Five family-friendly fun cars under $65K

Monday, 9 September 2019

Want something that can double as a family-friendly runabout and a back road warrior after you drop the kids at school? Here are five that will do it nicely.

At least four doors? An automatic transmission? Practical amounts of space? These are some of the basics most people generally look in a family-friendly car for day-to-day motoring, regardless of its size. But what if you want actual driver enjoyment from your family's daily-driver?

Today we take a look at five cars we think make excellent family-friendly cars that anyone can jump into and effortlessly drive, but also offer the keen driver a load of fun, all for less than $65,000.

Kia Stinger EX ($54,990)

You don't need to have Kia's $69,990 twin-turbo V6 GT to have fun in the medium/large sedan segment - the 182kW 2.0-litre version of the RWD Stinger offers plenty of driver enjoyment, with its agile rear-drive chassis arguably responding even better with less weight over the nose.

Okay, so big, lurid power-induced oversteer out of corners isn't so much on the menu here (although it can still be provoked if committed or in the wet), but then ripping sideways away from the school drop off is generally frowned upon anyway.

The base model EX looks a little ordinary, but offers excellent value for money, while the $59,990 GT-Line mirrors the GT's exterior appearance, so the neighbours will think you have the grunty one anyway.

It's the original ht hatch, but VW's Golf GTI still rules them all when it comes to a combination of practicality and fun.

Volkswagen Golf GTI ($55,990)

While there are no shortage of practical five-door hot-hatches, it is still hard to go past the original when it comes to pure, unadulterated driving fun.

Sure, the manual-only Honda Civic Type R will ultimately outrun it on a winding road, but the Golf GTI does 99 per cent of what the Type R is capable of, but is way easier to live with on a daily basis and doesn't look like the result of an explosion in a toy robot factory.

Wagons roll... fast if we're talking the Octavia RS 245. It packs a more powerful version of the standard car's turbo engine.

There will be a new one shortly, but the current one is an exceptional thing that is every bit as practical and family friendly as a normal Golf, but is massively fun once you have offloaded the kids at school.

Skoda Octavia RS 245 wagon ($59,990)

The thoroughly fantastic Skoda Octavia RS 245 wagon may be a relation of the brilliant Golf GTI, but it is a totally different and even-more-practical proposition.

Audi SQ2 power in a handsome SUV that isn't German? The Cupra Ateca isn't a German price either.

Capable of embarrassing performance wagons close to twice its price, the Octavia RS is refined, comfortable and handsomely understated as well as being sublimely fast and capable. And let's not forget practical - the Octavia wagon is capable of swallowing up to 1,740 litres of cargo with the rear seats down (and an impressive 610 litres with them up).

You can get it as a liftback, but don't bother because it looks better as a wagon. And, of course, a fast wagon is always way cooler anyway.

Cupra Ateca ($63,990)

Practical if the kids are still small, but the 118i will be the last BMW to offer sweet RWD dynamics in the small hatch segment.

Small/medium SUVs packing 221kW and bespoke performance brand badges are generally the domain of higher-priced Europeans, but Seat packed all that into its sub-$65K Cupra Ateca to produce something that is sizzlingly good fun, as well as remarkably practical and family friendly.

Boasting the same powertrain as the $85,200 Audi SQ2, the Cupra looks cooler and has a slight air of mystery about it because hardly anyone knows what the hell a Cupra is.

A fantastic interior packed with tech tops it off, but you do need to be careful what colour you buy it in - those bronze badges and highlights look damn cool, but do clash rather horribly with some colours.

BMW 118i ($47,200)

While it's not the most practical vehicle on this list (the cramped rear seats aren't the greatest), the 118i makes up for this by offering Mazda MX-5 style RWD driving dynamics in a five-door hatch form.

Okay, so 'more practical than an MX-5' hardly makes it family friendly, but if the kids are still small, then the 118i is an absolute bargain for the keen driver who needs four doors and boot space.

It also packs BMW's brilliant and charismatic 1.5-litre 3-cylinder engine, that is impressively frugal and more than capable of punching the 118i along at a thoroughly enjoyable rate.

You'll have to hurry though - the current 1 Series is in runout and the next one moves to a FWD platform…