First thing to do is bottom out what type of car you want. i.e. hatch, saloon, mpv, suv etc.
We always opt for an suv because it ticks the boxes of seat height for accessibility for both of us and boot size for my wife’s walking frame, plus luggage etc. We tend to steer clear of mpv’s as we don’t need that many seats.
We know we’ll want an auto as i’m the driver and my knees are shot.
Given that we’ll have the car for 3 to 5 years we tend to want a very good spec and so save hard to create a pot to cover that. Usually we’ll prefer a leather interior as its easy to slide on and off the seats. I’ve begun to lean towards 4wd as winter getaways in north wales can make it vital in freak snowfalls. I’d ideally want adaptive cruise control in the next car. I also need ample room to spread out too. I’m 6’2″ with long legs and often although a good outer size, and SUV can feel cramped in the cockpit. The outgoing kuga is a good example of that. I’ve also got an interest in the next car having a black headliner due to having light sensitive eyes and so liking the feeling of being in a darker environment when driving. Finally we’ve got to like the styling of the car. 3 to 5 years is a long time and if you’re not keen on the styling of a car from the off then its gonna feel a lot longer. The car should give you a lift when you look at it, and make you want to drive it and enjoy it, and not just see it as a utility.
Whether we’ll find all of those elements in the next car remains to be seen. But you get the picture on how we pull our requirement together.
Maybe take that kind of approach and see what that leads you to?