Guest Post: 5 Chic Cars for the Modern Mother

Mothers have a lot to think about when it comes to car buying. You’re probably after space and reliability, but that doesn’t mean you have to lose out on style points. This guide to 5 of the best modern cars on the market comes from the guys at PassSmart, and is sure to help any modern mom looking for a car to suit her chic streak.

2013 honda accord

Honda Accord

The all new Honda Accord sedan has a roomy interior and buckets of style. The Honda Accord has, for a long while, been a staple on US roads, and whilst it’s known for its practicality and reliability, it hasn’t stood out from the crowd. The new Honda design aims to change that, and with its remodeled interior and sleeker exterior, it’s certainly more eye catching.

The all new Honda Accord has a suggested starting price of $21,680 and there’s even the option to ‘build your own sedan’. This involves choosing your color, accessories and specific model. Watch out though, the more you accessorize, the more you’ll spend!

2013 ford flex

Ford Flex

The 2013 Ford Flex offers everything a mom needs in terms of space and reliability, plus it oozes with style. It’s ideal for the school run, a trip to the store and going out for dinner in! This all new and unique design will definitely stand out on the road, and with Ford behind it, you know it’s built to last. The Ford Flex also comes with the option of an EcoBoost engine; perfect for the eco-conscious moms.

The Ford Flex starts at $30,900 for the most basic model.

2013 Toyota Prius

Toyota Prius Hybrid

Although it’s not the most unique or exciting car on the road, it’s perfect for the eco-warrior mom. The plug-in hybrid car has been revamped for 2013, and the new model comes with the option of a number of safety features, including lane keep assist, dynamic car cruise control and Safety Connect.

The all new Prius ranked 6th in affordable midsize cars, and has a standard price of $24,200.

2013 volkswagon jetta

Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid

The Jetta looks great and now you can get it in an eco-friendly version. The Jetta has the reliable and sturdy build we’ve come to expect from Volkswagen, and it’s deceptively roomy. The 2013 hybrid version costs around $8,000 more than the standard, fuel version, but you do get more miles for your money. On top of that, you can feel good about your carbon footprint!

The 2013 VW Jetta Hybrid starts at $24,995, whilst the gas version starts from $16,720.

2013 audi allroad

Audi Allroad

This Audi with an edgy side offers space, comfort and style. The Allroad is not so big that you can’t fit into parking spaces at the store, but is big enough to fit the kids and their baggage in the back. The Allroad doesn’t come cheap, but it can tackle all sorts of terrain; helpful if you have a particularly grueling school run!

Prices for the Audi Allroad start at £39,600, so it’s quite a hefty investment!

This guest content was brought to you by Izzy Guarella. Izzy is a writer for a UK-based company, PassSmart.com.

3 Tips for Road Trips with Kids

Road trips can be fun, but when kids are involved, they can become torture, fast. So how can you ensure that your trip isn’t full of tantrums & meltdowns?

Summer Road Trip

1. Entertain
When we drove from Vegas to Keystone, CO- a ten hour drive- we brought along our portable DVD player. While it’s not exactly the latest technology, it held up well & allowed us to keep Shane entertained for most of the trip. While I usually wouldn’t let Shane just sit in front of the TV for a 6 hour stretch, there wasn’t much else to do in the car anyway {especially since he was 18 months old at the time}. Just bring along a few favorite movies, and be sure to bring a car adapter so you don’t lose power too quickly!

If your kids are old enough, you can also play fun road trip games like the state license plate game {try to find cars with license plates from all 48 contiguous states- bonus points for Alaska & Hawaii!). You can find more fun game ideas here.

2. Snack
If your kids are getting antsy, promise them that they can choose a snack the next time you stop for gas. This trick totally works on me when I’m getting antsy! If you happen to have one of the latest Toyota vehicles, you can use your Entune technology to find the cheapest gas on your route so that you can save the extra few dollars to spend on snacks.

3. Take breaks
Leave a little earlier than needed so that you have time to stop along the way. Whether you’re stopping at a roadside attraction or just stopping at a restaurant for some lunch, a change of scenery can hit the “reset” button on your child’s patience &temporarily halt the constant asking of “Are we there yet?".

Need more reason to stop & stretch your legs? This summer, Toyota & the National Audubon Society are teaming up to ask Americans to Exit the Highway and pledge to spend more time taking scenic roads to nature. The campaign highlights nearly 100 nature destinations in more than 60 cities- and for every initial pledge and every photo of a nature stop shared online at ExitTheHighway.com, you will be entered to win a Toyota Prius v!

exit the highway

What are your road trip survival tips?

Note: I was selected for participation in the TWIN community through a program with Clever Girls Collective. I did not receive any compensation for writing this post, or payment
in exchange for participating. The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the
views of  Toyota.

100 Cars for Good: There’s Still Time to Vote!

A few months ago, I told you about Toyota’s philanthropy event 100 Cars for Good. To sum it up, every day for 100 days, 5 nonprofits are available to vote for on Facebook, and the nonprofit with the most votes at the end of the day wins a new Toyota! {Don’t worry about the other four- while it’s not the same as a car, they do all receive a $1,000 cash grant from Toyota.}

Day 79See those images on the left? Those represent the focus of each nonprofit {animals, elderly, education, etc.} so that you can choose what you care about most.

