Today’s guest post is written by automobile-expert Sean Gray. Sean works with CashForTrucks.com, a company that buys cars and helps people sell their junkers and replace them with new ones.

If you’re a frequent road tripper, you know that comfort, fuel economy, and practicality mean different things when you’re on a road trip than when you’re hitting the super market. Station wagon aside, here are three family-friendly vehicles for all types of travel:

Honda Odyssey EX

Although it sports the classic minivan style, the Honda Odyssey EX packs a lot more punch than the typical soccer mom variety. Not only does it handle more like a touring car than a boxy van, the stark carpool motif is gone and luxury touches like touch-glide doors and DVD players are in. Heavy loads and steep inclines are a breeze with the 244-hp 3.5L V6 engine and 5-speed automatic transmission that gives you towing capacity of 3500 lbs with the full package. The clever backseat can be reconfigured to suit many situations—either as individual seats with a console in between, one long bench or flatten them out completely for maximum cargo space. At 23 MPG on the highway and 16 MPG in town, it does do much better than most vans its size. Depending on how you configure the seats, your cargo capacity can vary between 38.4 to 147.4 cubic feet. The biggest drawback is the low ground clearance if you have to handle rough or snowy roads. This feature undoubtedly adds to its overall stability by lowering its center of gravity, however, making it handle much better on wet roads or in icy conditions.

Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen

Lurking in this sporty looking wagon is a surprising amount of space, both for passengers and cargo. With the option of diesel and the turbo power ride, the Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen gives economy cars a run for their money. The diesel engine mileage is up to 40 MPG and the gas powered version can pull off 30 MPG on the highway and around 21 MPG in the city. The stable body design gives it sports car level handling and the 170-hp 2.5 engine can hit 60 MPH in 8.4 seconds, not bad for a station wagon! Expect German touches throughout the interior with tons of standard features and high-end options like a power sliding panoramic sunroof and a touchscreen navigation panel. The 4MOTION all-wheel drive is so popular in Europe that most US buyers have to settle for the 5-speed manual or 6-speed automatic, but all models have the multilink rear suspension for the smoothest possible ride. Fold up the rear seats for 66.9 cubic feet of cargo space and when they’re upright you have 32.8 cubic feet at your disposal. Though you don’t feel like you’re driving a station wagon or a compact car, this well-engineered design somehow manages to qualify for both categories while giving you the kind of performance you expect from a high-performance automobile.

Cadillac CTS-V Wagon

A limited production version of the already impressive Cadillac CTS wagon, the supercharged 6.2 liter V8 gives this model all the power you need for any situation. As expected, this wagon delivers a silky smooth ride with ergonomically designed seats and finger tip cockpit control and naturally handles like a dream. Carry five passengers comfortably and still have 25 cubic feet of cargo room at your disposal. Fold down the seats and you can have 58 cubic feet in all. Magnetic ride control and six-speed manual or automatic transmission give you ultimate control which is a good thing since you can go from zero to 60 MPH in 4.2 seconds. Don’t expect great mileage with that kind of power, the best it can do on highway cruise control is 19 MPG and 14 MPG in the city.

Logging just over 1,400 miles on our round-trip journey from Madison, Wisconsin to Branson, Missouri, the majority of our “big” summer vacation this year was spent on Historic Route 66. Mile after magnificent mile, Illinois eventually gave way to St. Louis and then the Gateway Arch. Turning left in Springfield, rolling hills became The Ozarks and The Live Music Show Capital of the World lived up to its reputation for live entertainment and multi-generational fun.

Because we are a serious road tripping family, a dependable, safe, fuel-efficient vehicle is key to the success of our summer travels (not to mention, stretching our travel budget). Last year, the folks at GM presented us with a 2011 Chevrolet Traverse. Continuing in the tradition of the week-long test drive, the 2011 Buick Enclave was our ride this year. Known as a luxury crossover with with dynamic performance, I expected nothing less in an SUV from Buick. Currently the proud owner of a 2005 LaCrosse, the timeless elegance and solid performance of the Buick name has been upgraded for the high-tech family on the go.

