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We are looking to purchase either a people mover type vehicle or a station wagon for our growing family. I want the vehicle to have a good safety rating and to be economical to run. What vehicle do you recommend to strike the balance between these two things? Budget around the $10k mark. Thanks

The 2013 Used Car Safety Ratings (which rate all vehicles involved in real world accidents over a 15 year period to 2011) rates the Toyota Previa (from 2000 on), Honda Odyssey and Kia Carnival as the safest people movers. However, by their very nature, none of these vehicles are particularly economical, so it will be hard to balance safety and economy in a vehicle of this type.
Otherwise, perhaps a Toyota Ipsum, Mazda Premacy or similar type of vehicle may meet your needs but we don't have any specific UC Safety Rating for them - but this could be due to the fact that there are fewer of them on the road so little data is available.