Choosing a Car for the Whole Family

DETROIT, Dec. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A new addition to the nursery can often mean a new addition to the garage—whether you're expecting your first bundle of joy or your fifth. Dealer insider and shopautoweek.com contributor Ed Armbruster has been there himself and knows where to start and what to look for when shopping for a crowd-pleasing family ride.

"Ed suggested first figuring out what you can reasonably afford," said shopautoweek.com associate online editor Sherrice Gilsbach. From there, you can decide whether to buy or lease, go new or used, and whether that back-seat DVD player is in the cards.

After nailing down a price point, consider these other important factors:

Safety: Safety is a given when toting precious cargo. All new cars come pretty well equipped with standard safety features today, but there are still a few that outshine the rest of the pack. Features that increase safety include stability control, traction control, antilock brakes, increased use of high-strength steel in the vehicle frame, blind-spot notification systems, lane-departure warnings and adaptive cruise control.

Fuel efficiency: Today, gas prices fluctuate more than your teenager's moods. Thanks to new fuel-economy regulations and consumer demand, manufacturers are now more focused on developing efficient vehicles than ever before. In addition to new plug-in electric vehicles that don't use any gas at all and hybrids that combine gas-engine and battery power, there are also plenty of gas-powered cars out there achieving 40 mpg or more.

Comfort and convenience: Comfort is subjective. Convenience, on the other hand, is something every person, especially a parent with a harried schedule and hands full of everything, can appreciate. For instance, two-door cars aren't a great idea for families with infants--wait until all of the children in your crew are capable of operating the seatback, hopping into the back seat and buckling up completely on their own.

Performance: We've promised style doesn't have to take a back seat to safety, comfort and convenience, and neither does performance. When Armbruster decided on the 2009 Pontiac G8 GT as his new family sedan, performance was definitely part of the appeal. "With 30,000 miles, it is still in factory warranty, it fits the double stroller, the car seats have plenty of room, and it drives like a Corvette with four doors. I'm very happy with my purchase."

For more information on how to shop for a family car, visit shopautoweek.com's family lifestyle queue.

About shopautoweek.com

The shopautoweek.com site delivers an Internet car-shopping experience unlike any other available site. Powered by unbiased insight, opinion and expertise of Autoweek editors, it guides shoppers with a trusted voice married with the latest available data to give consumers both objective and subjective points of view. Launched in September 2011, shopautoweek.com is an authoritative online resource for anyone researching a new vehicle. Consumers will easily find vehicle specifications, features, reviews and pricing information to help guide their vehicle-purchase decision. The shopautoweek.com site is part of the Autoweek Media Group, which includes Autoweek magazine, autoweek.com and Autoweek Productions. Autoweek Media Group is owned by Crain Communications Inc., publisher of leading industry trade publications Advertising Age and Automotive News, among others, and is based in Detroit, Michigan.

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SOURCE shopautoweek.com