Consumer Reports recently compiled its picks for the best vehicles for families as the holiday season reaches its peak.
Criteria for the 10 finalists included reliability, high safety, spacious, and comfortable. The winners are: - Audi A6 – Cabin comfort, great seating, and spacious truck made the Audi an easy choice.
- BMW 5-Series – Similar to the Audi for cabin comfort, the various engines were smooth not to wake exhausted children in back.
- Cadillac CTS – Balanced between being sporty and comfortable, the CTS is also less expensive than its German peers which leaves more money for gifts.
- Honda Accord – Reliability and high-marks in crash test results continue to keep the Accord in the top ten for inexpensive, high-quality vehicles.
- Honda Odyssey (pictured) – Like the Accord, the Odyssey van is reliable. Unlike its smaller brethren, it can also hold up to eight in comfort while slaloming those freeways at surprising speed.
- Infiniti M – High reliability and sports car fun made the M a shoe-in.\
- Lexus RX – Plenty of space, luxurious, and reliability brought the RX to the reviewers attention.
- Toyota Avalon – The standard to follow for full-sized cars, the Avalon gets high marks in crash-test results and spaciousness.
- Toyota Highlander – Though built on the same chassis as the more expensive Lexus RX, the Highlander includes an extra row of seats for the little ones.
- Toyota Sienna – The Sienna trades the Honda Odyssey’s agility for more comfort and quiet.
Our take? We’re surprised that trucks like the Honda Ridgeline or Ford F-150 didn’t make the list. Such vehicles come in handy the enclosed space of a car or SUV are useless to haul a tree or mountains of gifts.
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