The Best Family Cars, According to Families

Too many “best family car” lists are compiled by auto magazine editors alone. Now, the people at vehicle valuation service Kelley Blue Book have recruited actual families to help them determine which vehicles have the best mix of qualities for family use.

KBB teamed with these true family-vehicle experts to evaluate the Best Family Car candidates in real-life driving situations.

Vehicles were evaluated on comfort and driving, safety, child seats, cargo space, rear-seat entertainment, and extra features. While many vehicles were strong, only a chosen few rose to the top. Here are the picks among 2015 vehicles (in alphabetical order):

Chevrolet Impala

Chevrolet Tahoe

Ford F-150

Honda Accord

Honda Civic

Honda CR-V

Honda Odyssey

Hyundai Sonata

Kia Soul

Nissan Pathfinder

Ram 1500

Subaru Outback

Toyota Camry

Toyota Highlander

Toyota Sienna

It’s striking how eclectic this list is. The world of “best family vehicles” includes compact cars and minivans, compact SUVs and full-size pickup trucks, apparently. These are radically different vehicles.

But, as the KBB team points out, families aren’t all the same, so there isn’t a single perfect family vehicle type. Hopefully, this assortment of “bests” will help steer you toward the perfect vehicle choice for your family.