Increasingly hectic lifestyles are continuing to change day to day habits for families across the country. Text messages and emails are now the most popular forms of communication between parents and children, whilst the car has substituted the dining table for family discussions.

The traditional family car makes for a perfect vehicle, pun entirely intended, to have sensitive conversations where lack of eye contact can help greatly. With a captive audience and few distractions relative to other areas of modern life, other important conversations can take place too.

Though the car is clearly becoming a multi use tool, it still plays a central role in day to day family life. Shop runs, school runs, collecting and dropping off are all steady jobs for parent and car of course. With concerns over safety also consistently high, trips to the corner shops, parks, friends’ houses and so forth are also popular, where once walking or riding a bike would be preferred.

Though most trips made in dedicated family cars are short hops, their frequency contributes to a total of over 12,000 miles travelled per year. This figure is also boosted by families using their car for long journeys too; particularly during summer holidays when trips around the UK and into Europe may be on the agenda.

With an ever present awareness of environmental impact from cars, parents are increasingly asking questions of their car dealer regards economy and pollution. Where once, reliability and space would have been the main concerns, the environment is now key for those in the market for new cars and used cars.

Favourite cars for families need to tick many more boxes than ever before, and though budget is important, it needs to perform across the board. Whilst the Ford Mondeo and Vauxhall Vectra remain firm favourites, it is important that responsible advice and guidance is sought, before committing to a purchase.