Parents magazine picks 15 best family vehicles for '07
Buyers guides always tend to be controversial, mainly because the selection criteria might not coincide with your own. Therefore, you have to take the target audience into account when viewing any kind of recommendations. We'll remind you heading in that this was Parents magazine doing this particular list. They teamed up with Triple-A to pick the top three vehicles for families from each of five categories. Not to generalize about families because we were part of one ourselves at one time, but things like economy of operation, safety and reliability tend to take precedent over acceleration, handling and styling in this market segment.
So for the fifth year in a row, Parents has made their selections based mainly on safety. They chose according to performance on government and industry crash tests, and whether or not the vehicles offer the latest safety technologies. They also road-tested their picks looking for a "perfect mix of performance, reliability, comfort, and bang for the buck." Also factored in were how easily car seats fit and how much room there was for all that stuff parents find themselves hauling around on a daily basis.
The five categories are crossovers, SUVs, minivans, sedans and economy cars, with bonus mentions for the top three generally-too-small-for-families-but-affordable-and-cool subcompacts. They even spent some time discussing hybrids and dealer pricing strategies. Pretty good, albeit safe choices in each category. Nothing should come as much of a surprise and none are offensive selections. Follow the jump for the list then click the read link to see a lengthy discussion of each choice.
[Source: Parents]
Crossovers
- Toyota RAV4
- Dodge Caliber
- Ford Edge
- Honda CR-V
- Chevrolet Tahoe
- Hyundai Santa Fe
- Honda Odyssey
- Toyota Sienna
- Hyundai Entourage
- Toyota Camry
- Honda Accord
- Mercury Milan
- Honda Civic
- Volkswagen Rabbit
- Mazda 3
- Nissan Versa
- Toyota Yaris
- Honda Fit
_opt_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Tony 7:29PM (4/16/2007)
Its sad that decent vehicles like Edge and Milan have to be thrown in there to appeal to all people.
They know there are some families out there that would never ever look at an import brand. Even if detroit offers them crap they would still line up for one. Therefore they threw those two in there. nothing bad about them, as I said, they are decent.
As for the rest of the list (Tahoe, Civic, Odyssey....) its bang on
Reply
huis 7:32PM (4/16/2007)
The Caliber is classified as a crossover? Does that mean my Focus hatchback is a crossover too?
Reply
Albert 7:32PM (4/16/2007)
Where is the Ford Trappedstar or Chevy Downlander?
I want a minivan but I dont want no Jap or German wagon.
Reply
huis 7:35PM (4/16/2007)
And also, what's with the CR-V and Santa Fe being SUVs, while the Rav-4 is a crossover?
Reply
Sabrina 7:34PM (4/16/2007)
We recently purchased a Toyota Camry and are very happy with it. Very quiet and the quality is very good. We purchased the 4 cylinder and must say the power and fuel economy have been very impressive.
Reply
Karen 7:37PM (4/16/2007)
I had thought as of this year (07) Ford no longer made mini vans. I didn't know about Chevy. Dodge took over both the small and large mini van market.
Reply
Dave 7:37PM (4/16/2007)
Chrysler is the sneakiest company in the world. They bribed the government in think the PT Cruiser is a truck. Why? because the floor is flat.
Then they bring the caliber. On the same platform they make a jeep compass and tell everyone the jeep is different. Then they change the body of the compass and add some skid plates and raise the suspension and call it the patriot.
When will we all stop drinking the domestic koolaid?
Reply
rachel 7:41PM (4/16/2007)
Yes Ford and Chevy dont make minivans anymore. They call the segment dying. The imports seem to make money and offer great products in this segment.
Ford and Chevy also say the compact pickup truck market is a dying segment and will be exiting it. Again the imports seem to make good money here and Kia wants to make a pickup as well. I also heard on autoblog some Indian company wants to bring a small pickup to America.
Ford and Chevy always call segments they are lazy to compete in as dead or dying.
Reply
Gilbert Godfrey 7:45PM (4/16/2007)
Fools buy Ford. Three reasons why you should not buy a Ford:
Of all the manufacturers in the world and in the history of mankind, Ford hides recalls the most. They also deny defects the most. They also have the record of deaths due to defects by their vehicles and they also will sue till the sun sets rather than admit there is a defect. Such as fires, weak roofs, seat belts.....