With a 52- page chapter in the user manual just for the Infotainment System, you’ll find details for the satellite radio, CD/DVD player, bluetooth telephone connection, and rear-seat entertainment system. With auxiliary controls for USB supported drives, wireless headsets, and (get this) parental control, the GPS-based Navigation System is just as futuristic. Those of us who Go on VaCachen, love the ability to enter latitude and longitde coordinates and mark waypoints as we geocache our way across the country.

Between the Infotainment System and an active OnStar subscription, I never felt less than one touch away from assistance (a mom traveling solo with three kids this time around). Oh, did I mention there’s even an AC power outlet for charging your laptop (or, say, nebulizers for families with asthmatic kids)?

Traveling through wind, heat, and (like death and taxes) summer road construction, the ventilated front seats and tri-zone climate controls singlehandedly saved the flesh of my legs in 103-degree heat (thank you magical snowflake button).  Barreling up and down mountainous terrain and slopes unfamiliar to this flatlander, we white-knuckled to a picturesque overlook with Table Rock Lake as a backdrop. In general, roads in and around Branson are great fun for kids and passengers.

Finding ourselves heading home and on the urban cobblestone driving range otherwise known as “The Landing” in St. Louis, I’m proud to report that the 2011 Buick Enclave barreled on through without as much as a bottom out or a spilled chocolate milk. Like the 2011 Chevrolet Traverse, we played a bit of luggage Tetris, utilizing the floor console, center console, and the cargo management system like seasoned travelers. Then again, we’re packing a little smarter with each passing trip.

Overall, we’re sad to see the 2011 Buick Enclave go. The combined comfort, technology, class, and convenience of this vehicle has it high on our “next vehicle” list—making us an entirely GM family.

Valuable Cargo

“Chevrolet Traverse is an expressively styled, well-equipped crossover that offers the people-hauling and cargo-carrying capacity typically found in larger SUVs—all delivered with more efficiency.” Yep. The marketing department at GM pretty much nailed that one right on the head.

With 9025 logged road trip miles this year alone, we recently spent 2340 of them in a brand new 2011 Chevrolet Traverse. One last Hail Mary attempt to maximize the last official week of summer vacation, we hit the road. Two adults, three kids, eight days, seven states, and enough luggage to make a Griswold proud, all we needed was a granny for the roof. Farm land, traffic jams, mountain ranges, and eventually the beach, I like to think it as the world’s longest test drive.

Smokin the Smokies

First of all, if you’re interested in this mom’s opinion of the 3.6L engine’s direct injection technology and how it’s similar to many V-8 engines or how it’s mated to the Hydra-Matic 6T75 six-speed automatic transmission, this is not the review for you. What does that mean anyway? Is the transmission dating the engine or is it more than that? All I know is our glue horse of a minivan was in no shape or form for the Smokey Mountains, let alone 5 o’clock in Chicago.

Groovier than our minivan, we played a bit of luggage Tetris in the cargo area until we discovered a magic compartment for road flairs, flash lights, beach towels, and (eventually) bags of dirty laundry. A rearview camera in the rear undercarriage (hee hee), both my husband and I about did something in our own undercarriages the first time we put the Traverse into R. Get this…not only does the Traverse give an audible warning before impact with a parking garage column, you have visual confirmation of your path on screen as well as your own vantage point. As a mother of still-short kids, I wish all vehicles had this technology. Parking lots stress me out.

Drag Racing the Belle of Louisville

With 60/40 split seating in both the second- and third-row benches, we easily moved kids and their belongings as arguments erupted. Cleverly named the second-row “Smart Slide” seat feature we managed in-and-out just fine. Smart Slide works even in the path of a Milk Dud. Let’s face it, kids are messy and almost always messier in a moving vehicle (I imagine Murphy himself on a road trip while writing his Law.).

If you are a book worm like me, you’ll appreciate listening to your audio CD on headphones while the kids tune into Radio Disney on XM Satellite Radio (thank you rear-seat entertainment system). I can’t remember the last time I’ve listened to an entire 7-CD book on a road trip without full mutiny. Honestly, this was the best “alone time,” I could have asked for on the entire trip. Okay, okay, a masseuse would have been nice too. Maybe GM can include one with the next model? Speaking of comfort, did I mention the leather seats both heat and cool?

