Average price of cars is best for family

With high-tech performance, safety, and convenience features available at all price levels, it's easier than ever to choose a model that's built for your family's needs.

• Mazda 3

• 
  
• Starts at $17,740
• MPG 30 city/41 highway
• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 2014 Top Safety Pick+
• 5 passenger capacity
• 2 car-seat capacity

Mazda

You'll be proud to display this small stunner in the driveway. The revamped 3 couples a sophisticated drive with a comfy and highly designed cabin. Its direct-injection engine provides outstanding fuel economy with no sacrifice in acceleration. A $2,600 technology package adds radar adaptive cruise control (which automatically keeps a safe distance from the cars ahead) and lane-departure and forward-obstruction warnings. In case you're distracted by backseat shenanigans, it also includes Smart City Brake Support, a laser-based system that stops or slows down the car when there's a risk of a collision at speeds below 18 mph. And Mazda Connect, an infotainment and connectivity system, is blessedly easy to operate.

• Ford Fiesta

• Starts at $14,925
• MPG 32 city/45 highway
• 5 passenger capacity
• 2 car-seat capacity

Ford

Forget the chintzy economy cars of yore. The Fiesta isn't merely affordable but Euro-chic fashionable and surprisingly roomy in back, even for grown-ups. The ride is notably quiet for a subcompact, with zippy handling. Unexpected standard features include a driver's knee air bag. The optional three-cylinder EcoBoost engine delivers the best mileage of any gas-powered car sold in America. Should you decide to move up to the $19,125 Titanium version, you'll also get heated exterior mirrors (to boost vision on icy mornings) and leather seats and steering wheel.

"I love the way my Fiesta drives, the fact that my 3-year-old can get in and out with little assistance, and the roominess in back and in the trunk." - Jennifer Metcalf; Pleasant Hill, Missouri

• 
  

Best Hybrid

Toyota Prius

• Starts at $25,010
• MPG 51 city/48 highway
• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 2014 Top Safety Pick+
• 5 passenger capacity
• 2 car-seat capacity

Toyota

Open that college fund: The Prius can save you $6,250 in fuel bills over five years compared with the average new car. The world's best-selling hybrid offers a reliable ride and packs impressive interior space into a compact footprint, so installing bulky car seats is no hassle. Interactive display screens coach the driver to maximize mileage: Topping 50 mpg has never been this much fun. Hate getting into a hot car? The cutting-edge Solar Roof Package (a $1,500 add-on available on all but the entry-level model) generates electricity from sunlight to cool the car while it's parked.

• Best Sedans

Mazda 6

• Starts at $21,785
• MPG 28 city/40 highway
• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 2014 Top Safety Pick+
• 5 passenger capacity
• 2 car-seat capacity

Mazda

The all-new 6 makes you feel as if you're getting away with something: No car this practical and inviting to rear passengers (including toddlers in car seats, teens, and even grandparents) should be such a blast to drive. Its "commander" knob lets you manage both the navigation and the entertainment system while minimizing eyes-off-the-road time. The four-cylinder engine supplies brisk power. The Grand Touring version ($30,490) offers a $2,080 package that includes the i-ELOOP system (which captures braking energy and boosts this model to class-best highway mileage) as well as adaptive cruise control (to prevent you from closing in on the car ahead of you) and lane departure and forward-collision warnings. Rear seats fold individually to accommodate your kids and bulky gear as well; a backup camera comes standard.

• 
  

Honda Accord

• Starts at $22,745
• MPG 27 city/36 highway
• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 2014 Top Safety Pick+
• 5 passenger capacity
• 2 car-seat capacity

Honda

It's easy to see why the Accord has been a longtime family-favorite sedan. Drivers love the airy views and impeccable road manners, while the standard four-cylinder engine combines silken operation with solid efficiency. Gear-toting parents will appreciate a trunk that swallows two suitcases plus a stroller and a Pack 'n Play. Even the entry-level version includes a backup camera. Cutting-edge safety technologies, including lane departure and forward-collision warning systems, are available on the $29,060 EX Leather trim line. And Honda's new LaneWatch (standard on the $25,670 EX model) brings peace of mind: Flick the right-hand turn signal and a brilliant image of the right-side roadway beams onto the touch screen, showing cars, pedestrians, or bicyclists you might not otherwise see.

Source: http://www.parents.com/

What is the fastest car in the world?

With Hennessey claiming a new production car speed record we look back at the world's fastest road cars

The Hennessey Venom GT is the fastest road car in the world, setting a mark of 270.49mph early in 2014. It beat the previous title holder, the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, by just 0.63mph - but the record won't be officially recorded.

Hennessey took its car to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA to run the car on NASA's 3.2-mile Space Shuttle landing runway.

The official Guinness World Record requires two runs in opposite directions to work out an average speed - meaning tailwinds are taken into account - and since the Venom GT wasn't able to do this on that runway, the record books remain unchanged - the Bugatti is still technically the champion.

• Top 10 fastest road cars 2015

“The Venom GT attained a maximum speed of 270.49 mph as measured by our VBOX 3i GPS system,” said Racelogic engineer Joe Lachovsky - independently verifying the speed that was reached.

The Venom GT also holds the speed records for world’s fastest car from 0-300 km/h (13.63 seconds) and 0-200 mph (14.51 seconds). That's thanks to a low weight (1,244kg) and a high power output (1,244bhp) from its 7.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine.

The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, which reached 269.86mph in 2010, is technically still the fastest road car - and it's the effortless way that the car reaches this top speed that really impresses. Thirty models were produced initially and five of those had the top speed limiter removed to allow the incredible top speed to be reached - and to ensure the car's place in the record books for production cars.

The original Bugatti Veyron without the Super Sport tweaks set a speed of 253.81mph in 2005 - it's a previous winner of the title, and undoubtedly an incredibly fast road car. Its 8.0-litre W16 engine has four turbochargers and produces 987bhp - 0-62mph takes just 2.5 seconds.

The McLaren F1 was a sensation in the 1990s, setting an incredible speed record that stood for more than 10 years. In fact, it still holds the record for world's fastest naturally aspirated road car, setting a speed of 240mph way back in 1993.

Notably, it features a central driver's seat and two passenger seats either side - an unusual set-up for a hypercar like this. It uses a 6.1-litre V12 with 627bhp - quite a bit less than the Veyron, but it does weigh less than the Bugatti too.

The early nineties were an incredible time for hypercar fans, with the top speed war in full swing between the McLaren F1, Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959. The Porsche was the first to hold the record of the three, but the F40 soon trumped the Porsche's 195mph with its groundbreaking 202.6mph - the first road car to go faster than 200mph.

The Lamborghini Miura was the fastest road car in the world at the time of its launch in 1966, able to reach a top speed over 170mph. Before that, the Aston Martin DB4 and Mercedes 300SL held the record, as well as the Jaguar XK120.

One speed record that will likely never be broken is that of the Mercedes-Benz W125 Rekordwagen - a converted 'silver arrows' grand prix car with an ultra-aerodynamic body and a 5.6-litre V12 with around 725bhp. In 1938 the car drove on a public road to a speed of 268mph - with today's congested roads there's no way this will ever be repeated.

While the Bugatti Veyron and Hennessey Venom GT fight over whose attempt will go down in the record books, the Koenigsegg One:1 looks set to blast in with a record of its own.

Even if it can't match the ultimate speed record, the One:1 will become the world's most powerful road car with 1,322bhp - 22bhp more than the current champion, the 1,300bhp SCC Ultimate Aero.

source: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/