UNDERCOVER MOTHER

IT'S TIME TO ACKNOWLEDGE FAMILY-CAR PERFORMANCE.

- WILL SABEL COURTNEY

A. Hate on the idea all you want, but seats and space no longer mean selling out fun for practicality.

DO ME A FAVOR: Picture a family car in your head.

Now let me guess—you imagined something with four doors. You might have envisioned a station wagon, or it could have been a minivan, or perhaps you saw an SUV. Or maybe a good old-fashioned sedan—a Taurus, a Camry, an Accord.

Whatever it was, odds are that you didn't think of something you wanted to drive. After all, when it comes to cars, fun and family have always felt almost antithetical. It's a stereotype nearly as worn-out as that of the midlife-crisis sports car, but there's a seed of truth it grows from. Enthusiasts have often seen family cars as so anodyne that they border on evil.

Yet they haven't been for quite a while, and it's time we formally let go of that notion. A modern family car can be every bit as engaging, explosively fast, and fun as many a sports car.