Top family car choices for 2016
Top family car choices for 2016
By Donal Byrne
Choosing a family car requires careful research and a degree of compromise. Here's our guide to save you trawling the brochures and avoid the sales patter.
A lot is expected of the average family car and there are plenty of considerations to take into account when choosing one. Sometimes practicalities have to take precedence over personal style options.
Firstly a few questions:
Do you need a diesel or a petrol car ? Diesel cars cost more and are more expensive to maintain. If you are doing less than 15,000 kilometres a year a diesel may be a costly option in the long run and involve issues with the diesel particulate filter, which needs long journeys to prevent it clogging up. If you are a city or town driver with low mileage, diesel is almost certainly not for you. Think long and hard before committing to it. Sales people have been pushing diesel for years, often to the detriment of their low-mileage customers’ interests.
What bodystyle best suits your lifestyle – hatchback, saloon, estate, MPV, SUV or Crossover?
If you use child car seats do the doors open wide for easy access? Are there enough ISOFIX seat-belt anchor points to accommodate the number of children you have (most cars don’t have three fixed points in the rear – the new Volkswagen Touran is an example of one that does) ?
How roomy is the boot and how easy is it to load ? In other words, does it open easily and not involve excessive stooping or reaching too far to close it ? Think rainy days when you are struggling in a crowded car park.
What is the cabin storage like? It is important to consider the prevalence of cubby holes and wide storage spaces that are easily accessed.
Can the vehicle support kids’ tablets or music players? These are more and more important these days.
Do you need extra space from time to time? Should you consider a 7-seater that allows you to fold the rearmost seats into the floor when not in use ?
Older children typically like their own space, so should you consider choosing a car with individual seats rather than a bench seat ?
SUVs, MPVs and crossovers can look roomy on the outside but the boot can be surprisingly small as most of the space is in the cabin. Do you have enough space to accommodate all you need, especially for weekend or holiday trips ? Or even just the routine sports event outing, when friends’ children may also need transporting ?
If ferrying young children should you opt for tinted glass to minimise the glare in summertime ?
Should you opt for dark coloured upholstery as it’s easier to maintain ? Leather can be wiped clean but it is an expensive option and you are unlikely to recoup the cost on a trade-in.
So, here are some of our top choices based on a range of test drives.
COMPACT FAMILY:
Volkswagen Golf -
The Golf is a perennial favourite and for good reason. It is almost the perfect compact car package and it does’nt age. It’s been around since 1974 and since then it has constantly moved with the times adding more interior space, better standard equipment, additional safety features and improved fuel economy to its hallmark attributes of poised road behavior and solid build quality. Available with a broad spread of engine options, the Golf hatchback and the equally impressive Golf estate, are accomplished and practical and hold their value well. On the road prices start at €22,310 for the 5-door for the Trendline entry model. Most importantly, it has a very good reliability record and second-hand values are excellent.
Ford Focus -
A revised version of the Ford Focus now sees styling tweaks, retuned steering that provides a better connection to the road and new technologies including the option of advanced perpendicular parking assistance. This is a hands-free parking aid that helps drivers reverse into spaces alongside other cars. All versions come with electronic stability, an anti-allergic interior and tyre pressure monitoring. As well as being functional, the Focus is agile and pleasing to drive and the estate drives as well as the hatchback. The award winning 1.0 litre EcoBoost petrol engine is worth considering but it is not as petrol- efficient as the manufacturer claims.
All versions come as hatchbacks which generally offer greater stowage flexibility than saloons as the rear seats can be easily folded down for extra carrying capacity. All come with economic/efficient engines and all are available as full sized estates that can provide the additional space families often need for buggies, sports kits, a large weekly shop, and even the family dog. Prices for the Focus 5-door range start at €20,395 excluding delivery.
Opel Astra -
There is really no comparison between the recently launched Astra and previous cars of the same name. The newcomer is light years ahead and it is a car likely to restore Opel’s name as a desirable quality manufacturer after years of lacklustre production. The styling is smart, the bodyweight has been reduced so the handling is livelier and the new engines are smoother and more powerful but still economical. The steering is crisp, the ride comfort is excellent and the cabin spacious and well laid out. Most versions come with a personal connectivity system called On Star that does a range of things from acting as a Wi-Fi hotspot to calling the emergency services if you have a crash. The estate or Sports Tourer version of the Astra will be available from March. On the road prices for the range start at €20,695 for the Astra S.
