New cars are safer than olders ones. Bigger cars are generally safer than small ones. So an older big car versus a newer smaller one is a valid comparison safety wise.
I suppose the middle ground would be something like a 5 door Golf / … (FWIW I really like he Jazz and it’s super practical with the flat folding seats)
Once we got to 3 kids we needed a bigger car and went the 7 seat 4×4 route (2 Shoguns, over 200,000 miles and 13 years but that was before the penal road tax). But for 1 or 2 kids getting a bigger estate type car only really counts for holidays (or the not to be discounted biking holidays). Once we were down to 2 kids (eldest off to Uni) we went to an A6 Estate, which now we are close to being kidless is only useful for trips to/from Uni and bike holidays! When we started the family we had 5dr Golf’s.