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2017 Mazda CX-9

Posted by 278Wife on March 6, 2017
in Cars, Vehicles

I have officially found my new dream car…the 2017 Mazda CX-9. This was the most luxurious vehicle I have ever had the pleasure of driving. Not only is it gorgeous on the outside, but it is sleek as ever on the inside.

The Mazda CX-9 is by far the fastest car I have ever driven. It has a 2.5T turbo engine. Most of the time I was driving I did not even realize how fast I was going, since the drive was so smooth. I rarely felt a bump, which is odd since I live in the country. The neatest part was that it projected the speed limit onto the windshield so I didn’t even have to look down to see how fast I was going. This vehicle had every single bell and whistle you could dream of. Some of my favorites included keyless entry, leather throughout, 7-inch full-color touchscreen display, Mazda connect, and great safety features.

I felt like the Mazda CX-9 could basically drive itself. If I was too close to a car in front of me, it would brake on its own. If I veered a little too far to the shoulder, it would turn me back. I felt very safe driving this vehicle. It was super easy to park, with the rearview camera. I loved all of the controls on the inside. They were very user friendly and easy to control while driving.

I would recommend the 2017 Mazda CX-9 to every single person and family. I felt like I was on vacation after driving this for a week. It was the most comfortable, smoothest, and fun vehicle to drive.

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2017 Mitsubishi Mirage

Posted by 278Wife on March 6, 2017
in Cars, Vehicles

If you are looking for a great run around town vehicle, look no further than the 2017 Mitsubishi Mirage. It is a great car for a small family that likes to travel. It gets 36 miles to the gallon on average, which means you’ll be saving money at the gas station!

It is surprisingly very spacious on the inside. Plenty of elbow room, and enough space in the trunk for groceries, sports equipment, or suitcases. It was comfortable to drive, and easy to see. All of the controls were easy to locate and use while drving. The Mirage is a 3-cylinder front wheel drive vehicle, and this particular car was a 5-speed manual transmission.

What a I really loved about the car was the warranty. It had a 10-year 100,000-mile warranty, and the Mirage starts at $14,795.00. It also rated highly in the Government 5-Star Safety Ratings.

I would definitely recommend the 2017 Mitsubishi Mirage to a small family or a young person beginning to drive. It’s a great car to drive, that’s extremely fuel efficient, and easy on the wallet.

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Kia Optima LX Turbo

Posted by 278Wife on July 26, 2016
in Automobiles, Cars, Vehicles

Last week I had the pleasure of test driving a Kia Optima LX Turbo. That sure was a treat! I’m so used to driving around a minivan, having the opportunity to drive a car was so much fun.

First of all, the car was gorgeous. Really nice looking on the outside and the inside was not only easy on the eyes, but super comfortable. I felt like I was driving a luxury vehicle. The Kia Optima had great pick up. I definitely sped a little too often without even realizing it. Of course my favorite feature on the car, as is with most KIAs, was the back up camera. It sure makes life a whole lot easier when I can simply look on the screen and see almost all of my blind spots. I also really love how the car beeps at me when someone is getting too close to me, or I’m getting too close to a ditch. What a great feature!

The KIA Optima gets 32 MPG, which in my eyes is amazing! It’s very fuel efficient and has a lot of great safety features including dual front airbags, front seat mounted side airbags, driver’s knee airbag, traction control system, and the tire pressure monitoring system. One thing that really surprised me about this vehicle was how absolutely huge the trunk space was. Both my mother-in-law and I went grocery shopping and bought over two carts full of stuff. I thought for sure we would have to put some bags in the back seat. I was shocked they all fit with room for more bags!

I highly recommend the KIA Optima LX Turbo to men and women of all ages and all walks of life. It really is a great vehicle!

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Toyota Sienna

Posted by 278Wife on April 3, 2016
in Cars, Vehicles

I was pretty excited to test out the 2015 Toyota Sienna last week. As a mom of two, and one on the way, minivans are a must in our family! I need a vehicle that makes it easy to drive, shop, run errands, and get in & out of the vehicle as quickly and conveniently as possible. The Toyota Sienna went above my expectations, and fit well in our family.

To begin with, it gets 19 miles per gallon, 23 highway miles. This is great since I live in the country and have to drive at least 10 miles to get anywhere. I drive the highway a lot, so I really liked that the side mirrors would light up if there was a car in my blind spot. The GPS was great! It was nice that I could still hear it even with a movie playing for the kids.