Of all the domestic manufacturers, Ford has the lowest resale value in 4 years on their typical product. So you lose the most money in the long run
Of all the manufacturers, Ford is the laziest to innovate, laziest to bring a technology to market, and the laziest to make sound business decisions.
Do you want to support mediocrity with your hard earned dollars?
Reply
spudwest 8:22PM (4/16/2007)
They should stick to parenting and leave cars to the car experts. I would have arrived at the same list of the top of my head, but would have realized that the CR-V and Rav4, for example are direct competitors and should therefore be in the same grouping... And when did the Milan become a more favorable vehicle then the Mazda6 or the Jetta. What a load of crap...
Reply
Daniel 8:35PM (4/16/2007)
Were's the Pinto?
Reply
Mark 8:44PM (4/16/2007)
The rule is that if a vehicle has a flat loading floor, it is a truck. Chrysler didn't play any tricks. The PT Cruiser is a truck because it has a flat loading floor. Simple as that. The Dodge Magnum is also classified as a truck, as is the Chevrolet HHR. Chrysler isn't playing a trick. The US government has rules for trucks, and the PT Cruiser meets them.
Reply
Gilbert needs a life! 8:51PM (4/16/2007)
#9 Get a life. Any proof to what you said? Links? Anything? Ford isnt innovative? How about the first company to use neon lighting on their vehicles? Or the first company to use direct current HID headlamps on the Mark VIII? Or how about their plug in hybrid? Or the fleet of hydrogen powere busses? I can list a whole bunch of stuff. You want to talk about hidden defects? Ok, how about Toyota hiding steering defects in vehicles for almost a decade? Or the HUGE lawsuit against them for sludging engines? They also have been hiding defects in their vehicles. And the reason people sue Ford is because they are morons. Lookup some of the lawsuits that have happened recently. Some lady sued Ford because her 1992 Mazda Navajo was riding on one of the original tires (10 years old at the time) and it blew. And she sued Ford because she was an idiot and got hurt because SHE wasnt wearing her seatbelt...yet no one else in the vehicle was harmed. Weak roofs? They were proven to meet Federal Standards. And if you have a two and a half ton truck going the right speed, the roof will definitely collapse...it's called physics. As for the fires, those were unfortunate. But it wasnt 100% Ford's fault. Texas Instruments and Dupont also played a part in the cruise control switch issue...get your facts straight.
As for the small truck market? Ford and GM are the only players in that segment. Toyota doesnt make compact trucks. Neither does Nissan.
Reply
Bob R. 9:24PM (4/16/2007)
Why the Milan over the Fusion?
Reply
Puff Chapstick 9:43PM (4/16/2007)
Where's the list of most tired, overused and unimaginative cliche's on autoblog? If I have to read one more junior high dork type "Stop drinking the ______ koolaide" in a failed attempt to be clever I'm gonna puke.
Reply
Devin 9:56PM (4/16/2007)
I agree with #13 that #9 is full of shiite. I'm not gonna sit here and bash Toyota because it can't seem to comprehend how to make a good sports-car, you know, something that car guys want (a V-8 in a 2+2 coupe). I'm not going to mention all of the recalls Honda and Toyota have had recently.
But I do fell like it is absolutely necessary to point out that GM, Ford, and Chrysler still have 400% more of their workforce in America than does all of the Japanese companies combined (I don't have an actual link to substantiate those claims, I just read it on Autoblog about 9 months ago). People rave about an import's quality, but Buick, Mercury, Cadillac, and others have been recently extremely high on J.D. Power lists.
Reply
Tim R ice 10:09PM (4/16/2007)
why did ford have the worst crash testing test on its ford 150 pick-up for many years and do nothing about it- ford stinks.
Reply
whofan 10:14PM (4/16/2007)
The Dodge Caravan is still the best all around family vehicle in my book.
Reply
Mike 10:22PM (4/16/2007)
I've tried to come up with something but Gilbert Godfrey's post is so ridiculous that I can't even think of anything to say that doesn't just call him out for being such a moron.
I guess I'll just leave it at that.
Reply
adam 11:11PM (4/16/2007)
#18 dodge and chrysler minivans are so disgusting, they make me want to hurl everytime i see one!
Reply