U.S. News Announces the 2014 Best Cars for Families

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. News & World Report, a nationally recognized publisher of consumer advice and information, today announced the 2014 Best Cars for Families awards on its popular Best Cars website, www.usnews.com/cars.

The 2014 Best Cars for Families awards highlight cars, SUVs and minivans that make family life on the road easier. Award winners have the best combination of high safety and reliability ratings, excellent reviews from professional automotive critics and the space and features important to families.

Mazda, a brand known more for delivering sporty performance than family-friendly features, took home four awards, the most of any individual brand. The Mazda3 is the Best Compact Car as well as the Best Hatchback for Families. The Mazda6 is the Best Midsize Car and the Mazda CX-5 is the Best Compact SUV. All three of these models were redesigned within the last two years and most reviewers agree that they're among the top performers in each of their classes – proving that a family car doesn't have to be boring to drive.

General Motors, in a repeat of the 2013 Best Cars for Families awards, had winners in six categories from its Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac brands.

For the fourth year running, the Honda Odyssey won Best Minivan. Though other minivans have similar reliability and safety ratings, the Odyssey has innovative features, such as a trash bag holder and in-vehicle vacuum, and excellent reviews from professional auto critics that make it stand out in a category saturated with family-friendly vehicles.

The 2014 BEST CARS FOR FAMILIES

U.S. News considered 210 vehicles for the Best Cars for Families awards. The award methodology combines professional automotive reviews, safety and reliability ratings, seating and cargo volume and the availability of family-friendly features. Within each of the 19 automotive categories, the vehicle with the highest composite score is named the Best Car for Families in that category.

The U.S. News Best Cars website also provides rankings for each vehicle class along with in-depth reviews and profiles on each car.  

About U.S. News Best Cars

U.S. News Best Cars, the automotive channel of U.S. News & World Report at www.usnews.com/cars, has published rankings for new vehicles sold in America since 2007 and rankings for used vehicles since 2012. U.S. News also publishes the annual Best Cars for the Money awards. U.S. News Best Cars has grown in popularity and influence each year. In 2013, the site received more than 40 million unique visitors. More than 65 percent of visitors were actively shopping for a car, while 80 percent of those active shoppers reported that the U.S. News Best Cars site influenced their car purchasing decision. 

U.S. News & World Report is a multi-platform publisher of news and analysis, which includes the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine, www.usnews.com and www.rankingsandreviews.com. Focusing on Health, Personal Finance, Education, Travel, Cars and Public Service/Opinion, U.S. News has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers. U.S. News & World Report's signature franchise includes its News You Can Use® brand of journalism and its annual "Best" series of consumer Web guides and publications that include rankings of colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, mutual funds, health plans and more.

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SOURCE U.S. News & World Report