Our Kids Kids of Our Future

With constant rising fuel prices, the cost of driving the kids to school, parties and anywhere else they need to go – is taking up an increasing part of the family budget. So it’s unsurprising that many parents of young children looking for the best family car are seriously considering buying something more fuel-efficient.

When they first came on the market, hybrid cars tended to be two-seaters and not suitable for families. Now however, the main hybrid car manufacturers offer a number of family-friendly models. Examples include the Toyota Prius, which can achieve 72 mpg on its combined fuel economy cycle and the Honda Insight SE.

As well as saving money, eco motoring can help save the environment, too. Hybrid cars work on a dual power source basis – with an electric motor and a diesel or petrol engine. The car runs in electric mode while driving under a certain threshold speed – about 42 mph, at which point the engine kicks in to protect the transmission system. They get their best fuel efficiency when driven below the threshold speed, so make great sense for those short trips around town when you’re being taxi driver for your children.

Although hybrids are still more expensive than traditional fuel cars to buy, there are more and more options to buy a hybrid second hand, thus lowering your initial outlay. Hybrids save you money through their fuel economy, but in other ways as well. In Britain, 13% of carbon emissions are caused through motoring. If you live or drive in central London, there’s an incentive to be driving a hybrid which produces lower emissions as you won’t need to pay congestion zone charges.

You can earn brownie points with the kids, too. It’s good to know when Mum or Dad takes you to your ballet lesson that the car you’re sitting in is doing less harm to the planet.

If you’re looking for the best family car on a budget, and you also want a compact vehicle which is a hybrid, then you could do a lot worse than to consider the new Honda Jazz. Starting from £15,995 on the road, the Jazz is one of the most cost effective hybrids around – and of course comes with the Honda name and everything else that carries with it in terms of reliability, quality and longevity – meaning you could be saving big bucks on your mileage for many years to come if previous Honda models are anything to go by.

Although not usually classified as a family car due to its compact size, the five seater Honda Jazz hybrid gives excellent value for money in all regards. It’s a lot cheaper to buy in the first place than its Honda hybrid siblings, the CR-Z and Insight – yet can still seat five people comfortably with luggage. Of course, being a hybrid, it also offers remarkably good mileage per gallon figures, weighing in with a very respectable 62.8 mpg on the combined cycle, though it can manage far more miles per gallon cruising on the open road, whilst the Vehicle Excise Duty is just £15 a year!

Meanwhile, for the environmentally concerned families among us, the main reason for considering the Honda Jazz hybrid may be the impressively low CO2 emissions of 123g/km. The Jazz has been available in the UK since late 2008 and production of the Jazz for all European markets moved from Japan to Honda’s UK plant in Swindon in 2009. The Honda Jazz new look hybrid has been available since February 2011.