As a family who have had several impractical family cars (and still do) I am going to share with you the three features every family car needs.  These tips come from my experience of quite a few bad family car choices over the past six years!  Between me and Ben we’ve had six cars and we still have never purchased the perfect family vehicle, instead purchasing the cars we really just want for ourselves.

Here are four features every family car should have:

Rear electric windows

My current car has manual wind down windows and these cause a hassle on every journey.  Both my children can now wind these down all by themselves, but they can’t manage to wind them back up.  Not great when you’re travelling at 70mph down a motorway with no way of winding them up!  My next car will definitely have electric windows throughout that I can control from the driver’s seat.

Large boot

Neither Ben or I have ever purchased a car with a large enough boot.  This shouldn’t be an issue for too much longer as Reuben is nearly three, so the pram days will be behind us soon.  But for small kids, a large spacious boot is a must.  Ben’s boot is full with the pram alone which leaves no room for any luggage or food shopping.  It was a super tight squeeze when we flew abroad to see family, took his mum with us and had to squeeze in a week’s worth of luggage for 5 people and the pram.  We had suitcases wedged between seats and on our laps!

Back doors

Trying to get wriggly defiant kids into their car seats when they don’t want to is challenging enough with a four door car, so you can only imagine how much trickier this is with two doors.  Two door cars are even trickier if you have a baby seat that needs strapping in with a seat belt.  If you can, always make sure your family car has doors on the back.  Both Ben and I had two door cars when we met, but we swiftly swapped these for four doors once Bella arrived.

Three separate back seats

Don’t make the mistake of buying a car with only two seats in the back.  There’s usually a small space in the middle of the two seats, but once the kids are a little older and start scrapping, this is a nightmare.  If they can reach each other to fight whilst you’re driving it’s a massive distraction.  It’s good to have enough space in the back so the children have their own personal space and also some kicking room.  The last thing you want on a long journey is children kicking the back of your seat and being able to reach each other to squabble.

There we have it.  My family car wish list of features to make life a little easier, particularly on a long journey.