Top five features to consider when buying a family car

We love the innovative features in modern cars that really help families in their everyday lives.

We’ve all seen a friend’s car do something ours doesn’t and thought, “I wish my car did that, it would make family life so much easier!”

Just imagine your ultimate family car. Would it be five seats, or seven? (Or maybe your ultimate would have 11!) Could you remove some seats when you don’t need them or turn some around depending on your kids’ needs and as your family grows and changes?

Now think about the features throughout the car in each row of seats. What is there to make the passengers and your journey easier and the best it could possibly be?

As a mum of two, family car journalist and founder of BabyDrive.com.au, I have tested the best features for families in hundreds of cars over the past eight years with my family.

Here’s my pick of the best family features and the cars that have them…

No more towels carefully trapped into rear windows and doors! We’ve all done it!

Built-in window blinds are one of my favourite family features as they shade rear passengers big and small from the sun while you are driving along – and we really need this in Australia.

One of the most opulent examples is the luxury Genesis GV80, which has rear window blinds that go up and down electronically using the window button. And you can even control them from the front while driving!

In more affordable cars are manually adjusted window blinds, found in higher spec levels of most new seven- and eight-seat SUVs including the Nissan Pathfinder, Kia Sorento, Hyundai Palisade, Mazda CX-9, Mazda CX-8, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Hyundai Santa Fe, Skoda Kodiaq and Toyota Kluger, as well as people-movers like the Hyundai Staria, Kia Carnival and Volkswagen Multivan.

It’s fantastic to see them introduced to five-seater SUVs too, such as the new Nissan X-TRAIL, Mitsubishi Outlander, Hyundai IONIQ 5, Genesis GV70 and Volkswagen Touareg.

I don’t think many Australian families make it through parenthood without using the car to get their children to sleep. For some, my family included, it is how our children have slept for 90 per cent of their day naps!

Try and get them to sleep in their cot and they scream every time, but drive them around the block a few times and they are out like a light!

We strategically plan long journeys for when we know our kids will be tired so they’ll sleep for the majority of the journey in the car.

To aid our plight, some car manufacturers have incorporated white noise into their media systems. BMW, for example, has soundtracks to relax you or to vitalise you while driving. When I drove the BMW X1 with my family, the relaxing sounds were great for calming the kids down in the back and helping them off to sleep.

The vitalising soundtrack is also great for us parents after a night of not much sleep thanks to the kids!

Most new Kia, Genesis and Hyundai models have ‘Sounds of Nature,’ a variety of soundscapes such as crackling log fire, rainforest, busy cafe, ocean waves, rainy day, crunchy snow, etc. With good speakers in the car they sound amazing when you are driving along and our family recently particularly enjoyed the sounds of the rainforest in the Genesis G80 and GV70 EVs.

It’s also available in the Hyundai Staria and Kia Carnival people-movers, the Hyundai Santa Fe, Hyundai IONIQ 5, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sorento, Hyundai i30, Kia Cerato, Hyundai Palisade, Kia Sportage, Kia Niro and Kia EV6.

Another feature that really helps families in these models of Kia, Hyundai and Genesis is Quiet Mode.

Quiet Mode brings the sound from the rear speakers into the front speakers at the touch of a button. I love this with my family because we can be all listening to something, and as soon as the kids fall asleep I turn Quiet Mode on and I continue to listen in the front without disturbing them. It would be great to see Quiet Mode in all cars!

Passenger Talk is another desirable Kia, Genesis and Hyundai feature for families. In seven- and eight-seater models, Passenger Talk amplifies your voice through from the front of car to the third-row speakers so occupants at each end of the vehicle can talk to each other without having to shout to be heard.

Whether you are looking at a five-seater or a seven- or eight-seater car for your family, you are going to want all passengers to be comfortable. One of the most important factors is second- and third-row air vents as journeys can be unpleasant for rear passengers when it is too hot or cold in the back.

It is great to see a lot of manufacturers now making rear air vents standard in five-seat SUVs, including the Nissan X-TRAIL, Mitsubishi Outlander, GWM Haval H6, Hyundai Tucson, Volkswagen Touareg, Toyota RAV4, GWM Haval Jolion and Volkswagen Golf.

Seven- and eight-seat SUVs with third-row air vents include the Kia Sorento, Hyundai Palisade, Hyundai Santa Fe, Toyota Kluger, BMW X7, Genesis GV80, Isuzu MU-X, Land Rover Discovery, Nissan Patrol, Toyota Prado, Land Rover Defender, Toyota Fortuner, Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, Ford Everest, Haval H9 and Jeep Grand Cherokee L.

People-movers like the Hyundai Staria, Kia Carnival, Toyota Granvia and Volkswagen Multivan also tend to be well-catered with air-con vents for all occupants.

Families that need a seven- or eight-seater car – especially those that want to use the third-row seats on a daily basis – will need to consider third-row access.

If you have child seats installed in the second row of some vehicles it can make it difficult for passengers get through to the third row without uninstalling child seats every time someone gets in or out.

Some large SUVs and people-movers that do third-row access really well include the Kia Carnival, Hyundai Palisade, Jeep Grand Cherokee L, BMW X7, Toyota Kluger, Kia Sorento, Mazda CX-9, Mazda CX-8, Nissan Pathfinder, Audi Q7, Hyundai Santa Fe and Genesis GV80.

Flexibility for families as they grow and change is important. All families need to be able to fit rear-facing child seats in the car for at least the first six months of every child’s life in Australia and preferably for two years or more, before they turn forward-facing.

Some may have another baby, or partner-up with someone who has teenagers or twins. Families just aren’t a universal size; our needs are all different, so we need our cars’ seating to be flexible too and to be able to distribute legroom across the vehicle differently.

Having flexible seating options to suit each family’s needs is wonderful. In some large SUVs like the Peugeot 5008, there are three individual seats in the second row so you can distribute the legroom how you need to.

The second- and third-row seats in the Volkswagen Caddy are individual and easily removable to give parents extra flexibility and even turn this people-mover into a full-on van should you need it!

Some cars have removable seats in the second row, which makes a walkway through to the third-row seats.

The Kia Carnival is well known for this. Its central second-row seat can also be turned around so, for example, a parent can face their children.

The Nissan Pathfinder and Hyundai Palisade are available with two seating options for the second row. They can either be an eight-seater with a bench seat or as a seven-seater with two captain’s chairs in the second row, the latter providing a walk-through to the third-row seats.

The Volkswagen Multivan also has two individual seats in the second row, while Mazda’s CX-8 and CX-9 – and the newer Mazda CX-90 – also have captain’s chair options but a console between the seats means there is no walk-through.

Some SUVs have buttons on the inside of the front passenger seat so the driver or rear passengers can move that seat forward or back. I find this really useful when doing school pick-up and drop-off so kids can more easily squeeze past child seats into the back. When taking elderly relatives in the car it is also handy for adjusting the seat on their behalf.

Available across different price points, this feature is found in cars such as the Genesis GV70 and Genesis G80, Kia Sorento, Haval H9, Hyundai Palisade, Kia Carnival and Hyundai Santa Fe.

The Hyundai IONIQ 5 and BMW X7 take this to a new level as you can even adjust the position of the rear seats through the media screen, which makes it very easy for the driver to redistribute legroom when people get in the car without anyone having to get out of their seats.