The kids really enjoyed the wide screen DVD player. They thought it was pretty neat that it was so wide. I liked it, too, since I was still able to see behind me even when it was down. I also liked that the Sienna had heated seats & steering wheel. Living in the Midwest, most mornings are chilly so it’s a nice touch.

Another great feature was that the third row seating stowed. We travel a lot and usually have a lot of luggage, so that makes it much more manageable. My absolute favorite part of the Sienna were the plastic containers that go in the trunk. They have to be removed when you stow the seats, so I used them for all of my grocery bags. It was so nice to not have the bags flying around my trunk. I also then just carried the whole container into the house, took all of my bags out, and was able to only make one trip.

If you are looking for lots of safety features, tons of convenience, a roomy and smooth ride, and a great family car, you should definitely consider a Toyota Sienna. I highly recommend it!

www.ToyotaSienna.com

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Kia Sorento SXL

Posted by 278Wife on March 1, 2016
in Automobiles, Cars, Travel, Vehicles

I am definitely a soccer mom. I have two kids and drive a minivan, and I cannot complain. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to drive a SUV, though. I had the opportunity to drive a KIA Sorento last week, and I really enjoyed it.

The KIA Sorento offered quite a bit of room. Both of my kids’ car seats fit in the backseat easily. Even my mother-in-law was able to squeeze in the middle of them when we had a full load. The Sorento felt very roomy, especially with the moon roof that opened the full length of the vehicle. The kids really enjoyed looking up at the sky on the way to school.

The KIA Sorento offers some really nice features including heated seats, air-conditioned seats, heated steering wheel, push button start, memory driver’s seat, and my favorite the navigation system. It was really easy to plug in addresses and easy to follow directions. The back-up camera makes it virtually impossible to hit anything. Trust me, it has full camera views where you can literally see every angle of what is around you. I miss it on my minivan now.

The trunk space is huge. It fit all of my grocery shopping bags easily, with room for more! The KIA Sorento gets 22MPG on average, which is great considering how much driving around I do. This vehicle gets up to speed unbelievably quick, thanks to its 2.0L turbo gas direct injection 4-cycle engine. Let’s just say, this mommy mobile for the week was fast! Overall, I was really pleased with the KIA Sorento and recommend it to families with kids, and even people without kids. It really is a great vehicle!

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2015 Mitsubishi Outlander

Posted by 278Wife on April 30, 2015
in Automobiles, Automotive, Cars, Reviews, Uncategorized, Vehicles

I have owned quite a few vehicles in my time, but honestly they have all been Dodge or Chrysler. I was thrilled at the opportunity to test drive a 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander. Besides being safe & functional, it is very sporty looking. I definitely did not feel like a soccer mom driving around in it!

The 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander is an SUV, but it felt more like a car. It was lower to the ground and did not have nearly as many blind spots as other SUVs on the market. Inside it felt spacious, and I loved the option for the third row seating in the back. The option to have seating for up to 7 people is very helpful especially with growing families and car pooling. When not using the third row seating, it easily folded into the car for a very spacious trunk. I was surprised how much I could actually fit in the trunk. I wasn’t sure it would fit a lot of grocery bags, but I never had a problem.

My favorite feature of the 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander was how safe they made it. The SUV has 7 airbags throughout the vehicle including a knee impact airbag on the driver’s side. The car let me know when someone was getting too close to me as well as if I was crossing into another lane of traffic. The back-up camera was very helpful, especially in busy parking lots. I LOVED the adaptive cruise control. When other vehicles would slow down in front of me, the Outlander would automatically slow down so I would be the same distance from the car in front of me. Then when the car would switch lanes, the Outlander would gradually increase back up to what the cruise was set for. It was very helpful and I liked not having to keep toggling the cruise buttons.

All in all the 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander was a great vehicle. It had all of the bells and whistles I could dream of; seat warmers, rain sensing wipers, brake assist, hill start assist, rear back up camera, automatic power lift gate with FOB opening, automatic start, GPS, and more. The only thing missing for our family was a TV. I would definitely recommend the 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander. What a great experience!

http://www.mitsubishicars.com/outlander

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Keep Your Car Running with Pennzoil

Posted by html404 on February 10, 2015
in Automobiles, Automotive, Cars, Family Stuff, Shopping, Uncategorized, Vehicles

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DropShopandOil #CollectiveBias

Our 2006 Chevy Malibu was long overdue for an oil change so we took it to Walmart’s Auto Center. We had some other shopping to do so it was so easy and convenient to drop the car off, then go about our other shopping. The Auto Center only uses Pennzoil. We asked for Conventional Motor Oil, which is a traditional oil base, with Active Cleaning Agents to continuously prevent dirt and contaminants from creating performance-robbing deposits. We usually get the oil changed when the car tells us it needs to be done. Nice little feature that saves us from having to remember when our last oil change was!

