Five easy steps to decide which is the right car for you

There are soooooo many different car makes and models and types that picking one can be a minefield. Unless you’ve seen something that you REALLY like and absolutely nothing will change your mind. In which case, off you go.
But if you’re a bit baffled, then the following five steps will help you clarify your thoughts and come to a car that will work for you. You can then use Autotrader’s search tools to find your perfect car.

Money is the ultimate deciding factor for many car buyers, or it's the basis of the decision, at least. So make sure you have a clear idea of your budget before you start shopping. If you’re lucky enough to have the cash, that can make life easier - just search up to a maximum amount and stick to it. But if you're buying using finance, as most new car buyers do, you need to figure out how much you can afford every month.
Don’t forget that there’s a lot more to consider beyond paying for the car, though. The cost of fuel, tax and insurance – not to mention servicing – could all have a significant impact on your outgoings. They’re things you’ll need to research, but we can help with that.

Start by asking yourself how many seats you need. After all, why buy a massive seven-seater if you'll only ever use five? And if you do regularly carry rear passengers, how many? And how big are they? The middle-rear seat in most five-seat cars is usually much tighter than the other four. If you usually only carry two in the back that’s not an issue, but if you have three teenage kids, for example, there’s always going to be one ‘stuck’ in the middle. Sulking because they're "the least favourite" child. (Maybe they are. We’re not here to judge.) An MPV with three proper rear seats, like the Citroen C5 Aircross, is a good choice if you have three people to carry in the back daily, or three child seats.
Check the length of any car you might be considering too, because you might be limited by your garage or driveway. You’ll find that info easily enough online. And don’t underestimate how hard it can be to find a parking space suitable for a massive SUV these days. Dinged paintwork isn’t nice.

Let’s talk about doors. Technically, a car door is any opening that goes directly into the body, which is why you’ll see a car described as a ‘five-door’ even though it’s got two doors on either side. The hatchback into the boot is the fifth door, and this type of car is MUCH more flexible than a four-door saloon, where the boot opening is thinner and doesn’t offer proper access into the main body of the car. That was riveting, right? But now you know. If you want to delve deeper into this, read our article about body styles here.
If you’re after a family car with four-seats or more, it’s likely to be a four-door saloon or five-door hatchback/SUV/MPV. There are plenty of two-door cars with four seats, too like this nice BMW coupe, so if you need ‘occasional’ rear seats but you want something more stylish (two-door cars tend to look better or be more ‘sporty), then you have options. The people clambering into the back won’t thank you, but what will you care? You’ll look absolutely mint in the front.

Once upon a time, in the good old days of… yore… car buyers only had to choose between petrol and diesel. Things are more complicated now, of course, what with all the different types of hybrids, and fully electric cars.
Fuel economy is a little more complicated than it seems. Hybrids are the main culprit for this, especially the plug-in ones (PHEVs, that is). You may have seen some of the WILD fuel efficiency claims made by the makers of PHEVs, like Toyota’s 565mpg claim for the latest Prius (yep, that's five hundred and sixty-five miles per gallon). In real life, the claims are nonsense, but the car companies can make them because PHEVs absolutely smash the lab-based WLTP efficiency test; we're running a Prius now, as it happens, and it's basically a 50mpg car. We don’t mean to pick on Toyota. All PHEV's are like this. Anyways, PHEVs make good company cars because their on-paper efficiency means low company car tax rates. So that’s worth thinking about. But as a private buyer, you’re probably better off getting a simple petrol or diesel car, which will be very slightly less efficient in real life but probably MUCH cheaper to buy or finance. Electric cars still offer the lowest day-to-day running costs, especially if you can charge at home and don’t spend a lot of time on the motorway; service station rapid charging costs are wild, and actually make motorway trips more expensive on a per-mile basis than petrol or diesel. Around the streets though, they’re amazing. They're cheap as chips to run, quiet, smooth… all good.

Step #5 | what do you actually like?

Let’s be honest, you could have received the most stellar consumer advice ever offered to any consumer, but most people tend to see something they like and just… make it work. Feeding your requirements into an algorithm of suitability will find you a perfectly appropriate car, but it could also be one you look at and think is horrendous. So all we’d say is, properly research the car you like as dispassionately as possible. Don’t ignore red flags. Read the reviews. If there’s a car you like, but most reviewers or owners seem to agree that the touchscreen is dreadful to use, say, then that’s the sort of day-to-day issue that could send you mad once the novelty of your new car has worn off.
Or just ignore all this and get that Range Rover Evoque you like anyway. But do get it right here, at least.