Best large family cars 2025

Best for: a big family on a budget

You might never have considered a Chinese car as a family wagon before - but the Chery Tiggo 8 is here to show you why you should. It’s not just good for a Chinese car - it’s properly excellent, so excellent that we’ve named it our Carwow Car of the Year for 2026.

The Tiggo’s styling is smart and unpretentious - it doesn’t stand out for bad reasons, like some alternatives with way-too-glitzy grilles. That feeling of smart and sensible continues on the inside, where the dashboard has a minimalist design dominated by a huge touchscreen. It’s not always the easiest to use, with some functions buried in complex menus, but the screen itself is big, bright and responsive.

The Tiggo 8’s family car credentials come when you step into the back. There’s loads of room in the second row, and even seats six and seven in the very back have enough space for adults to sit for short journeys. For kids, they’re great.

When all seven seats are in use, the boot’s a bit puny - it’ll take a few shopping bags or maybe two carry-on suitcases - but if you fold the rearmost two down, you get a massive 700-litre boot that’ll easily take an entire family’s kit and clobber.

There are two engine options available in the Tiggo 8. The basic petrol engine feels a bit gutless and is noisy and inefficient - but the plug-in hybrid is wonderful. It has a range of 56 miles, which is more than enough for all but the most taxing of commutes, and the changeover from petrol to electric power is so smooth that you might not even notice it happen.

Is it great to drive? Well, it’s fine around town and relaxed on the motorway - you’ll only be disappointed if you’re a keen driver expecting it to be engaging on a country road. As family transport goes, it’s an excellent choice.

Best for: Convincing people you’re an adventurous family

The Hyundai Santa Fe is so upright, square-edged, and frankly butch to look at that you’d swear it rolled in from the set of some American television advert for camping gear, or a manly-smelling deodorant.

It’s all a bit of a bluff, of course, because although the Santa Fe looks like the chairperson and treasurer of the Land Rover Defender Cosplay Club, underneath it’s much more of a soft-roader, and not really capable of tackling anything more serious than the damp edges of the local football pitch, or maybe a gently undulating campsite perimeter track.

No matter, because while the looks of the Santa Fe draw you in with their cool, rugged appearance, what really sells you on the big Hyundai is just how useful it is when you’re inside. How well-made too, because although Hyundai has tried to give the cabin something of a rugged veneer too, it’s actually superbly well put together, and the big touchscreen is much easier to use than that of most of the competition.

There’s oodles of space too, and seats for seven even if you go for the plug-in hybrid model, something that not all competitors can manage. The rear-most seats are more kid-friendly than adult-suitable, but you can squeeze in seven well-sized people all the same, and the upright back end makes for a massive boot.

The regular hybrid model is probably slightly easier to live with all-round, and pretty good on fuel (not very quick though) but the more powerful plug-in hybrid is a better bet if you can charge up at home, and you do lots of short trips around town during the week. The Santa Fe is a big car for that kind of driving, but again the straight edges (and the excellent camera system) help with that, making it easy to place on the road.

It’s a comfy cruiser on the motorway too, although the PHEV version gets quite thirsty when you do that. The Santa Fe isn’t much fun on twisty roads, but it’s so practical and useful that you probably won’t mind.

Best for: Convincing your kids that you’re posh

The BMW X5 has been a staple of well-heeled suburban driveways (especially the ones with the automatic gates and the big shrubberies) since it was first launched way back in 1999. Who wouldn’t like a car with the space and usefulness of an SUV, four-wheel drive security for the winter, and yet the handling and responses of a proper BMW?

Well, in the quarter-century or so since then, and across four different generations, nothing much has changed. The X5 has become bigger, more luxurious, and more expensive than it was in 1999, but it’s essentially still the same car. It packs enough space for family life, and manages to look good doing it — not something you can necessarily say about the Mercedes GLE nor the Audi Q7. Squint a bit, and you can still convince yourself that the X5 is a slightly bigger 5 Series…

The cabin is gorgeous, with that big twin-screen TV-style dashboard layout, and quality levels are unimpeachable (although the touchscreen can be awkward at times). There’s huge comfort in the front, and those in row two won’t be complaining either, with decent legroom and plenty of headroom. Row three — yes, the X5 is a seven-seater — is a little tighter, but adults will fit, just about.