Pennzoil is known to help clean out sludge lesser oils leave behind. It is designed for protection and may enable you to drive an extra 550 miles per year vs. a dirty engine (a dirty engine is NOT good!). Regular oil changes keep your car running smoothly and prevents bad things from happening…like a clogged, dirty engine. Our car is much happier after we get the oil changed!

A funny thing happened to me while we were shopping. When my husband went to get a cart I waited in the front entry way (for some reason hubby did not grab a cart at the Auto Center and we walked all the way around to the front entrance!?). Well, I started walking along side him only to discover the man I was walking with was NOT my husband! Can you say embarrassing? When I looked over at the man I said a quiet, “Oh!” I don’t think he realized what I did because he simply said, “Excuse me” and went on his merry way. Meanwhile, I look back at my husband and asked, “Did you see that?” He said he did and then spreads his arms and goes, “What are you doing walking with another man?” And proceeded to tease me. Probably will not live this one down!

After that embarrassing moment, we were able to get a few groceries and items for our upcoming trip. It was nice to have another the oil change and shopping checked off our to-do list.

If you change your own oil, here is a Pennzoil coupon to use on your next purchase, which is available for a limited time.

How often do you get your car’s oil changed?

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Great First Car: 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage Review

Posted by html404 on December 20, 2014
in Automobiles, Cars, Reviews, Vehicles

The 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage is a great little first car or starter car for college aged students, for a small family or for a second car to save on gas mileage…that’s what I would love it for!

2015 Mitsubishi Mirage Review

Bobbie and I were able to drive this 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage in Sapphire Blue around town for a week in November. It was so much fun to drive! It was easy on gas and cute to boot! We drove the automatic version but there is a standard version (or stick shift) available. It would have been great to try the stick version though, but dear daughter has not yet learned how to drive a standard.

We loved the color, as it reminded us of my husband’s 1992 Mitsubishi Eclipse.

The Mirage handled well, even on corners, was easy to park and my 17 year old daughter LOVED driving it. It gave her more confidence and excited her about driving. Our vehicle is a large vehicle and very daunting to a first-time driver. I appreciated how much more confidence she had after driving the Mirage for a week.

This car comes with a push button start, trunk and door feature. Pretty cool, eh? I still have to get use to all these new things and remotes that actually work to open the locks and start the car…comes from owning an older vehicle!

Other features:

Halogen headlights
Fog lights
Power windows and doors
14″ alloy wheels (they are so cute and little!)
USB port in glove compartment
Anti-lock braking system
Child safety door locks
Split folding back seat
LATCH child restraint system
and so much more!

I was not too sure about how much room we would have in this little car, but it surprised me. We could fit three of our younger children, two in car seats in the back seat, though my 8 year old said it was not comfortable to sit all the way back. So I do not think it would fit three car seats, it would depend on their size. And depending on the height of the drivers, back seat leg room would have been limited for taller passengers riding in the back. The trunk is normal for this size car. It has 47 cubic feet of cargo space when the seats are down and 17.2 when they are up.

The interior of the car was nice. It included floor mats, cup holders, storage holder for phone or keys, radio, etc.

The doors contain a storage area for maps or personal belongings.

For those who are interested in what is under the hood. It has a 1.2L 3-cylinder MIVEC DOHC engine producing 74 horsepower and 74 lb/ft of torque. It averages 37 city miles/44 on the highway with customer reported 50+ MPG. I know we cut our weekly gas allowance nearly in half! We were pretty impressed.

Not only is the 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage Cars.com #1 Ranking in “New Cars for Penny Pinchers” but it comes with 7 airbags! Yes, 7! This car comes with RISE (Reinforced Impact Safety Evolution) Construction which deflects and transfers energy away from its occupants. It was named to the American Council of Energy Efficient Economy’s “Greenest Vehicles” list, which is very important to those of us trying to live a greener lifestyle.

The 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage starts at $12,995, the version we drove had a MSRP of $16, 205. It also comes in 8 different colors. We had so much fun driving this car!