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US News unveils the 2025 best cars for families

Best Cars for Families award winners excel in seating, cargo volume, and family friendliness.

2025 Jeep Wagoneer L
Courtesy Stellantis

U.S. News & World Report has announced its 2025 Best Cars for Families awards. This annual program honors cars, SUVs, and minivans in nine automotive categories, from sedans and compact SUVS to large SUVS and SUV EVs.

The U.S. News & World Reports’ yearly automotive ratings are based on safety, reliability, space, comfort, convenience, and connectivity. This year’s winners are from seven manufacturers, ranging from standard models to premium cars, including the Kia Telluride midsize SUV, the Jeep Wagoneer large SUV, and the Kia EV9 electric SUV.

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Winning features of the Best Cars for Families

2025 Kia Telluride
In addition to the primary considerations for all car categories, the cars selected for the Best Cars for Families award must be the best in their respective categories for seating, cargo volume, and family friendliness.

The evaluators look for active and passive safety features, including frames, airbags, and electronic safety attributes such as rear-seat alerts, front and rear automatic braking, and parking assistance. Rear sunshades are also a plus.

The judges also included automatic reverse emergency braking, teen drive controls, and driver assistance features such as lane-centering and lane keeping, blindspot, and rear cross-traffic alerts on their checklists.

Connectivity matters in family cars, with Wi-Fi, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, wireless smartphone charging, and ample USB ports high on the list.

The 2025 Best Cars for Families award winners

Kia EV9
2024 EV9 front 3/4 view Kia / Kia

This year’s 2025 Best Cars for Families include six winners from last year and three newcomers.

2025 Best Cars for Families

  • Honda Accord: Best Midsize Car for Families
  • Honda Accord Hybrid: Best Hybrid Car for Families

2025 Best SUVs for Families

  • Hyundai Tucson: Best Compact SUV for Families
  • Mazda CX-70: Best 2-Row Midsize SUV for Families
  • Kia Telluride: Best 3-Row Midsize SUV for Families
  • Jeep Wagoneer L: Best Large SUV for Families
  • Toyota Highlander Hybrid: Best Hybrid SUV for Families

2025 Best Electric Vehicle for Families

  • Kia EV9: Best Electric Vehicle for Families

2025 Best Minivan for Families

  • Chrysler Pacifica: Best Minivan for Families
Bruce Brown Contributing Editor   As a Contributing Editor to the Auto teams at Digital Trends and TheManual.com, Bruce… Read Full Bio
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