Boot space isn’t brilliant though, as although 650 litres sounds like a lot, it’s much less than you’d find in the Audi Q7. Or the Skoda Kodiaq for that matter. There’s a plug-in hybrid engine option, which is good for those that spend a lot of time in town, but while it has an impressive 60-mile-plus range on one charge, a diesel-engined X5 offers better all-round performance and superior long-run fuel economy.

The best thing about the X5 is just how deftly it manages to balance the comfort and refinement that you need for family life, with the driving fun that has long been a part of BMW’s creed. Yes, it’s a tall car and a big car, but the X5 is genuinely fun on a twisty road. Once you’ve done the school drop and the pony-club shuffle, you’ll find yourself taking the long way home…

Best for: safety credentials

Volvo’s seven-seater SUV is absolutely fastidious about safety - to the point where the brand claims that, since the first-generation model’s launch in 2002, no person has ever been killed in an XC90.

That’s a bold claim but it does help to make this posh SUV really appealing as a big family car. The seven-seater layout helps too - there’s loads of room for people to stretch out in the second row of seats, even if the third row is a bit cramped unless you’re a child.

All XC90 models come with all-wheel drive as well, which combined with the powerful engines and practical interior mean we named it our Adventurer’s Choice in the 2026 Carwow Car of the Year Awards. Sure, it won’t go as far off the beaten track as a Land Rover Discovery, but it’ll easily tackle more rough terrain than you’re likely to encounter in the UK.

The XC90 comes with mild hybrid petrol or plug-in hybrid engines, and though the latter is more expensive it’s worth it for the extra power and the flexibility of the all-electric range.

Best for: Convincing your kids that you’re bagged a bargain


Maybe it’s an age thing, but there comes a time when you start to realise that big, heavy SUVs are all a bit pointless (unless you really need the extra seats) and that a spacious estate car is actually what you need. Congratulations — you have arrived in the Land Of Sensibleness. Here’s your Skoda Superb Estate.

Honestly, the Superb Estate is just the answer to so many questions that you’ll ask. How will I move this wardrobe to the recycling centre? How will I bring a new wardrobe home from IKEA to replace that one? How will we cruise comfortably and economically to the south of France for a holiday? The Superb Estate is the answer to all of these, and many more.

It’s even quite good looking these days, although you might have plenty of people mistaking you for a minicab. The cabin bears comparison with Audi in quality terms, even if there are still a few cheap bits around the place. The handy rotary controls on the dash make dealing with the big touchscreen much easier, and there’s so much legroom in the back that Peter Crouch could stretch out and get comfortable.

Then there’s the massive boot — 690 litres as standard, and still more than 500 litres if you get the plug-in hybrid model with its space-sapping battery. That plug-in version is worth having, though, as it’s one of the best PHEVs around. Skoda claims it can go for 70 miles on electric power; 55 miles is a bit more realistic, but the better news is that it doesn’t become colossally thirsty when you take it out on the motorway.

The downsides? The Superb has become really quite pricey, by Skoda standards, although it’s still better priced than the equivalent Volkswagen Passat Estate, and far more affordable than an Audi A6 Avant (which has a smaller boot). It’s also only average to drive on a twisty road, and there’s a touch too much tyre noise on motorways.

Best for: long, comfy journeys

The Hyundai Ioniq 9 looks like it’s come straight off the set of Judge Dredd. The smooth styling dotted with ultra-cool pixel-style LED lights means it stands out in any company, but under the sci-fi image it’s a seriously good large electric car.

It’s so good as a long-distance mile-muncher that we named it the winner of our Comfortable Cruiser category in the 2026 Carwow Car of the Year Awards.

There’s loads of space - even the seats in the third row are suitable for grown-ups - and if you fold them down, the Ioniq 9 does a passable impression of a panel van. It doesn’t feel like a van on the move, though. The Ioniq 9 absorbs bumps round town well and floats along the motorway like it’s totally smooth.

And don’t think that just because it’s an electric car, you’ll have to stop and charge all the time - the rear-wheel drive Ioniq 9 can manage up to 385 miles on a charge, or up to 372 miles for the more powerful all-wheel drive car.

Best for: Convincing your kids you can climb mountains

The big Discovery has kind of had its milkshake nicked by the pincer movement of its two Land Rover brothers — the Defender and the Range Rover. While the posh money (and you need at least £100,000) goes for the Range Rover, the family friendly market is increasingly looking to the seven-seat versions of the Defender, or even the massive eight-seat Defender 130, instead of the Discovery.

