LIFESTYLE FAMILY CARS
✒ will need to part with £75,000 before you drive away.”
“To be simultaneously so thrilling and so practical, the
Audi is a real engineering achievement,” says Lord March. “It’s
simply the best all-rounder you can buy. Great looking but
under-stated, it does everything so well. Thanks to its four-
wheel drive and incredible brakes, it also feels totally safe. This
is new technology at its best and the children love it because it
goes like a rocket and carries all the bags and trunks as well.”
If space is top priority, you might consider an MPV
(Multi-Purpose Vehicle) a term most often ascribed to the
largest estate cars and the big seven-seater cars. Widdows
recommends the Volvo XC90, a four-wheel drive estate. “The
Volvo has seven seats, all facing forwards, and enough safety
features to satisfy some stringent Swedish laws,” he comments.
“It is good value at prices from £31,000, but be aware that
your extra space will be much in demand for team transport
to and from muddy football matches on winter afternoons. A
safe and reliable machine, this will last you until someone has
a midlife crisis and wants to trade it in for a Lotus.”
He also recommends the BMW 520D Touring, “an
estate with a wonderfully frugal diesel engine and cavernous
interior” and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class estate, which, at
around £41,000, claims to have up to 1,950 litres of space.
“That is a lot,” comments Widdows.
Leo Wilkinson, deputy road test editor at What Car?
magazine recommends another MPV. “Our favourite is the
new Peugeot 5008 which is great to drive, looks good and
has lots of space,” he says. “You have seven seats but two of
these fold away to give you a great boot. So it’s very flexible
and practical. We prefer the 1.6 litre engine as it has plenty of
power and is more economical than the 2-litre. You won’t do
much better than the Peugeot and it’s good value.”
Another option for larger families are people carriers. But
Widdows finds that space can be a problem. “Unfortunately
there is no room for any luggage and, as they get older, do your back in every time you move the seats around to
children do not travel light,” he says. “You are forced to add a make more space. There is very little choice if you need seven
roof rack and tie all their bags, cases, guitars and skateboards seats and I don’t see the need for four-wheel drive. The long
in a heap that does nothing for the aerodynamics or the fuel wheelbase Mercedes estate is a good bet but the Galaxy works
economy. If you stack the luggage behind the rear seats it all well for our large family.”
falls out when you open the tailgate.” Given the quality and performance of modern estates,
That said, the people carrier does have its fans. Former Widdows reckons it is not necessary to get involved with
racing driver and F1 team owner and father of four, Paul Range Rovers or huge Japanese all-terrain vehicles if you’re
Stewart chose a Ford Galaxy for his family. “What you really a town dweller. “They use a lot of fuel, are horrible to park
need is a van,” he says, “but my wife doesn’t want to drive a and you will be perceived to be ignoring global warming,” he
van. So we have the new Galaxy. The car has been improved comments. However, in rural areas there may be a genuine
a lot, with a much easier seat-folding system. You no longer need. “I have an old-style Land Rover Discovery which for
me is a real workhorse,” says Annabel Heseltine, First Eleven’s
“A large estate with a torquey
editor. A mother of four young children under eight (and
therefore all in car seats), she divides her time between town
turbocharged diesel engine is perfect
and country. “Yes, I do fit into the Chelsea tractor bracket
for most families with lots of children.
in London but it spends the week running between various
schools in London and during the weekends it will tackle a
The best are made by BMW, Volvo,
ploughed field, carrying everything including three dogs and
a cat between the two houses. When we need more room we
Mercedes-Benz and Audi” have a solid roof rack which we access from a ladder at the
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