Show A SPECIAL REPORT £ Wa want our can to bo functional and practical but wo want fun too It's a combination breakfast nook entertainment center changing area and chat room fm their softball and football gear in a succession of BMW and Toyota sedans Other families are Today the family car has to do it all opting for SUVs wagons hatchbacks trucks extended-ca- b and “crossovers” that blend features of different types of vehicles Yet whatever form a family car may take its essential purpose remains the same: to bring families together “We’ve seen a recentering of American values with the family as No 1 ” says Paul Leinberger who tracks consumer trends for die market research firm RoperASW “It’s 1957 all over again — except that we've come a long heyden family Wellesley Mass felt Goldilocks NeiL a The marketing and Robin a and teacher both 44 wanted a safe reliable vehicle big enough for their sons— Rhys 1 1 and Owain 8— as well as for soccer teammates and camping equipment A sedan was too small a sport utility vehicle (SUV) felt too big But dozens of other vehicles seemed just right “Choosing a family car is daunting research and test drives we got down to comparing cubic inches of storage space” In the end the cupholders and “captain's seats” in die Honda Odyssey minivan — big hits with the Heyden boys— clinched the deal “Fun matters as much as function these days” says Carleton Kendrick a family therapist in Millis Mass who analyzes auto trends as an indicator of social change “The family car still must meet the demands for practicality and safety but it doesn’t have to be boring anymore Now it’s a statement Whatever type of family transport we choose its essential purpose is the same: to bring us together because there are so many makes and models’' says Robin “After weeks of of how a family defines itself” As families have become more diverse so have their cars— even though sedans remain the No choice “Nothing is more affordable or drives better" say Bob and Rhonda Anderson of Mill Valley Calif who have transported two sons now 16 and 12 and Already loaded vridi standard feature and a lOyoarIQOOrnla I) h I? PONTIAC GRAND Dim out this spring PX thonmvsodanwM offer 260hp and a trunk big enough for ladder a Pries not sot ot MnuRgi QM RRMWI Hwo CwnH wkh a CD phyar Rom about S2&0001 HONDA OVKHYVMD This 2003 hybrid gasafectrtc isdsn want on safe last year Whh manual tranamheloix 1 DODGE RAM 3500 Nsw for 03 a heavy-dut- y pickup powsrsd by a 345hp Hand angina A Quad Cab modal is amiable from 529000 way from station wagons with fake wood panels on the sides” Sot Your Parents ' Family Car Pat Waldo 52 a multimedia specialist and mother of four in Brisbane Calif cried when she bought a station wagon in 1988 “I felt that I’d turned into my mother” she says “but I needed the space for four children under 5" She now drives an SUV It's big enough to accommodate kids (twins 16: a son her now adult-siz- e 17 and a daughter 20) yet too ragged to be mistaken for a staid “mom-mobilThe family car has become a cultur-a- l symbol as well as a personal style statement observes Michael Marsden who will teach a course on the automo- bile in America at Eastern Kentucky University this spring The classic station wagon of the 1950s reflected a time e” j 3 £ NISSAN MAXIMA Sadans ara stfli tha No 1 choica of famMea This rodssignod midsire wM ba launchad this spring Prica not sat jtpwnihaiafaaldpping46inpgMtyand 51 mprighnaqr From about 420000 poa a mmumv a aoos pamm maoazmi |