Which is a shame, as the Discovery still has a lot to offer, as long as you’re prepared to gamble with Land Rover’s usual reliability issues. It’s a sleeker looking car than the chunkier Defender, even if the offset numberplate at the back still looks wrong.

Inside you’ll find a high quality cabin with a touchscreen that’s much classier and easier to use than it ever used to be. You’ll also find seven truly sumptuous seats, each one big enough for a proper adult to get comfy, and lots and lots of space.

There’s a massive 922-litre boot if you fold the third row of seats away, and the Discovery is also a towing champ, able to haul as much as 3,500kg on a braked trailer.

It’s also incredibly smooth to drive, with great refinement and ride comfort, and yet has enough steering feel and feedback for it to be enjoyable when the road gets twisty. And when the road runs out entirely, the Discovery makes mincemeat of the likes of the BMW X5 and Audi Q7, both of which would be spinning their low-profile tyres uselessly in the mud long before the Discovery ran out of ability and agility.

Best for: Convincing your kids you’re saving the planet

Estate cars, unless you seriously need to use seven seats on a daily basis, have long been the best family cars around, and now the Volkswagen ID7 Tourer pulls that tradition into the electric car age. It might be based on the same basic box of bits as an ID3 hatchback or a Skoda Enyaq SUV, but the ID7 is big, long, low, and lean-looking.

That lowness really helps, too. Because it cuts through the air better, the ID7 with the same 77kWh battery will go for an extra 60 miles on one charge compared to the taller ID4 SUV. Go for the big-battery 86kWh version, and that stretches to a massive 424 miles, even if about 350 miles is a more realistic bet.

Mostly, the ID7 gets a rear-drive electric motor with 286hp, which is plenty, but there is a more powerful and sportier four-wheel drive 335hp GTX model. Worth the extra? Not really, and not least because the ID7’s best trick is the way it silently glides along, whooshing past recharging stations without a care in the world. This is a seriously comfortable car.

The big touchscreen is impressive, but still too fiddly and genuinely rage-inducing at times, but the overall cabin quality and space are both very good, and the boot holds an impressive 605 litres. The ID7 isn’t cheap, but it is impressive.

Best for: Convincing your kids you want more kids

Just be aware – if you have any fewer than three children, and you buy a big, roomy, seven-seat Skoda Kodiaq, they’re going to be instantly suspicious that you have plans for at least one baby brother or sister. Maybe even twins. That’s because, almost by default these days, the Kodiaq is the car you buy when you have a growing family.

It’s an expensive car, by Skoda’s traditional standard, but it has kind of slotted into that classless slot left vacant by the upwardly-mobile Volvo XC90.

Like the XC90, the Kodiaq majors on space. There’s tonnes up front, and not just for heads and legs but for storage too. There are no fewer than two gloveboxes, and acres of storage between the seats. There’s ample legroom in the back, but you’ll need to sacrifice at least some of that if you want to fit anyone larger than a small child in row three.

If you don’t need to fit anyone in row three, you can fold those seats flat to open out a massive 845-litre boot. In fact, if you don’t need third row seats at all, there’s the option of a basic five-seat model with a huge 910-litre boot. Or you can get the plug-in hybrid model with its useful 70-mile electric range (more like 55 miles in real-world conditions) but that has (a) a smaller boot and (b) can’t be had as a seven-seater.

The Superb looks smart, and has a lovely dash design, but it’s not much fun to drive. Smooth, comfy, and competent, though.

Best for: a high-tech EV experience

The Model Y is Tesla’s best-selling car worldwide and it’s easy to see why. Though it’s not a seven-seater, it’s super-spacious for five with one of the biggest boots of any car - and some of the best tech around.

Though Tesla’s CEO might be making headlines for the wrong reasons, the latest Tesla Model Y deserves your attention in a positive way - it’s a fantastic electric car, so good that we named it ‘Highly Commended’ in the Outstanding EV category of the 2026 Carwow Car of the Year Awards.

That’s for a few reasons. First, the distance it can go on a charge - the Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive model manages up to a claimed 387 miles, and even gets pretty close to that in the real world. The interior is much improved over previous Teslas too, in both quality and ambiance - and you get one of the best touchscreens in any car.

Add in sparkling performance and a much better chassis than the pre-update Model Y, and this latest version is well worth your consideration.