What to Look Out For When Purchasing Your Next Family Car

What to Look Out For When Purchasing Your Next Family Car

Having a family is a major life changing event with lots of different things to consider and buying your first family car or upgrading your current vehicle is one key item on your lengthy to-do list.

The sports car with the retractable roof is off your radar for now (sorry!) but you can still invest in a stylish vehicle which is suitable for all the needs of your family.

Some people may even decide they need to learn to drive so they can transport their family around. They should be heartened to know that it’s quicker than ever to get up to speed, if you pardon the pun,with online learning materials helping to supplement on-the-road lessons.

What to Look Out For When Purchasing Your Next Family Car

Here are a few points to think carefully about when purchasing your family car:

Safety: Your family is the most precious thing in your life so keeping them safe is essential. There are so many makes and models out there now that are suitable for a diverse family but checking the Euro NCAP rating is a good start for any shopper in this market. This system not only gives each car an overall safety rating but also explains how safe it is for adults, children and pedestrians as well as rating the safety assist systems.

Space: Will it fit everything that you need in it? This is a big decision in choosing your family car. Have you tried to fit a child-seat, pram, toys and bags of nappies into your current hatchback? You do not want to get into a fight with the car whilst the kids are screaming or arguing in the back seat. Take your car seat with you when you visit the car showroom and picture the vehicle at ‘full capacity’.

What to Look Out For When Purchasing Your Next Family Car

Storage: Children need a lot of supplies to keep them going throughout the whole day or during long journeys so make sure you can hide away all your belongings – and theirs – without compromising on comfort. Some cars come with floor storage where you can stow away small rucksacks or your handbag. Beware of under-floor storage, however, when it comes to fitting child seats. The AA says that if you’re using an Isofix-mounted child car seat that has a support leg, it may not be compatible with some of these cars as the storage cover/floor surface may not be strong enough.

Entertainment: Long gone are the days where children are satisfied with the simple things in life-like playing a game of ‘Eye Spy’, so looking for new technologies that are integrated into your new car could be a great way to keep them entertained. Cars can now be fitted with screens in the back of seats, similar to those on aeroplanes, so that they can watch movies or TV programmes and leave you in peace as you travel.

Stadium seats: These are a relatively new concept – where the back seats are higher than the seats in the front of the car so that back seat passengers have a better view out of the front – which is thought to reduce car sickness. These seats are also said to make it easier to fit child seats to them. They are mostly limited to MPVs and 4x4s but might well be worth researching into.

It’s important to really consider the options available when investing in your next family car. It will set you up for the future, from going on adventures while on holiday to just making life easier on a day-to-day basis.

disclosure:  this is a guest post for which I have been compensated.

1 thought on “What to Look Out For When Purchasing Your Next Family Car

  1. I’m just about to get my new car (well, nearly new) this or next week. It’s certainly hard to make a decision (being a libran doesn’t help), especially when you’ve got children, town parking, and muddy farms/bad roads to think about.

    (I think something’s gone wonky with your 3rd paragraph, 1st link – the anchor text doesn’t make sense with the rest of the paragraph?)

I'd love to hear from you and try to reply to all comments