Finding a great car for the family

One of the elusive things that many people look for is the perfect family car. Not every car will suit every family of course, but there are some that come close.



If you’re looking something that offers plenty of comfortable features and a little bit of refinement as well, then the new Honda Accord Tourer could be the one for you. It’s an estate car – or wagon as they’re called in the States – and so comes with plenty of seating space and bags of room for luggage in the back. Along with that, it has good handling and performance. This is not just a box on four wheels.

The Honda Accord Tourer comes in seven different versions – petrol or diesel engines. As yet, it’s not available as a hybrid car, but that may be on the not too distant horizon as Honda already has a hybrid hatchback, supermini, and sports car in the UK market, with more varieties in the States and Japan.

The car comes with pretty decent standard fittings including safety seats that can recognise whether they’re holding an adult or child and hug the passenger’s shape. In case of a collision, the headrests move forward to protect the passenger or driver from whiplash effects.

The car is very quiet and smooth to drive. There are all kinds of extras you can add on, like automatic wipers and lights, front fog lights and techhie details like Bluetooth for hands free chatting. These extras come automatically with the EX versions and DVD satellite navigation too. Heated seats and are included on the type-S models.

The Honda Accord is one of the safest cars in its class and it comes with gadgets like lane assist and cruise control in its Advanced Driver Assistance System.

For people who have a lot of distance to cover on a regular basis, and need to take four passengers or plenty of stuff when they go, the Honda Accord can offer comfort and a great drive too.

Continue Reading

Gadget-packed estate car

If you’re looking for a practical family car that’s also gadget packed and can take a lot of luggage without a noticeable difference in handling or performance - you really need to take a closer look at the Honda Accord Tourer.

There are seven different versions of the car – with petrol and diesel models – and what is included as standard varies with every model. 
But if you’re a real gadget freak and you want to go for the whole works – whilst still owning a car which is practical for the whole family and which can really eat up the miles cheaply whilst transporting five people and an absolute boat-load of stuff, this really is a fantastic car.

Perhaps best of all is the car’s quietness – in whatever version you choose.

It’s so smooth and quiet that you barely hear a thing, even at speed – and the performance doesn’t seem to alter even with the vast boot space packed full of skiing gear – or just plain luggage.

The extras range from front fog lights, to automatic lights and wipers, Bluetooth connection and may other refinements. The EX versions are absolutely loaded to the gills with techie gadgets as well as a sports body-kit, while the car also includes DVD sat-nav. Also, the ADAS pack includes both cruise control and lane assist and the Type-S versions include leather trim and heated electric seats. And the seats in all models really envelop you.

All in all, the car is superb if you need to do decent distances with a lot of luggage and a few passengers. In this case; it really is unequalled for an estate car.

Unfortunately for green enthusiasts, the range doesn’t include low emission cars, but in almost all other regards, it truly is unrivalled on the road and in its class; it’s a superb all-round family car, packed with functional gadgetry.

Continue Reading