I don't know how many in your family or your budget; but say you had two kids; I would buy an Audi A4 Estate with a 2.0 TDI or 2.0 Petrol Engine depending on mileage.
I have owned and driven BMWs and Mercedes and know at present, I would only touch vehicles from the VAG range (Seat, Skoda, VW, Audi, Lamborgini, Bentley, Bugatti) as I believe they have the best products on the market in terms of build quality and relaibility and even innovation. They probably have the best design and engineering team in the world at the moment with a lot of design work from Porsche.
Just go and look at the panel joins on a Ford compared to a VW.
Go and read the crash test figures. i think VW wins every time against Ford. Dont quote me on that because I am not so concerned about that but might consider it if I had a family.
Look at how the rain runs off the body panels on a VW compared to a Ford (because the panels are better made and there is more paint and better finished).
The Swiss buy quality and value for money and I am amazed at the number of VWs and Audis on the road and that includes Ticino towards Italy.
One of my busineses in the UK is selling genuine BMW parts and "the quality of BMWs is getting better in the last year" I have been told by parts/service managers.
I would not touch a Mercedes at the moment. The quality has been poor for the last 10 years for the price of the vehicle. The ML (4 Wheel drive) was built in the USA, so is a pile of rubbish and if you look under the sump of the older vehicles, you will even see "Chrysler" written on the parts.
I would not touch anything Italian or French though I admire some of the designs.
If you want a dead boring reliable car then buy Japanese (Honda then Toyota) but then give Japanese cars built in the UK (Civic, Micra...etc) a miss.
Personally, I would never buy brand new. I would let someone else take the financial loss of Depreciation for the first two to three years. It doesn't apply to you but in the UK where most people Lease-Purchase their vehicle but can't afford the balloon payment at the end of the 3 year lease agreement, there are some good second hand buys.
If you wanted a 4 wheel drive (can't see the point myself) a second hand VW Toureg 3.0ltr diesel.
Swiss roads in villages are quite small, so I would not buy anything physically bigger than a Audi A4 / Passat floor plan.
Attitudes Change. To give you an idea; I have been looking at buying either a Porsche Carrera S or Audi R8 for the last year. I was opting for the Porsche in the end on the grounds that it is narrow for the roads, less pretentious and probably hold its value better in the long term. Now I am reluctant to even buy the Porsche on the grounds of what is the point; speed cameras and Switzerland does not have any race tracks to use it on, unlike the UK.
I would just never ever buy a Ford or Vauxhall/Opel.
My opinion. I am sure others will disagree and I will respect their opinions but not necessarily agree.