Automotive, Family

Tips to Find The Best Family Car

family-carFinding the right car for your family can be a daunting task. Unlike purchasing a car for yourself, your other family members must be taken into consideration when visiting auto dealers to look at potential vehicles.

If you’ve finally decided to ditch that old astro van and buy a brand new car for your loved ones, read these five tips for finding the best car for your family:

Storage

The amount of storage should take precedence over other characteristics of the car. Nowadays, you don’t necessarily need to purchase a large van or SUV to get the storage you need. Many hybrids come with more storage than their larger counterparts.

Make sure the car has enough storage to fit luggage for your entire family. While it may sound a bit embarrassing, take your luggage with you to the dealership to test out the storage in the vehicles that you plan to look at.

Entertainment

Having children in a crammed vehicle on a long road trip can cause a lot of headaches. When searching for new cars, make sure your potential vehicle comes with a high quality entertainment system. Television screens located in the headrest can help you maintain the peace and quiet that you’ll be craving when driving long distances.

Safety Features

Most cars these days come with an abundance of safety features, so finding a vehicle that fits your needs in this category won’t be too difficult.

To put your mind at rest, check the safety ratings of each vehicle. These ratings should be posted as part of the MSRP sticker located on the window. Only purchase vehicles that have been well rated by the federal government.

Other features to consider are the child door locks, anti-lock brakes and child seat tie downs. If you have small children, you must be able to securely fasten your child seats into the vehicle.

The Passenger Airbag

Being able to switch off the passenger airbag when there is a child in the front seat is important.

While airbags do save adult lives, children are often too small for the airbag’s intended purpose. Many airbags turn off automatically when no one is sitting in the front or the person isn’t heavy enough to trigger the sensor.

Large Doors

When shopping for your new car at one of the many Burlington auto dealers, check to make sure you can easily fit luggage and child seats into the rear seats without any problems. Many smaller cars won’t have large enough doors for your family, so you may have to purchase a slightly larger vehicle to accommodate your luggage and child seat needs.

One Comment

  1. Hi there, thanks for the article – you’re right there’s a lot to consider when you’re choosing a family car. Getting the right balance of space, practicality and value for money is no easy task! Two of my personal favorites are the SEAT Alhambra or the Citroen C4 Grand Picasso.

    All the best, John.

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