Sponsored post - Choosing the ideal family car

Our current family car is a Ford Focus. We've had it for a few years now and it has done us very well in that time. We've only had a couple of issues, although as time goes on we are finding ourselves paying more and more to fix things that have gone wrong with it, and just last week we found ourselves having to fork out for a new battery.

So I've been thinking about the ideal features we would look for when planning to purchase a new family car.

Safety is obviously key. We'd always look for a car which is Isofix for the car seats, along with plenty of room to fit them in. Room for someone to sit comfortably in the middle between two car seats is a huge bonus - in our current car anyone that has the misfortune to need the middle seat is pretty uncomfortable!

Another important feature is reliability. When you are travelling with young children you need to be confident that your car can get you safely to your destination without incident.

Like most people, we also need to consider the affordability of a family car. When taking out a loan to finance a car then it's worth spending some time comparing the different deals on offer - and you can visit the TSB loans homepage to work out some typical monthly repayments and see if they are in your budget.

Once you've got the big things out of the way, there are still a few extra things that can make a car journey with the family more pleasant. I'd love a car which has integrated DVD players or space to hold an iPad in the headrests so that the children could watch something while we are travelling on long journeys. In the past we have got by with iPads in their laps, but I don't trust them to hold tightly enough to make it a regular thing!

Plenty of boot space is a big advantage, as even a trip away for a couple of nights seems to produce several suitcases along with all the extras that are flung in at the last minute.

I'd also like a car with a way of easily charging mobile phones and other devices while you are on the move. And finally, a car with a self-emptying rubbish bin would be amazing!

What features do you think are particularly important in a family car? To explore your options when looking at purchasing a family car, you can check out this car finance guide from TSB.

This is a sponsored post.