Technology you sweet thing. Gadget junkies with a battery problem, we had phones and cameras and laptops charging all in USB ports and power points. According to the user manual (hey, it was a long drive), some models even come with an AC power plug. According to the show off instrument panel, the half life of our oil and fuel economy was always available at the push of a button (for what it’s worth, our trip hovered around 19 mpg). Does anyone even have golf pencils and mini notepads in their glove boxes any more?

Beach Bum

Overall, we were happy with the performance of the Chevrolet Traverse. Looking to downsize from the minivan once it goes to the junk yard in the sky, we found the interior spacious enough for a family of  four or five. Clearly safety and comfort were key considerations in the ability to market to a younger (wired) group of consumers with growing families. Other reviews I read on the Chevrolet Traverse gave the vehicle anywhere between a seven- and  nine-star rating. Our vote is a generous 8.5.

Ford Flex EcoBoost

When I was a kid, my parents didn’t give any thought to what car was best for our road trips. They just took the car we had. But now, parents have lots of options, and if you are a regular road tripping family like ours, you probably consider road trip friendliness when you purchase a vehicle. I talked to Ford executive and mom, Amy Marentic, about the 2010 line of cars from Ford, and their great features for road trippers. And, everyday family drivers. Because the best road trip car should really be a great everyday car as well.

The feature you’ll probably use most often, says Marentic, is the Next Generation Navigation System, which debuted on select 2009 models. It’s being offered on 2010 Taurus and Flex models (as well as several other models). Aside from the obvious use of getting you from point A to point B, Next Generation Navigation can do what you might not be able to otherwise without access to a laptop and internet.

Here’s a real life example that actually happened to Marentic and her family: Say you arrive at the hotel you reserved and there’s been a catastrophe. Your room is unavailable or unsuitable. It’s a big weekend in town and rooms are all full. Using the nav, you can pull up the closest hotels and their phone numbers and call around to find a vacancy. Increase the distance from the starting point until you find one that has a room. Then, because you’re hungry, you need to find a restaurant, so do the same search until you find an eating place that serves your kids’ favorite — mac and cheese. You can also find fuel prices, movie theaters as well as times and listings, and of course, the route to the restaurant, gas station or movie theater. The system also incorporates the SIRIUS Travel Link, so you also get real time weather, real time traffic, construction alerts and radar. All of which can help you plan whether to reroute your trip before you spend time sitting through a delay with three cranky kids.

The Flex also comes with a refrigerator that holds up to seven 12-ounce cans, four half-liter bottles or two 20-ounce bottles and takes them from room temperature to 41 degrees in just over 2 1/2 hours (40 percent faster than a home refrigerator). One caveat, the refrigerator only works when the car is turned on, so you can’t leave leftovers in the car all night, but it does keep stops for cold beverages to a minimum.

2010 Ford Taurus

The 2010 Taurus, available in your local dealership late this summer, also has several features to make driving safer. Ford has moved into active safety features, which aim to prevent collisions, not just keep you safer in the event of a collision. The first is Adaptive Cruise Control. You set your cruising speed and the car’s radar monitors the traffic traveling up to 600 feet ahead, automatically adjusting your speed to help maintain a safe distance between vehicles.

A new active safety feature, Collision Warning with Brake Support also uses the radar sensor to detect following distance, and provides a heads-up warning signal and audible alert when slower moving traffic is detected ahead. This is a fantastic feature if you have any teen drivers in your family. Recognizing when to brake and preventing having to slam on the brakes takes time and experience, but this system can help train good following distance driving.  If you do have to slam on the brakes, the system also pre-charges the brakes to give you extra support as you brake.

2010 Ford Taurus MyKey Technology

Additional active safety features include:
     Cross Traffic Alert — looks right and left within three car lengths and alerts you to oncoming traffic as you back out of a parking spot. It is only activated in reverse. 
     Blind Spot Information System — a light in the side mirrors is illuminated if someone is driving in your blind spot.
     MyKey — Allows parents to set an alert that keeps the radio on mute until all seat belts are buckled. You will also receive an earlier low-fuel warning and consistently engaged AdvanceTrac stability control, Blind Spot monitoring, Cross Traffic Alert and Forward Collision Warning. You can also set restrictions on audio volume and limit the top speed of the car to 80 mph with chime warnings at 45, 55 or 65 mph. It’s not as good as being in the car with your teen driver, but this is a great feature for new drivers.

