Review: SUV in the City

This post is sponsored by Nuffnang.


Last week I got to test-drive the new Mitsubishi ASX. When I saw it, I thought, ‘yep, now there’s a gas guzzler if I ever saw one’. I drove that baby back and forth to work all week – and when I returned it, it was only just on the half-way mark. My regular car uses a heck of a lot more fuel than that per week – and it’s a smaller car.


So there’s surprise number one for me. The Mitsubishi ASX offers fabulous fuel economy. And when I’m seeing petrol prices yo-yoing like Lindsay Lohan’s hemline – well I’m thinking fuel economy is right up there for me.


I cruised the streets like it was nobody’s business. I was perched up there, with a great view of the traffic. When parking, the reverse camera lit up in the rear-view mirror – and I felt like some kind of spy and it helped me reverse park smoothly. That there people – that technology, wowsers.


Lunchtime on Friday and the five members of our team trickled out to the carpark and we all piled in to go to lunch. There were several revelations that there was so much room for legs, handbags and chatting – and the sleek leather interior. This was Sex In the City meets The Stig.


When you turn the car on, the door mirrors open out, when you lock the car, the fold in – I am always doing this manually to our car, since someone whacked ours off a few months ago. It’s like it has little ears. So cute.


And of course, paramount to buying a car: safety features. SRS Airbags; an energy absorbing front section to offer occupants protection; reverse camera (which I used for parking and should not replace checking around your car before backing out); reverse parking sensors (my BFFs); active traction control; ABS and so much more.


For more information check out their website here.

Review: Toyota Camry Atara SX - A Family Trip

This is where we yelled "Oh what a feeling" - we're like that

Back in the days I learnt to drive in a Toyota Camry. And so it is that a great lineage of our family has driven a Toyota Camry. It's an expectation now, in our family, that when you get a new car, 90% of the time, it's a Toyota Camry.

Apparently we like the Toyota Camry.

The roses are on the verge of being dead-headed, the Crepe Myrtle is on the verge of blooming bright. We headed to the Hunter Valley this weekend in the brand spanking new Toyota Camry Atara SX. Aye. Aye. Aye.

We had such a wonderful family escape, we hung out like we haven't for ages, we swam, read, and escaped the city - all courtesy of Toyota. 

We drove hither and thither, vineyard to vineyard, checking out the scenery, the vines, the views. The gelato!

The drive was smooth! It was keyless! I love keyless because I don't have to rummage in my handbag for keys while wrangling small children. And the car? It was made in Melbourne, with love. 

I'd like to say I took it to 240kms just to check it could really go that fast - but I didn't. I trust Toyota.

I would however say this car has grunt - but it's smooth grunt. It handled well on bitumen, and I impressed Matt with my Stig-like navigation of a very bumpy, very potholious* gravel road without hitting one bump. GENIUS! 

The lowdown:
You'll like the Toyota Camry Atara because:
- it's a great family sized car;
- the keyless entry;
- the keyless lock;
- the moon roof;
- the superior safety features;
- the leather upholstery;
- the roomy boot;
- the super fuel efficiency (we drove around all weekend and still have half a tank);
- the customised lumbar support for the driver (HELLO TOYOTA!);
- it has two exhaust pipes which impressed the Doctor;
- it's a super smooth drive;
- it's customised metallic ultramarine blue - (Matt LOVES this) if you want it to be;
- it has lots of ace cup holders (I am a sucker for rad cup holders);
- it is psychic and can automatically change the temperature;
- it alters the headlights automatically - if someone's driving towards you, it will dim the high-beam

Why you won't like it:
- Because we had to give it back [insert sad face here];
- Because your partner will want to drive it and you can't hog the steering wheel

* I made that word up.

*FIST PUMP*

In a couple of weeks we're test-driving the new Toyota Camry.

I am pretty excited.

I don't know if Matt's going to be so excited when he discovers that that little baby is a GWP.

My Own Private Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

About a month or so ago, Ford kindly lent me their brand new Ford Focus Titanium.

Did you know, I've never owned my own car? When Matt and I met, he had a car, and as we fell more and more madly and deeply in love, it became apparent that his car was a gift with purchase. I got the benefits of a car together with a new boyfriend. Win: Win.

Since returning to working in an office, we tend to borrow my MIL's car during the week, so that I can drive, instead of spend 1.5 hours x 2 travelling 24kms. It's a blessing that we are able to borrow her car, but you know Santa, I can't help but feel life would be so much simpler if we had a second car.

When Ford contacted me and asked if I'd like to drive their new car for a week - I very promptly responded that I'd be a fool to turn this opportunity down.

Santa, I'd be pretty chuffed if you popped the zippy new Ford Focus down my chimney. Though we don't have a chimney, so I'm happy for it to be just parked in our driveway. 

Santa, this car is the shiz.

You see, it parks itself, which is an additional gift when you're trying to slip into tiny spaces in say - Surry Hills or Paddington - and you can say: "Look ma, no hands" quite literally as it reverses into that spot.

It has voice recognition. Heated seats (which when I was driving, I put on so Matt felt like he'd wet his pants all of a sudden - naughty Lexi!), a sun roof, which Tiny sampled (above) and a roomy boot. Just look at that boot full of groceries. What a sweet ride! OH! Not to mention the fact that it has a keyless ignition. So you walk up to the car with your keys in your handbag, it senses you're in the vicinity et voila - it opens the doors. And you hop in, you can start your engine. No more rummaging through your handbag - which is BRILLIANT when you have smalls in a busy carpark. Straight in, no stuffing around.

I even boasted to Matt that, for the first time in my life, while driving this car, I felt sporty. Me? Feeling sporty? Holy cow.

I zipped around in that car all week long. Manufacturing reasons why I needed to drive it. Truly. I loved that car so much. I'm still pining for it Santa. In fact, I whizzed and whizzed around in that car, and even after a full week of whizzing, I still had a quarter of a tank of petrol. That baby corners like it's on rails.

Excuse me Santa, but does your sleigh offer that kind of fuel economy? Didn't think so. 

So Santa, what I'm thinking about is the Ford Focus for Christmas. Red Candy.  

Love, 
Lexi

FYI: this is not a sponsored post. Ford lent me the car. I drove it. I loved it. I wrote about it. I'm still pining about it. Santa, bring back my sporty wheels! 

Daytripper

Right now, any excuse I get to go out driving, I take it, with both hands, and drive.

You see, we have the new Ford Focus on loan for a whole blissful week. I am a woman in love with that zippy little car. I've never owned my own set of wheels, so for one whole week, I'm living a fantasy - and loving it friends!

Today we drove up to Pittwater, Palm Beach, and then spent a blissful few hours at Whale Beach. Ain't life amazing!

We spent the beautiful day in the sunshine, scouring the beach for shells, eating hamburgers by the beach, followed by milkshakes watching the waves roll in. Tiny buried her stash of shells, and a cuttlefish. Next step she's on the Sea Shepherd. The Doctor drew pictures in the sand, and practised skimming rocks. We chose houses, just in case we win Lotto.

It was the perfect way to finish our week of holidays. The four of us, happy as larks in the sunshine.