The best family cars – driven, rated and ranked

Best for: Value

The Dacia Jogger proves that a great family car needn’t be expensive at all, and the estate-cum-MPV has just been given a facelift, gaining full-hybrid power, more standard kit and a revised look. Oh, and it’s only £25 dearer than the previous model. 

It's miraculous how much time the hybrid version can spend in EV mode.

Matt Saunders, Road test editor

You can still get the 1.0-litre turbo petrol triple, but the Jogger can now be had with the same Hybrid 155 powertrain as the Duster and Bigster SUVs. This pairs a 108bhp 1.8-litre four with an integrated starter-generator and a 49bhp electric motor to combine for 154bhp.

Many will be drawn to the new powertrain for its greater performance and impressive economy: expect around 70mpg around town, and 50mpg on the motorway.

The Jogger is the ideal family all-rounder, with space for seven passengers and a robust interior that’s durable enough to handle your kids, their mates and all the paraphernalia that comes with them. 

Best for: Fans of smaller cars

With five decades of excellence behind it, the Volkswagen Golf hatchback is for many still the ‘just right’ family car.

I'm normally on team manual gearbox, but the automatic just suits the Golf better. Six-speed devotees should try the Mazda 3.

Illya Verpraet, Road Tester

The latest, Mk8.5 model continues to offer family-sized motoring to suit a variety of budget and performance requirements, even in this SUV-dominated age. 

Those less costly Golfs are far more affordable than you might assume, given the prevalence of budget-branded alternatives, yet even the entry-level versions still manage to feel a cut above the mainstream when you’re sitting inside.

One family-friendly trait that’s often overlooked about the Golf is how well-packaged it is, feeling indulgently roomy considering that its shorter than most direct rivals and, at 4282mm bumper to bumper, barely any lengthier than most small hatchbacks.

Sure, that results in a boot that’s lacking a bit of capacity, but it’s hardly small. Plus, if you really need more space, Volkswagen will sell you a Golf Estate.

Best for: All-round utility 

When upscale family SUVs break £50,000 with little expended on the options list, many short of a mechanical link between front and rear axles, the £60,000 entry-point of Land Rover Defender 110 ownership doesn’t feel unreasonable.

Ask engineers what their choice version is and they will often go for the lightest variant with the simplest mechanicals. With the Defender, more seem to pick a 110 with air springs over anything else.

Matt Saunders, Road test editor

The reborn Defender is such an extraordinarily capable and practical car, yet it also feels satisfyingly special. Not ‘you’re not coming in here with food or drink’ luxurious but luxurious in a well-crafted, fit-for-purpose sense.

It’s a shame that Land Rover sullies that by charging a further £2000 for a third row of seats in the 110. That's a pricey option but one that does give the Landie an added dimension of versatility to what is an already flexible package. 

There's impressive performance for its size, the six-cylinder diesel particularly so, but its thirst for fuel and niggling doubts about whether JLR is finally on top of its reliability woes will be on the mind of a Defender driver. 

Best for: Daily driving

With SUVs being the preference of most of Britain’s new car buyers, Skoda – long-time master of blending value for money with quality – occupies a lofty position in the family car rankings with its Kodiaq.

The DCC Plus adaptive dampers are the same as those that are being introduced on various Volkswagens. They have separate valves for bump and rebound for finer control. In the UK, they come packaged with the Progressive Steering and are an option on SE L trim.

Illya Verpraet, Road Tester

Prices start below £40,000, with petrol and diesel models offering seven comfy seats or five plus a cavernous 910-litre load space.  

Plug-in hybrid versions are restricted to five seats but compensate with a long electric-only range, courtesy of a battery with a capacity similar to full EVs from a decade ago. 

If you want four-wheel drive, the 2.0-litre diesel in SE L or Sportline trim is the answer – or you can go for the punchier Kodiaq vRS, with 265bhp of petrol power and a performance focus, to momentarily regress to those pre-kids sports car days. 

