Camera Phone Road Show

Jan 2, 2008 - Exhausting

One thing I noticed when I was driving other cars recently (Saturn Aura, Honda Civic Hybrid) is that their filters are not as good as the ones in my Volvo XC90.

I keep the climate controls set to recirc all the time because I hate the smell of exhaust and I really hate when the car in front of me is being driven by a smoker and I can smell their cigarette smoke! The Volvo saves me from all of that. It also saves me from having to smell the charred remains of Malibu Canyon during wildfire season. The Saturn and the Honda did not.

After getting a whiff of something, I was often checking to see if the climate controls were set to recirc, and they usually were. Sometimes they were not, however. I hate when cars switch off of recirc automatically! Why do they do this?

Another question: why am I rambling incoherently about vehicle climate control settings?

2:45 pm | Categories: driving, road rage, car buying, hybrid, honda, saturn Comments (0) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

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Dec 14, 2007 - My Baby Fits in the 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid

I posted over on the Driving Woman blog about my overnight test drive of the 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid.

Also, my baby is cute, right?

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Nov 29, 2007 - 2007 LA Auto Show -- Family Cars

We had our all-company meeting at the LA Auto Show last week. After the meeting, we were able to wander the floor. I went with a dual purpose. First, I wanted to check out cars that are good on gas mileage with plenty of backseat room for a rear-facing infant car seat, and I also wanted to see a bunch of cool cars. Here are the family cars. (See the previous post for the cool cars.)

2009 VW Jetta TDI Sportwagen

This ended up being the clear frontrunner by the time I was done checking out the cars. It has a good-sized backseat (which will need to be verified with a car seat test run), has a nice amount of cargo room, looks comfortable, and is projected to get better gas mileage than the Prius (40s city/50s hwy). Not only that, but this diesel will meet California's stringent emissions requirements.

Scion xD

I really wanted to check out this car becaus I think it is so cute. This picture isn't very clear, but the front seat is reclined into the position my huband normally chooses and it makes the backseat not just cramped, but unusable. (I included a picture of the sticker to show the mileage.)

Toyota Matrix

I was interested in checking out this redesign, but they weren't letting anyone get close to it.

Mazda5

While I wouldn't consider a regular minivan, I would consider this mini minivan if it actually got decent gas mileage. You can see from the sticker that it does not meet my minimum requirement of 30 mpg hwy.

Pontiac Vibe

This redesign is cute and supposedly fun to drive. The back seat looks plenty roomy, but that seat looks about as inviting as a stone bench.

Nissan Altima Hybrid

I had a 2002 Nissan Altima and I liked it a lot. Passengers always commented on the roomy backseat. This one looks even nicer, but I hear that trunk space is compromised.

2:27 pm | Categories: car buying, auto shows, hybrid, diesel, scion, volkswagen, toyota, mazda, pontiac, nissan Comments (1) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

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