MID-SIZED SALOON :
Skoda Octavia
You will be hard pressed to find a better mid-sized hatchback better suited for family purposes than the Skoda Octavia from the Volkswagen family. It offers space – acres of it compared to the competition and a boot that will swallow everything including the kitchen sink – value for money and excellent reliability. Ok, it’s not a VW Passat but for a car that is based on the VW Golf platform, it almost equals a Passat or a Ford Mondeo in terms of practicality. There is a degree of skimping on the basic version in terms of equipment but you can add almost anything you need as an extra. As a value-for-money proposition it leaves most competitors in the shade and offers everything you need – along with a 5 star crash rating – for efficient and dependable motoring. If you believe that fancy extras maketh the car then you are the car salesman’s ideal customer but if you are the no-nonsense type of motorist then you should start with the Octavia at the top of your list. Prices start at 18,995 for the 1.2 petrol TSi version.
MID-SIZED CROSSOVER:
Renault Kadjar -
The Renault Kadjar is the appealing new kid on the block in the mid-sized crossover segment where its competition includes the Ford Kuga, Mazda CX-5 and the Peugeot 3008. It’s a sister vehicle to Nissan Qashqai with which it shares a platform, but the Kadjar is younger, cheaper, better styled and has a more up to date interior. The benefit is you don’t pay the Qashqai premium when you are getting essentially the same car and technology package.The Kadjar has the typical raised driving position of a crossover so the visibility is good and it comes with impressive front and rear legroom. There is a roomy boot and additional under floor storage. There are three engine options including a 1.2-litre petrol that might be worth considering if most of your driving is around town. Recommended retail prices start at €24,990 for the petrol powered model and €26,790 for the 1.5 litre diesel. Delivery and related charges are extra.
MINI MPV:
Honda Jazz -
Not everyone needs a big family car and the new Honda Jazz manages to provide a lot of it within a very small footprint. The Jazz has a brilliantly packaged interior that allows a tall passenger to sit behind a tall driver in comfort – especially useful for long teenage legs. The new Jazz has more defined styling, improved ride and handling and it also comes with more standard comfort and safety equipment, including Bluetooth, cruise control, air conditioning, and Honda’s city brake safety system. The entry price point for the new Jazz is €17,395 for the 1.3 (petrol) SE model excluding delivery and related charges. The virtues of the Jazz – and indeed the Honda range – have traditionally been eclipsed by premium prices.
LARGE LUXURY OPTION:
BMW 2 Series Active Tourer -
The 2 Series Active Tourer is BMW’s first foray into the compact MPV segment. With five or seven seats it competes against models such as the Mercedes B-Class and the Ford C-Max. Unusually for BMW it is front-wheel-drive, which is easier to drive in slippier conditions.
mounted for better use of space. At this level a top quality feel and A great layout and interior finish are a given and the cabin has multiple storage points and good rear headroom. There’s an automatic tailgate to make life easy and luggage space of 468 litres with the back seats in use. The boot has a foldable floor that conceals another storage compartment beneath. The back doors are wide opening which is always a consideration when trying to get children in and out of car seats. Active Tourer prices start at €33,840 on the road for the 218i SE.
LARGE LUXURY:
Volvo XC90 -
The original XC90 was a big hit for Volvo but the second generation is actually a much better driving proposition with sharper responses and improved steering feedback. It is not cheap ‘though. Volvo likes to launch with safety “firsts” and the new XC90 debuts automatic braking at intersections to avoid accidents and a protection system that detects if the vehicle has left the road and automatically tightens the seatbelts to absorb the potential impact.
There is no shortage of creature comforts in the new model, it offers Android and Apple connectivity and for a big vehicle the manoeuverability is pretty good. Prices start at €63,450 for the Momentum D4 with front-wheel-drive and delivery is extra. The entry Momentum all-wheel-drive version costs €71,450 with delivery extra.
FAMILY ESTATE:
VW Passat -
The Passat is Europe’s best selling midsize car and the estate version, with a whopping 650-litres of bootspace, is good choice for anyone who needs a huge amount of carrying capacity. The Passat is a sturdy, practical workhorse by nature, but it also offers good levels of comfort, the latest technology and safety systems and a very pleasing level of refinement on the road. Depending on the specification chosen (Trendline, Comfortline or Highline) there is a wide choice of equipment options available including Mirror Link, which integrates smartphone apps with the car’s infotainment system, a voice controlled navigation system and keyless entry. The Passat costs from €28,230 on the road for the 1.4 Trendline petrol and €29,885 for the 1.6 litre entry model diesel. It is hard to find a better estate package that combines style with practicality.
Donal Byrne, Motoring Editor and Olive Keogh.