From the Xsara Picasso to the MG ZS: the dad car in 2026
From the Xsara Picasso to the MG ZS: the Chinese SUV inherits the dad car crown while the 1980s Mercedes endures as a refuge.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The dad car of 2026: from Dacia to the Chinese SUV
The question sounds like a joke, but it has serious economic weight: what is the quintessential dad car of 2026? The answer circulating in enthusiast conversations paints a changing of the guard. The Xsara Picasso and the usual Dacia are giving way to the Chinese SUV as the stereotype of the family man. Omoda, Jaecoo and MG have filled the visual slot of the "dad car", with the added twist that most of them arrive as imports.
The shift is not just aesthetic. In the pessimistic reading, if regulatory pressure on the combustion engine keeps pushing the electric car, a BYD will eventually cost 80,000 bucks by the time no manufacturers are left in Europe. The underlying irony is that anyone buying a "washing machine on wheels" out of climate conviction will have helped make every last available car more expensive. Critics sum it up bluntly: European bureaucracy does not protect the consumer, it pushes them to pay more for less, while people just want to buy a car.
At the opposite extreme, nostalgia takes refuge: the 1980s Mercedes 230CE coupé or a Seat 124 estate as the anti-dad-car alternative. These are cars without a giant boot, without child seats and without a van-like silhouette. The purism extends to the mechanics, with the dilemma between the 136-horsepower 230CE and the 24-valve 300CE.
With electrics sky-high and the Chinese offering firmly planted in dealerships, the question is not just which car is the dad car: it is what will be left for those who don't want to be one. A coupé with thirty years on its back, or a monthly payment for an SUV everyone will see as identical?
The question sounds like a joke, but it has serious economic weight: what is the quintessential dad car of 2026? The answer circulating in enthusiast conversations paints a changing of the guard. The Xsara Picasso and the usual Dacia are giving way to the Chinese SUV as the stereotype of the family man. Omoda, Jaecoo and MG have filled the visual slot of the "dad car", with the added twist that most of them arrive as imports.
The shift is not just aesthetic. In the pessimistic reading, if regulatory pressure on the combustion engine keeps pushing the electric car, a BYD will eventually cost 80,000 bucks by the time no manufacturers are left in Europe. The underlying irony is that anyone buying a "washing machine on wheels" out of climate conviction will have helped make every last available car more expensive. Critics sum it up bluntly: European bureaucracy does not protect the consumer, it pushes them to pay more for less, while people just want to buy a car.
At the opposite extreme, nostalgia takes refuge: the 1980s Mercedes 230CE coupé or a Seat 124 estate as the anti-dad-car alternative. These are cars without a giant boot, without child seats and without a van-like silhouette. The purism extends to the mechanics, with the dilemma between the 136-horsepower 230CE and the 24-valve 300CE.
With electrics sky-high and the Chinese offering firmly planted in dealerships, the question is not just which car is the dad car: it is what will be left for those who don't want to be one. A coupé with thirty years on its back, or a monthly payment for an SUV everyone will see as identical?
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (21 replies).
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