The Ideal Minivan, Sedan or Other Vehicle for the Family

Kelley Blue Book recently named the top 15 family cars out there, four of which happen to be Hondas. So if you’re trying to find the ideal minivan, sedan or other vehicle for the family, then we recommend that you see what Honda has to offer, considering it had more family vehicles to offer than any other brand.

The 2015 Honda Odyssey is the obvious choice for the family. The leading vehicle in it’s segment, with more power and fuel efficiency mixed with an impressive interior in terms of space and standard features. All of the seats can even be removed when home projects need to get done. It is versatile and can help the family in just about every way.

The next most similar vehicle in the group is the new CR-V, recently redesigned it is sleeker looking than ever. It is also filled with a solid mixture of safety and comfort features, making it ideal for an adventurous family on the go. It can also be found in all-wheel drive to help you get through all those mountain passes, even on the snowiest days.

Then there’s the two Honda sedans, the Civic and the Accord. Both offer a fun ride and exceptional safety. They are also easily afforded and are great for families with new drivers that will be borrowing the car from time to time. Both offer exceptional fuel efficiency and great features for both entertainment and safety. The Civic is also a great car to pass down when you plan to get a new one, it lasts forever and is a perfect first vehicle.

No matter what option you go with, Honda makes all of its vehicles with the utmost care, it’s why so many of them continue to lead the segment in style, performance and cost. If you’re thinking of getting a new vehicle for the family, start with Honda.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 10th, 2015 at 7:50 pm and is filed under Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Honda CR-V, Honda Odyssey.

The Most Popular Vehicles in America

Popularity isn’t Everything, But it Helps

For the past few years, the Honda Accord, Civic, CR-V and Odyssey have retained top spots as the most popular vehicles in U.S., in their respective segments. The Accord and Civic have also taken the top spots in California, a spot that had long been held by a certain hybrid vehicle. So if you’re looking for the most popular vehicles in America, look no further than Planet Honda.

Each vehicle managed to be sold more often than every other vehicle in their segment. The Honda Civic’s closest competitor was still nearly 45,000 units behind. The Honda Odyssey also performed well and held onto 32 percent of the retail segment. But why is each vehicle so popular?

Each of these Honda vehicles offers drivers superior handling, power and fuel efficiency. They also offer some of the safest drives available. The Honda Odyssey specifically shined when it was the only minivan to score an overall good rating in a new crash test performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The CR-V scored just as well and earned superior marks for front crash prevention with optional equipment.

The 2015 Honda Civic was also named the car of the year in its segment by Kelley Blue Book, because of its overall performance and quality. It offers a spacious interior with an easy to use infotainment system along with a surprisingly powerful engine that provides a fun to drive experience for all Civic owners.

The Accord is popular for those looking for something even more spacious yet. The midsize sedan also offers two engine options and much more power than the Civic, making it a perfect option for someone that enjoys driving and spends a fair amount of time in their vehicle every day. There just isn’t a bad option for drivers among the lineup of Honda vehicles, which is why so many of them are so popular.

2015 Honda Accord: Car Seat Check

By Matt Schmitz | October 28, 2014 |via Cars.com

Beyond some safety and convenience features being made more widely available in the lineup, the affordable and reliably comfortable Honda Accord has scarcely changed for the 2015 model year. By and large, that's a good thing, at least where it concerns child-safety seats. The five-seat midsize family sedan's scores in our latest Car Seat Check were identical to those of the 2014 version, which got dinged for front-passenger legroom with the infant seat, and floppy seat belt bases.

How many car seats fit in the second row? Two

More Car Seat Checks

What We Like

• The Accord has two sets of Latch anchors in the outboard seats, three tether anchors on the rear shelf under hinged plastic overs and removable head restraints.
• All of our seats, including the rear-facing infant, booster, and rear- and forward-facing convertible seats, installed easily, with the latter three fitting well without needing to move the front passenger seat forward.

What We Don't

• When installing the infant seat, we had to move the front passenger seat up so far that the 5-foot-8 tester did not have sufficient legroom.
• The seat belts are on floppy bases and can fall behind the booster seat, which will make it difficult for children to buckle themselves in.

Grading Scale

A: Plenty of room for the car seat and the child; doesn't impact driver or front-passenger legroom. Easy to find and connect to Latch and tether anchors. No fit issues involving head restraint or seat contouring. Easy access to the third row.

B: Plenty of room. One fit or connection issue. Some problems accessing third row when available.

C: Marginal room. Two fit or connection issues. Difficult to access third row when available.

D: Insufficient room. Two or more fit or connection issues.

F: Does not fit or is unsafe.

About Cars.com's Car Seat Checks

Editors Jennifer Newman and Matt Schmitz are certified child safety seat installation technicians. Editor Jennifer Geiger is working on renewing her certification.

For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide Classic Connect 30 infant-safety seat, a Britax Marathon convertible seat and Graco TurboBooster seat. The front seats are adjusted for a 6-foot driver and a 5-foot-8 passenger. The three child seats are installed in the second row. The booster seat sits behind the driver's seat, and the infant and convertible seats are installed behind the front passenger seat.

We also install the forward-facing convertible in the second row's middle seat with the booster and infant seat in the outboard seats to see if three car seats will fit; a child sitting in the booster seat must be able to reach the seat belt buckle. If there's a third row, we install the booster seat and a forward-facing convertible. To learn more about how we conduct our Car Seat Checks, go here.

Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat, and that Latch anchors have a weight limit of 65 pounds, including the weight of the child and the weight of the seat itself.

Cars.com photos by Evan Sears