- published: 20 Apr 2016
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A family car is a car classification used in Europe to describe normally-sized cars. The name comes from the suitability of these cars to carry a whole family locally or on vacations. Most family cars are hatchbacks or saloons, although there are MPVs, estates and cabriolets with the same structure as with the other body style. The term covers two types of family cars.
Current small family cars are between 4.20 m (165 in) and 4.35 m (171 in) long if they are hatchbacks, or between 4.40 m (173 in) and 4.55 m (179 in) if they are saloon or estate models. Since the 1990s there have been multi-purpose vehicle based on them, called compact MPVs. Popular small family cars are the Ford Focus, Opel Astra, Škoda Octavia, SEAT León and Volkswagen Golf.
In North America, which uses a different classification system, cars of this size are generally referred to as compact cars, and the term "family car" is almost never used to describe a vehicle in this class.
Large family cars were usually around 4.50 m (177 in) in length by the early 1990s, but are now shifting to 4.70 m (185 in) or more in length. Examples of large family cars include the Ford Mondeo, Opel Insignia, Škoda Superb, SEAT Exeo and Volkswagen Passat.
In human context, a family (from Latin: familia) is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children. Anthropologists most generally classify family organization as matrilocal (a mother and her children); conjugal (a wife, husband, and children, also called nuclear family); and consanguinal (also called an extended family) in which parents and children co-reside with other members of one parent's family.
There are also concepts of family that break with tradition within particular societies, or those that are transplanted via migration to flourish or else cease within their new societies. As a unit of socialization the family is the object of analysis for sociologists of the family. Genealogy is a field which aims to trace family lineages through history. In science, the term "family" has come to be used as a means to classify groups of objects as being closely and exclusively related. In the study of animals it has been found that many species form groups that have similarities to human "family"—often called "packs." Sexual relations among family members are regulated by rules concerning incest such as the incest taboo.