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Estate or Hatchback? Four of the Best Contenders For a Family Car

September 10, 2019 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Buying the perfect car for your family is a tall order. Unlike choosing a car for yourself, you need to take varied (and sometimes contradictory) priorities into account. From the school run, to your next family vacation, is there a car out there that can tick all your boxes?

 

To help you make your comparisons, here’s a roundup of the most popular family car body types, and their pros and cons.

Image Source: Pexels CC0 Licence

 

Hatchbacks

A hatchback is a vehicle that has a boot that spans the full width of the car. The trunk is hinged at the roof of the car, and flips upwards to allow you to access to the trunk. Technically, the boot lid is considered one of the car’s doors, which takes the tally of doors up to either three or five.

 

The wide-opening lid of the trunk will enable ease of access for unloading the kids’ school bags, your grocery shopping, a child stroller, or the dog. The seats at the back can usually be folded down for extra packing space when needed. Whether you need to fit a couple of skis or your teenager’s Ikea furniture when they move off to college, you’ll be amazed by how much you can cram into a hatchback with the seats folded flat.

 

Hatchbacks come in all shapes and sizes. Some top sellers include the Ford Fiesta, the Ford Focus, and the Ford Mondeo. These three vehicles range in size from small to large, making the Ford Mondeo both a popular choice in general, and an excellent choice for a family.

 

Estates

If space matters to your family, you might consider buying an estate. Essentially, an estate gives you the versatility of a hatchback with the additional trunk space allowed by an extended body. Some models provide the possibility of extra space for additional passengers, too.

 

Extra storage means the car is super practical for day-to-day life, especially if you have a few kids. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that because estates are longer than other models, your family car might be a little tricky to maneuver. This may not be an issue for you, but if you have teenagers who will be learning to drive soon, an estate might pose challenges for learner drivers. (On the other hand, maybe teaching your teen to drive in a difficult-to-park car is the best way to ensure that they develop excellent parking skills!)

Image Source: Pexels CC0 Licence

 

SUV

If you value style on top of space concerns, you might like the sound of a super-trendy SUV. You have the choice of either two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, so if you’re the kind of family that is just as at home on the dirt track as the strip to the mall, the SUV could be for you. Whether you’re canoeing or heading out for a weekend of camping, there isn’t much that you could throw at an SUV that it could not handle. These much sought after cars sit slightly higher up on the road, making it easier for you to see, and providing extra space in the back seat for kids, grandparents, dogs, and other passengers!

 

You’ll have a few size options to choose from. The more compact SUVs such as the Citroën C3 Aircross—popular for its smooth feel and elegant design—or if you need something bigger, you can go all the way up to a 7 seater, like a Volvo XC90. Other well-regarded options are the Volkswagen Tiguan, the Nissan X-Trail, and the Mercedes GLS-Class.

 

Buy Two Vehicles

 

Yes. That’s right: sometimes there is no single perfect family car. Especially if you are a two-car family anyway, it can make a lot of sense to see those two vehicles as two separate opportunities to meet different, yet important, requirements for your family vehicle. For example, if school economy is crucial for your school run, but you only have two kids, a hatchback could be the perfect run-around, allowing you to zip through traffic, grab that tight parking space at the grocery store, and saving you money on fuel. Running a fuel-efficient car might enable you to invest in a second vehicle that is purely for leisure. Whether you spend that extra budget on the best mattress for an rv or a roof-rack and off-road tyres for your 4X4, it can be freeing not to demand that your family car be everything in one.

 

Whether you have one child or five—not to mention pets—finding the perfect family car can be a challenge. This roundup of the most popular family vehicles should help you narrow down your options and work out which body-type might work best for you.

Filed Under: fatherhood Tagged With: car, car buying, car shopping, cars, family car, suv

Cars.com #newcarface Contest Lets You Show Your Car Colors #dachat

November 18, 2014 by dadofdivas 1 Comment

newcarface
Sponsored by Cars.com
 photo disclaimer_zpsaa1cb05b.jpg

I remember the first time I went car shopping to buy my first car. My wife and I had been married for a bit and one of our cars had recently gotten into an accident (not our fault). Our car shopping process ended up getting placed into overdrive and we had to start looking everywhere. We looked online, in local car selling magazines (as this was before Ebay and Craigslist). J-Mom and I did do our research online through cars.com (as the site was active) and by talking to people at car dealerships too. We looked at a lot and came to decide upon buying a 2002 Ford Escape. While the vehicle we found was used, it was in great shape and had everything we were looking for, so we were definitely happy with the find, and the price.

We have had this vehicle for the past eleven years and it has been a great vehicle. It currently has over 140,000 miles on it. Saying this, I have recently started to look for a new vehicle to replace this one. I drive a bit to work every day and this vehicle just does not get the gas millage that I want. Also, so many cars of a similar make are getting such better gas millage now that I really want to make sure that I am getting this too and thus saving money on gas in the long run.

New-Car-Face-Cars.com

In jumping into this search my wife and I followed a very similar pattern as the time when we purchased the Escape so many years ago. We looked online (even more than before) and did go out and check out the cars we liked at the dealer too. We went back and forth on whether to purchase new/used or lease. We ended up deciding on purchasing a new car (even though I have to be indebted to anyone).

#newcarface

We also explored many different makes and models. There are a number of ones that I could be happy in, so at this time, though I have yet to select a car, we still are having a tin of fun trying out cars as well as learning more about them too. Now, I have to take the time to learn even more and start to decide things like: Do I buy foreign or domestic; car safety; cost, room inside the vehicle, standard features versus optional upgrades and other things like this!

#NewCarFace

I am so looking forward to the day when I too have a new car that I can call my own!

As I am going through this car search I am having some fun too with the Cars.com newcarface contest. This is a fun contest that allows you to show your new car face with everyone. There are some very cool examples from other people that have entered the cars.com contest that might even give you some motivation as you take your own #newcarface photo! So enter today and see for yourself, it is so much fun!

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Filed Under: fatherhood Tagged With: auto, automobile, car shopping, Cars.com, contest

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