Be honest, you weren’t expecting to see a Porsche on this list? You might have missed the car company famous for its Boxsters and 911s entering the popular crossover SUV market with its Macan.

And while it does look like the big brother of its sportier cousins, it is still a family car at heart. This five-door SUV has excellent handling and performance for its size.

It has four-wheel drive as you would expect from a car of this size and style, but it also comes with a range of smart technologies that mean it handles the road a lot better than other crossover SUVs.

One of the most popular cars in the country, the RS is the Ford Focus’s amped-up cousin. The standard Ford Focus is one of the most popular cars on the market.

As a hatchback, it regularly dominates lists of the top family cars and is generally a great all-rounder. But the standard Focus isn’t going to get your heart race.

Enter the Ford Focus RS. 0-62 mph in 4.7 seconds is something unheard of in family cars, and you probably won’t be hitting 165mph on the school run either. But the Ford Focus RS is designed to get your heart-racing exactly when you need it to.

When you think of high-performance cars, you probably think of BMW. The same can’t be said for family cars. And that’s the beauty of the M3.

The BMW M3 is a performance family car that blends style, comfort and speed. When you pull up in the car park at work, you’re not going to have your co-workers laughing at your family wagon.

Instead, they will be asking about the engine, how it handles the curves, what extras you chose for the in-car entertainment. But it is also great for the family.

The size is enough for 2-3 children, and the ride is nice and smooth, meaning they won’t be too uncomfortable in the back while you really attack the curves in the road.

It also comes with top marks for safety from Euro NCAP, meaning you can be sure that, if the worst does happen, you’ll be giving your family the best protection.

It might not look like a performance family car, but the Skoda Octavia vRS might surprise you

When you pull up at the school gates or one of your friend’s parties, no-one is going to look at the Skoda Octavia and say ‘Wow’. But those with a keener eye will know that Skoda is no longer the brand it used to be.

Once the laughing stock of the motor trade, Skoda have reinvented themselves as one of the best carmakers on the market, producing cars that get better and better with each year that passes.

The standard Skoda Octavia is a fine car to drive. With excellent interior space, comfortable seating and responsive handling, it is a good car. But you don’t just want good.

The vRS comes with a little more grunt beneath the engine. While it loses a bit of its comfort because of the firmer suspension needed to handle the beefier engine, the top speed of 144mph means you get to really let loose now and then.

It’s also one of the cheaper cars on the list.

For the serious petrolhead, the Volkswagen Golf was either the first car or the one they always wanted.

So, what better than an estate version of the car you loved so much? The Volkswagen Golf R is the perfect way to cling to those early driving days.

It has a powerful performance engine, with a top speed of 155mph and 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds. The car is beautifully balanced, with the handling and acceleration another highlight, even in the estate version.

And if you are after a car for your family, then you will want to go for the bigger model, as the extra space and room inside is vital to keep your loved ones happy.