What are the five best family cars for infotainment and rear entertainment?

It’s easy to assume that media systems will be the same in all modern cars but this is definitely not the case. Each car manufacturer has its own unique style of media system and some are more user-friendly and easier to connect phones with than others.

As a parent you want the system to be as fast and user-friendly as possible. Usually, I haven’t even backed out of the driveway when my kids are yelling that they want the music on, or their podcast or audiobook.

Some cars even have rear entertainment systems and screens so rear passengers are in control of their own systems. The kids will LOVE this!

The media systems of some cars have integrated sat-nav, some do a great job of displaying your phone’s navigation app on screens other than the main central one and, importantly, the ease of use of the climate controls varies too.

A growing number of car brands take entertainment a step further and have computer games, drawing, YouTube and even karaoke! These are great for when you are waiting somewhere with your kids in the car, be it school pick-up, click-and-collect bays, charging stations or if you’re stuck with a sleeping child who you don’t want to risk waking. You can keep everyone in the car amused!

Let’s not forget the adults onboard. We want the media system to be modern easy to use and to sound good when we play our music. Some have some great features within the media system that are helpful in our everyday life for organisation like the weather forecast, or linking with your digital calendar and reminders.

Most cars have the basics, but others have very thoughtful features that stand out from the rest. When looking for a car with a good media system, entertainment and camera systems there is a wide range when it comes to clarity and quality of the image – especially with cameras.

There are some fantastic family cars out there that have a great media system and rear entertainment, that I have tested with my family over the last eight years as a mum of two, family car journalist and founder of BabyDrive.com.au.

When we’re looking at the best media systems and rear entertainment, it’s important to take all aspects into consideration, size of the screen, simplicity of use, ease of connectivity, quality and clarity of camera images, modernity, phone connectivity and adjustable sound system are what we’re looking at and all play a part in deciding my top five family cars that have great a media system and rear entertainment system.

The media system in the Kia Sorento is on a sweeping 12.3-inch landscape media screen. The system is really modern and intuitive to use. It has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto so you can easily connect your phone and use your Apps etc while driving.

There are some great features in the media system such as white noise (great for calming infants), weather, voice notes and even an intercom so you don’t have to yell over your shoulder when communicating with third-row passengers.

It also has a handy dual-purpose panel on the dash that can be switched between navigating the media screen above or adjusting climate control settings.

You can end temperature-related battles from the back seats by managing the rear climate control settings through the media screen – and locking passengers out from adjusting it themselves.

You can customise the screen to have shortcuts to your most-used pages and the Kia Connect App gives you remote access to the 360-degree cameras, door locks (so the kids can put school bags in or get things out themselves) and pre-program the navigation so you’re not trying to do it in the car while children are doing their best to distract you.

The Kia Connect app can also set the climate control and heated/ventilated seats before you get to the vehicle so it is a comfortable temperature before your journey or open windows to air the cabin.

As well as the 360-degree parking cameras, the Kia Sorento has handy blind-spot indicator cameras that show in the driver’s display, and for when visibility is blocked by a full load of passengers or stuff the digital rearview mirror and rearview driving camera in the media screen mean you can always see behind the vehicle.

The BYD Seal media screen is fantastic! It is a very large 15.6-inch rotating touchscreen on the central dash that at the touch of a button rotates from portrait to landscape orientation depending on your preference. It is a VERY cool party trick!

The system is very easy to use and contains all the controls for the car. You can also have it split screen so you can control the car functions on one half and use the entertainment on the other.

The screen has to be in landscape mode to use the wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to directly access your phone’s car-compatible apps.

The climate controls are within the media screen only, I found it would be nice to have physical dials on the dash to make it faster to adjust when driving. The “Hey BYD” voice commands works well for adjusting the climate without having to go into the media screen.

A twelve-speaker surround sound system has excellent sound quality that is shown off to its max when using the in-car karaoke system!! A particular family favourite!!

With crystal clear camera images that fill the 15.6-inch screen and multiple viewing angles, visibility is definitely not a problem.

A 12.0-inch portrait media screen dominates the centre of the dash in the top-spec Ford Everest Platinum. The media system is really modern and easy to use and navigate.

It has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto so you can easily connect your phone and use car-friendly apps while driving but you might find yourself using the built-in apps such as Google Maps, Google Play and Amazon more than expected.

The excellent voice command understands plain language requests like “I’m too hot” to reduce air-con temperature or “I’m hungry” to bring up a list of nearby eateries. You can even ask it to open and close the windows.

The Everest’s media system features a drawing pad and games you can play on the screen which are great to use while waiting in the car to keep kids big and small entertained!

As standard there are eight speakers in the Everest, the Sport model has 10 and the Platinum has 12.

Clear camera images and multiple angles make visibility easy in the Ford Everest.

The Tesla Model 3 media system is fantastic in the front with an enormous screen that’s easy to use and though you can’t use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto without buying an aftermarket accessory the system is comprehensive and has a lot of apps you’d have on your phone anyway.

Image clarity is extremely good for the media system and the cameras. Talking of cameras, the Tesla Model 3 has cameras you can leave on while driving so you have excellent visibility and it even records security footage while unattended under “sentry mode”.

The front media system has all sorts of awesome features and tech for families to enjoy. There is a scribble drawing pad, Netflix, YouTube and computer games which are all great for keeping big and little kids entertained when you have to wait in the car.

For rear passengers, the 2024 Tesla Model 3 sedan has a media screen at the back of the central console box. I’m told the Model Y SUV will get this at some point too.

Rear passengers can adjust the rear climate control settings with this screen and use it to watch Netflix or YouTube and we understand that the games will also become available here in future.

Some say the positioning is too low for this screen but I’m sure most rear passengers would be happy to have it.

In the front of the Audi Q7 are three screens: A 12.3-inch media touchscreen in the central dash and below is an 8.6-inch touchscreen for climate control and other functions including a handy handwriting recognition system for entering navigation directions or phone contacts. I love the split between the two screens and the division of climate controls to the lower one for ease of use while driving.

The larger of the two is a modern and easy-to-use system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto so you can access your phone’s car-compatible apps. However, the Audi system is so good that I found myself using CarPlay less. For example, its built-in Google Maps displays in the driver display screen in front of the steering wheel so you can navigate to where you are going easily.

If you love music, the Bang & Olufsen 3D sound system with 16 speakers you can have in the Audi Q7 means your favourite tracks always sound fantastic on those solo journeys when you get rare moments of ‘me time’.

The cameras in the Audi Q7 have great image clarity. They give you multiple viewing angles and a 360-degree surround camera too.

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