How many of you are getting ready to take road trips for the holidays? We are considering taking one but I’m not sure. One thing that I do know is that I rarely take my own vehicle unless we are only going to be gone for a day or so. The reason is I want everyone to be as comfortable as possible. Not to mention sometimes we need more room. One year my brother made the remark that he passed Santa on the interstate. When I asked where he said it was my car packed to the brim with presents. Some people!
When I need to decide what sort of vehicle to take I check out Cars.com because they are a great resource where I can learn about the potential vehicle. Between their Videos & Reviews feature and the extensive reviews they have all sorts of information that allows me to make the most informed decision. One of the best features is they will post both good and bad reviews. That is important when you are researching a vehicle. You would hate to know that two hundred people hated a car but you never heard about it.
Size and Comfort
The size of the car is so important. You need to consider how many people will be going, for us it would be seven people so a van or large SUV may be better. Will a small car work for you? Are you taking presents or more than one suitcase. I tend to over pack and take two suitcases a person, okay I take three or four for myself but I can’t seem to help it. 🙂 Will everyone be comfortable in the vehicle. We have to take two car seats on top of everyone else. We can easily get the two car seats and Victoria into one seat in the van. The twins sleep in their seats and Victoria can rest against one of them with a small pillow. Ma who will sleep the whole trip needs plenty of room for five pillows she brings. All of this is important when considering what vehicle to take.
Mileage
How far are you going? If you are going to go clear across the country then you want to be sure you get a vehicle that is good on mileage. My brother loves his Jeep but he doesn’t take it on long trips because $50 a tankful on gas can get expensive fast. It doesn’t get the best mileage and they have to stop too many times to fill up. His wife has a car that gets awesome mileage so they use that for long trips. I try to be careful of how miles per gallon a car will get. Especially on the highway since that is where most of my driving would be.
Features and Storage
Storage is important because of the suitcase thing. Not to mention everything else that we always end up taking with us. Do you need a large trunk or can you survive with a smaller one. How about features? Do you need multiple cup holders? Believe it or not we do! The twins refuse to use the cup holders on their car seats. So we need at least seven! I also like to be sure that I get a back up camera as well as a few other features. I find it is the little things that make traveling easier.
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I can’t tell you how important this is. I rented a suv thinking it was enough for us and our dogs. It was the 1st time with our 9month old border collie. Well what an mistake. We now know we need the biggest SUV in the world and maybe he just needs his own SUV and a driver lol. I really don’t think there was any other way to know about having the wrong car other than experiencing it because he was so young but he is 9yrs old now and I still think he needs his own SUV and a drivers license.
I had that happen once or twice as well. Live and learn! Now I think about every possible option. I even go to car lots and sit in possible vehicles just to picture the whole family in there. The worst car I ever got though was one where the cup holders where more to the back of the console rather than the front. I couldn’t even reach it when I was driving.
I agree with your points especially making sure there is room for everyone to be comfortable and adequate storage is a must! I have 5 children and it seems that we need half of what we own on any kind of overnight or longer trip!