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Too Cute to Pass On. Zoe’s Review of the Kia Soul on Video

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This is Zoe’s review of the Kia Soul.

I had to share it, she was so insistent. When I was reviewing it, I kept telling her to be quiet and that made her so upset, so I gave her a chance to let her review it and then I took her for one final drive around the neighborhood.

I still have to mention that the kids loved the Kia soul just because it was Alien Green. That’s the name of the color. And while we’re thinking of children I thought I would mention some child safety features:

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The rear child-safety door locks offer peace of mind by enabling parents to disengage the interior door opening mechanism ensuring children can’t open the rear doors while the vehicle is in motion. 

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Lower Anchors and Tethers for children (LATCH) Lower Anchors and Tethers for children is a universal child seat attachment system that allows for quick easy and secure installation and removal of LATCH equipped child seats.

 

The full review of the Kia Soul will be coming soon.

Driving Fun in the New 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe #NewSantaFe

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I love driving in Utah. Remember when I drove to Utah with my kids from Seattle and then drove back. I had a blast and I can’t wait doing it again. Utah is a very beautiful state and capturing it from the window of the 2013 New Santa Fe by Hyundai ended up providing me with quite a few new beautiful shots. And a Picture is worth a thousand words right?

Hyundai undercarriage

Wait a minute, where is the car that is just the undercarriage. Someone needs to put some clothes on that car.

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That looks better. Hyundai showed all of us at the #NewSantaFe event the interior, the exterior the inside and the outside of their cars and their business. They support charity which won me over right away. They are currently helping children who have cancer by raising money in the Hyundai Hope on Wheels campaign. So let’s dive into the finer points of the 2013 New Hyundai Santa Fe.

 

The Technology:

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Back up camera
GPS
8 inch touch screen
XM Radio
Driver Selectable Steering Mode
Excellent Sound
Weather Report
Stock Report

I think all they need to add is a twitter or Facebook feed and I’m good to go! (not while I’m driving of course). My husband spends most of the time driving, so I’m in the passenger seat needing to entertain myself and I’d love to be able to check my feeds.
 

The Look and Feel

So it’s hard to say if heated seats should go in the tech or the look and feel. I finally decided feel because I love the feel of a heated seat. Plus they thought of the people in the back seat. And you can get a heated steering wheel and dual-zone automatic temperature control with CleanAir Ionizer.

Driver Selectable Steering Mode, yes I had this in technology but I needed to also put it in the Look and Feel because I loved being able to select it and my favorite selection was the sport selection.  The modes Comfort, Normal and Sport and your choice may change depending on the stretch of road. The sport really made me feel like I was turning the car, the other selections felt way to wiggly in my opinion.

There was a time in my life I would say no way do I ever want a sun or moon roof. When I saw the double panels for the back seat I was quite impressed image

I’m already in the process of reviewing another car and my kids have seen the double panels in the back and they LOVE having their own moon roof. The sun roof they always tell me it’s too bright, but that’s coming from kids that usually have rain 70 % of their lives living in Seattle.

All of the Santa Fe’s standard seats are covered in a YES Essentials® seat cloth, which is stain resistant. Plus this material has an antibacterial feature to control odors. The fabric also has innovative anti-static technology that helps disperse the electrostatic charge that builds up as you enter and exit the vehicle. And the seat is very comfortable. I love feeling high up in my seat able to see the road and cushy in my seat while still really supported, yes I’m PICKY about my seat.

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The Room Inside

From its brilliantly convenient dashboard bin and hidden cargo-area storage compartment, to its many easily accessible bottle and cupholders everywhere you look, thoughtful storage is right at hand. Re-read that sentence and remember back to my other car reviews, yes cupholders are one of the most important attributes a car can have after safety, price, response time. This had plenty of cupholders.

LOTS OF SPACE:

Hidden space in the trunk

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The seats fold down

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Santa Fe Features that Might Interested You:

  • Substantial weight reduction (-266 lbs.)
  • High tensile steel ratio of 37.7% (vs. 7.8% for outgoing model)
  • All four-cylinder engine lineup for the Santa Fe Sport
  • Theta II 2.4-liter Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) engine
  • EPA estimated highway fuel economy at 31 mpg (FWD A/T)
  • In-house six-speed automatic transmission
  • Hyundai’s first application of Active Cornering Control AWD for outstanding CUV driving dynamics
  • Segment first Driver Selectable Steering Mode (DSSM)
  • Seven standard airbags – includes driver’s knee airbag
  • Panoramic sunroof
  • Heated steering wheel
  • Heated rear seats and manual rear side window sunshades
  • Power driver seat with four-way lumbar control and front passenger seats
  • Sliding and reclining second row seating with 40:20:40 folding seat back
  • Standard Blue Link – safety, service and infotainment telematics system
  • 4.3-inch touchscreen audio display with rearview camera
  • Third generation navigation and audio multimedia systems with an available eight-inch touchscreen display
  • 12-speaker Infinity Logic 7® surround sound audio system (550-watts)

Note: not all features may be standard check out Hyundaiusa.com and build your own car.

The Hyundai Santa Fe is just a fun crossover that wants to be driven. It responds well, has great sound, and has the sexy curves it was made to drive.

Hyundai provided transportation and hotel accommodations while I was staying in Park City.

How Ford is Working To Help Traffic Issues: Go Further Urbanization #GoFurther

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While I was at the Ford Trend Conference I attended the Urbanization session. I wasn’t interested in the Urbanization session at all. I just figured that I didn’t care about big cities, I hate driving to Seattle and what could Ford tell me that’s interesting about cities? All I wanted to learn was about the technology in the cars and what the cars look like and how do they drive. I was surprised about what I learned.

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I thought the US was getting over crowded and suffering from traffic problems. It always seems that by the time cities are done adding lanes those lanes are already full of traffic. Other countries have even bigger traffic problems, like a 45 day traffic jam. I know that people just abandoned their cars at that point but how can they live like that. One solution was how Ford is partnering with Zipcar.

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About Zipcar:

 

Car sharing seems like a simple enough idea, but there’s a reason that Zipcar has become the leader for cars on demand—we took a simple concept to new heights. It’s not just about less cars, less congestion and less pollution (though we’re not complaining), it’s about understanding why those things are a problem, and finding sustainable solutions. We’re idea people acknowledging that this is something bigger than all of us, something that can take over the world (literally) if we’re smart about it. And it’s not just a theory. We have the industry’s gold standard service, allowing our members 24/7 access to thousands of cars around the globe. We’re working daily to take things to the next level, and we’re not slowing down anytime soon.

 

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Ford and Zipcar are taking cars to universities. This provides benefits to universities and to students. There will be less need for parking, reduces the carbon footprint, the price is low and there is self-service access on campus. It’s a win for the environment and the “starving student” that can’t afford a car.

Another way Ford is looking to help urbanization with working globally with other car and technology companies creating cars and technology that allows communication between the cars. If your car notices that the car in front of you is slowing down then you will slow down. If your car notices that you aren’t driving safely your car will correct you and alert you that you need a coffee break. It’s imitatives like these that are going to save lives and help with traffic issues. When there are fewer fender benders there will be less traffic issues.

Ford paid for my travel and expenses on this trip.