/c it is a 5 point harness that booster to 80lbs.. which is hard to find.. they are bulky and huge.. we latch ours in the car.. and if I had a smaller car they would not fit very well. b/c they take up leg room.. we have a volvo suv.. I wouldnt buy these if you plan to take them and switch between cars on a daily basis.. but they are sure nice for the girls for road trips.. i like the side impact crash wings and the kids rest their head easily. we bought ours at babyage.com they offered no tax and free shipping.. I was very happy with baby age and buy all my car seats their cheaper than baby r us.
Lenc

I couldn't fit the Regent into my station wagon, so I just used a booster with a five-point harness when my daughter turned four. She's in a booster now at five. Hope that helps!

Check out the Britax website. It has a cool tool that you plug in your kiddies height, weight, etc and it gives you a break down of all the seats that would work for them to help you make a better decision on what would be the best seat for you.