The family car is the second biggest purchase you will likely ever make, after your house. There’s no single family car that’s going to win the day, though. The car you choose will differ depending on growing family size and circumstances. You have to decide what needs your family has and then what car can fulfil those needs.
So which car wins out in each category?
Best Budget Car
If you are out for something that does the job without costing a fortune, the Kia Soul is an excellent choice. It’s one of the most affordable cars on the market. It comes with six speakers, audio controls on the steering wheel, and a tiny carbon footprint.
It’s perfect for your family because you can easily split the rear seats to give yourself a huge amount of cabin space.
Best Compact
For the compact, you could go for the hybrid Ford C-Max. This is a compact that is energy efficient and will save you a lot of money on fuel costs. It comes with a roomy interior, despite it being a compact, and smart technology. It will even let you know about your driving performance in real-time, so you know whether you’re making the most of what’s on offer to you. Second hand C-Max are widely available on line and ford direct have a great selection of nearly new approved used ford c-max.
This could have easily been in the best budget car category, but we think it is by far the best compact on offer today.
Best Green Car
If you are trying to save those pennies on fuel, take a look at the Chevrolet Volt. This is one of the more expensive new cars on this list, but we had to mention it because of this plug-in hybrid’s incredible mileage on electricity. You can perform a 53-mile round trip on a single charge. For an electric car, this is more than enough for a parent to go on the school run and pick up some shopping. Again these have a good selection of used Chevrolet volt on the net.
And if you do run out of charge, it will switch to petrol without any input from you. That alone gives it a range of 420 miles.
Best Hatchback
The Mazda 3 brings together the German efficiency you want from a car with the style of an Italian vehicle. And yet it is manufactured by a Japanese car maker. The latest version of the Mazda comes with a rear parking camera, an entertainment system with a seven-inch touchscreen, and split rear seats.
Crucially, this hatchback has excellent safety ratings. You even have safety technology such as cruise control, which uses radar to keep you safe. Smart City Brake Support will automatically apply the brake at low speeds if it senses a collision is imminent.
Best Small Sedan
The latest Honda Civic is an attractive proposition for a family car. It’s a reworked Civic that’s so much fun to drive. You have better handling than previous models, and it is a stylish drive as it offers a slope-roofed body. The cabin is bigger than it was before and you have more visibility from the lower windshield.
The fuel economy is better because of the variable automatic transmission, allowing you to save money on fuel. If you really want to upgrade your car, you can pay extra and Honda will give you the safety suite, which comes with forward collision, lane departure warnings, and cruise control that automatically adapts to the conditions around it.
So what car should you choose?
Safety and fuel economy should be the primary considerations for any family. There are so many situations where you have a car that is guzzling pound after pound because it’s burning through fuel at a rapid rate of knots. Obviously, this isn’t sustainable, so all the cars on this list have acceptable-to-great fuel economy.