Ticking the boxes of comfort and value alongside the desirable SUV format and optional 4x4, the Kodiaq fits the needs of the majority of families with consummate ease. 

Best for: Commuting

Using the Volkswagen Golf as a starting point and then making it both bigger and cheaper has been key to the success of the Skoda Octavia this past 30 years – and we've always felt a particular affinity with the estate version.

The appeal of the Octavia continues to centre on its outstanding versatility, rather than its driving dynamics.

James Attwood, Associate editor

Don’t mistake ‘no nonsense’ for ‘no frills’ when it comes to the Octavia Estate, because it’s packed with technology and clever features that just make life feel that bit easier, regardless of whether your family is in the car with you or not.

There’s a lot to be said about how unstressed you feel driving something that’s patently enormous inside yet doesn’t take up a massive amount of bay space or cause you to duck your head in multi-storey car parks. 

Choosing the Octavia Estate over an SUV saves a useful amount of money both in terms of purchase price and by virtue of its lower running costs. It can be driven so efficiently that the staff at your usual filling station will assume you’ve taken your custom elsewhere. 

Best for: Electric motoring

The iX3 feels like a defining moment for the electric family car. While many of its German rivals have failed to find the right formula for the electric SUV class, BMW has to hit the ground running with its radical new offering. 

The iX3 knows when you arrive at a charger and opens the flap before you get out. It closes again automatically while you put the charge cable away. If you’ve ever driven away with the flap still open, you’ll know this isn’t a gimmick.

Richard Lane, Deputy road test editor

Looks are subjective, and while the Neue Klasse design language will split opinion, it’s modern, purposeful and unequivocally a BMW. But it's what is underneath the iX3’s silhouette that makes it the current class leader. 

The range is mightily impressive, at 500 miles, and the battery can charge at up to 400kW, which means a 10-80% top-up should take just over 20 minutes.

There’s room in the back for adults to get comfortable, and there's not only a 520-litre boot but also a 58-litre frunk. 

Right now you can only have the 462bhp dual-motor 50 xDrive variant, which starts from just under £60,000, but more are on their way.

Best for: Economy 

For an eminently sensible family car, the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports has one of the silliest-sounding euphemisms for ‘estate’ we’ve seen – and yes, we do remember the Mazda 323 Stretchback.

In terms of depreciation, the Corolla is tipped to do well compared with rivals from Ford and Skoda, holding half its value after three years and 36,000 miles.

Richard Lane, Deputy road test editor

That aside, most people keep their car to the end of the warranty or finance agreement, then move on. For kids who got attached to the family car and adventures it created, that can be tough. But wait: Toyota’s 10-year warranty means the thoroughly dependable Corolla Touring Sports can be part of your life for so long that you might end up ferrying your grandkids around in it.  

Almost entirely devoid of contrived personality, the Corolla is a blank sheet just waiting to be part of your family story, providing reliable, economical and practical transport without demanding much in return, beyond its annual service and routine maintenance. 

In a rational world, the Corolla Touring Sports’ fuel efficiency, large boot and enviable record for trouble-free running should put it at the top of everyone’s list, but the absence of character from the equipment list counts.

Best for: Space

While it may not be the most stimulating to drive, the outlandishly styled and endlessly practical Hyundai Santa Fe is a solid family hauler. 

We would stick with the Premium, because the upper-level trims don't feel like a massive upgrade, either in terms of materials or features.

Matt Saunders, Road test editor

You can have this SUV with either six or seven seats, and inside you’ll find a number of clever storage compartments and cubby holes. There are plenty of USB ports and, thanks to those blocky proportions, the second row space is excellent – and adults won’t complain too much in the third row. Ingress and egress into the very back isn’t too much of a challenge either, because you can slide the middle row out the way. 

You can have the Santa Fe with a 1.6-litre hybrid powertrain, which pairs a turbo petrol engine with an electric motor, and overall it's a solid choice. There's also a plug-in hybrid variant, but it can muster an electric range of only 33 miles.