Each afternoon, the previous day’s winner is announced & the new five finalists are revealed. Facebook users can then vote for the cause that they want to win- and each one has a video you can watch to help you decide who you think deserves a Toyota!

The voting process is simple:

-Log on to Facebook
-Visit Toyota USA on Facebook
-Click the “Cars for Good” tab
-Click on any of the organizations shown to learn more & vote!

It’s really that easy, and your vote can make all the difference for a nonprofit that you care about! Today is Day 79 so there are only 21 more days- so make sure you’re voting every day & helping Toyota make a difference!

100 cars for good

So head over to Toyota’s Facebook page to vote for your favorite organization of the day!

What cause hits closest to your heart? I’m a sucker for animals.

Note: I was selected for participation in the TWIN community through a program with Clever Girls Collective. I did not receive any compensation for writing this post, or payment
in exchange for participating. The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the
views of  Toyota.

2012 Toyota Prius c Review

If you’re following me on Instagram {@NotQuiteSusie!} or saw my Wordless Wednesday post last week, then you know that last weekend I was cruising around in style in the Habanero {i.e. bright orange} Prius c! It’s an amazing car & while I only had a few days in it {I had it for four days but was sick for two of them} I was very impressed by it!

2012 prius c

{Disclaimer: I love cars, but am no car buff. I don’t know about things like torque, or carborators, but I am sharing below about the stuff I do know about! For more tech/spec details on the 2012 Toyota Prius c, feel free to check out Toyota’s website!}

Whenever I find a car I like, the first thing I ask or try to find out is what colors I can get it in. The Prius c comes in nine colors, including the bright orange that I drove, the beautiful Summer Rain Metallic, and more standard colors like Super White, Black Sand Pearl, and Absolutely Red.

prius c colors

Aside from color, the most important thing about a car to me is what’s on the inside. Since I obviously spend most of the time that I use a car sitting inside of it, I want to make sure that it’s visually appealing, and having a few extra features doesn’t hurt! The Prius c interior doesn’t disappoint, with dark & light grey seats & dash and a nice big touch screen in the center that has does a few tricks.

prius c interior

The Prius c is one of the many Toyotas that now features their Entune technology, which is the system that allows your car to connect to some of your favorite apps, such as Pandora, Bing, and more. You can also use it to check on traffic, find the cheapest fuel around, or even check the stocks or weather report. Whatever you need on the road, it’s just a click away! Entune is included standard or as an option on many Toyota vehicles & will continue to be included in new vehicles as they come out.

prius c mpg

Some other fun features include the ability to Bluetooth stream your music from your phone, make calls by voice, and the ability to see where your energy is coming from {battery or engine} while you’re driving! You can even check your ECO score to see if you could change something about your driving to be more efficient, and you can see how many miles you’re averaging per gallon, in real-time. Oh, and if the multitude of music apps aren’t enough, it comes Sirius satellite radio equipped as well.

prius hybrid

&Of course, it’s part of the Prius family, so it’s a hybrid- which means it’s better for the environment & gets great gas mileage! The “c” in Prius c stands for “city”, so this particular vehicle is optimized for city traffic. It gets an average of 53 city/46 highway/50 combined MPG- MUCH better than the 21mpg I get in my current vehicle if I’m lucky.

Prius c back

The Prius c is fun to drive- it has a lot of “get up & go”. It took some getting used to the first time I drove it since I’m used to a car where I practically have to slam the gas pedal down to get it to go, but once I was used to it, it was quite nice. It was “zippy”, as Justin called it, and it’s small so it’s very easy to maneuver!

Prius c interior backseat

The downside to it being so small is that it can be a hassle if you have kids. Justin has installed our car seat into 7 different cars so far & he said that this car was by far the most difficult to install it in, due to a combination of lack of space & the way that the upper LATCH was angled. After taking the headrest off, he finally installed it, but it wasn’t easy. &While Shane had enough room for his legs when I was driving {since I’m short & move the seat way up}, it wouldn’t have been comfortable if Justin was driving & had the seat back. You can have this car with kids, but if you have more than one car seat I’d strongly suggest looking into the Prius v instead {which gets less mpg but has more space for cargo}.

The Prius c starts at just $18,950 and is available at your local dealership now!

Note: I was selected for participation in the TWIN community through a program with Clever Girls Collective. I did not receive any compensation for writing this post, or payment
in exchange for participating. The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the
views of  Toyota.

Wordless Wednesday: 2012 Toyota Prius c

This last weekend, I was lucky enough to drive this baby around- the Habanero Prius c!

Habanero Prius C

The review is to follow shortly, but I just had to share this shot Justin took because I thought it was pretty awesome.

Thanks for the wheels, Toyota!

Toyota Prius C

Note: I was selected for participation in the TWIN community through a program with Clever Girls Collective. I did not receive any compensation for writing this post, or payment
in exchange for participating. The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the
views of  Toyota.

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