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Best Small Family Car | Parkers New Car Awards 2024

Best Small Family Car Award in partnership with Mother & Baby

You can buy a practical car that has enough room for all your stuff without resorting to a full-sized SUV or MPV. There’s a huge amount of compact, wallet-friendly family cars available on the market, from well-designed lifestyle crossovers, to super-practical small estate cars. Family car buyers have never had it so good, and we think the MG4 EV ticks all the boxes for family buyers looking for all of the above from an electric car.

Written by Alan Taylor-Jones Updated: 13 November 2023

MG4 EV

MG4 - Best Small Family Car

With family hatchbacks getting ever more expensive before you’ve even considered electric power, the MG4 EV makes a refreshing change. Here’s a practical all-electric five-door hatch with peppy performance, a decent range and impressive equipment levels for less than £30k. And that’s one main reason why we’ve picked it as our Best Small Family Car. 

Initially launched in SE spec with a 218-mile range or Long Range capable of up to 281 miles in official tests, the number of versions offered has now been doubled. If 281 miles isn’t quite enough, there’s the Extended Range that’s capable of a claimed 323 miles on a single charge whilst being usefully quicker, too. 

If you’d rather annoy supercars, there also the XPower that’s capable of 0-62mph in less than four seconds. Even so, no MG4 EV costs more than £37k before options, a seriously impressive feat. While all variants have an appeal, we’d keep it simple with a Long Range for the best value and sweetest drive. 

Read our full MG4 EV review

  • To celebrate the 2024 Parkers New Car Awards, we’ve partnered up with Smart Home Chargers to give one of you the chance to WIN £1,000 cash. Simply follow this link for your chance to win!

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HIGHLY COMMENDED

Ford Puma

Ford Puma

A three-time Parkers award winner including an overall victory in 2021, the Ford Puma remains an excellent choice if you’re not ready for an EV just yet. Despite its compact size, there’s adequate space in the back for people and a veritable black hole for a boot. 

Being a Ford, you know it’ll be good to drive with keen handling and punchy engines, while the spicy ST takes up the Fiesta ST’s baton and runs. Crucially in these trying times, it’s cheap to buy and run, too. 

Read our full Ford Puma review

Skoda Kamiq

Although you could accuse the Kamiq of always being the bridesmaid, there’s a very good reason it’s been the Puma’s understudy for years. It might not have the Ford’s sense of fun, but the Kamiq is one of the most practical compact SUV out there that runs the above two cars exceedingly close in the Best Small Family Car award category. 

Sure, it’s boot isn’t quite as big as the Puma’s, but it trumps the MG and has more rear seat space than both. A quality interior and strong, frugal engines count for it as does a comfortable ride. Just bear in mind that this is a car you’ll buy with your head and not your heart.  

Read our full Skoda Kamiq review

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