I think of Ford’s SYNC as the iPhone for your car. Ford officially explains SYNC as “the fully integrated, in-vehicle voice-activated communications and entertainment system.” Included in this communications and entertainment system are 911 Assist (calls 911 if your air bags deploy, no extra charge for this service), Vehicle Health Report, free turn-by turn navigation (not as full-featured as Next Generation, but still includes traffic and information) and the kids will have one more thing to fight over — the ability to voice operate your iPod, MP3 player, memory stick or PDA. Marentic says her kids vie to activate the iPod first and therefore control whose playlist is being played for the day.

2010 Taurus Seat

To make road trips more comfortable, the 2010 Taurus features Multi-Contour Seats with Active Motion. Exclusive to Taurus, these seats give both driver and passenger six-way lumbar support and subtle rolling pattern massage. The bottom cushion features Active Motion technology that provides minute but continous movement, which stimulates your muscles to move ever so slightly. All together, these reduce pressure points in the legs and back and help to reduce back pain.

Our family is going to attempt to rent a Flex on our upcoming road trip to Michigan, and I’m anxious to test the seats on the new Taurus. Marentic says both cars will be available from all major rental car companies if you want to do an extended test to see which your family prefers.

I know, it sounds counterintuitive. You go on a road trip because you love to drive. Or not. When I first heard from the representative at WeDriveU, I scoffed at the idea of hiring a professional to drive the family sedan. But, then, I started to think of a few places I’d rather sip a cool beverage and watch the scenery instead of fight with the GPS (and eventually everyone in the car) trying to find our way.

And, I remember when our daughter was a baby, I’d have gladly paid to have a custom tour rather than take her on a tourist bus and make ALL the stops while we tried to get to just the top one or two stops on our list. After all, one of the challenges in family road tripping is the lack of tourist guides custom written just for your family, right? I know mine doesn’t fit the mold. So, maybe a chauffeur isn’t such a bad idea.

I suppose the other draw would be the fact that you can actually work in the car, or get some sleep.

WeDriveU provides a professional chauffeur for just $36.80 per hour, with a 3 hour minimum. According to their representative, “They offer super knowledge about the sights, have a great handle on traffic patterns and can serve as your personal mobile concierge to assist with bags, dinner reservations and more.” There are even families that hire chauffeurs to drive the whole trip! I wonder who starts bugging the driver first with the incessent “Are We There YET?” nonsense? The parents or the kids??

Let me first say that I never knowingly speed when kids are in the car. Accidents happen anyway and I never want anything nagging me for the rest of my life if things go wrong. I’m also a completely paranoid car seat user. Too many articles in a past life about car seat safety.

So, with that out of the way, I can say that I hate speed traps. You’re driving along at 45 or 60 and suddenly, the posted speed drops to 25 as you cruise thru a little town with no visible way to pay the police except for speed traps. Those are unfair. And, unnecessary.

The National Motorists Association seems suspect as an altruistic organization to me, but they have a database of known speed traps, searchable by state and city. Worth a look after you’ve finalized your route for the next road trip. According to their latest motorist news (I’m not making that up), New Jersey is the worst state for unfair speeding tickets. The fairest states are Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska and Kentucky.

With a car for any road tripper, from the 505-horsepower Corvette ZO6 to the family-friendly Honda Odyessy, Kelly Blue Book took their automotive expertise and picked a Top 10. Categories include:

Driver’s Trip — Chevy Corvette ZO6
Towing Trip — Ford F-150 SuperCrew Cab
Spring Break — Ford Mustang Convertible
Family Outing — Honda Odyssey
Camping Trip — Honda Element
New Grad Trip — Mazda Mazda3
Solo Flight — Porsche Cayman S
Cross Country — VW Jetta SportWagen TDI
Ski Trip — Lexus LX 570
Trip for Two — Jaguar XKR Convertible

For more details and to read more about each car chosen, click here.

In one of the more brilliant press releases to come across my desk in a while, Thule, a manufacturer of roof racks as well as other auto accessories, announced their picks for Road Trip Vehicle of the Year 2009.  After reading the release, I’m pretty sure not very women work at Thule. This is not a bad thing, it’s just funny to me how these guys rated the vehicles and what ended up most important.

Apparently, employees of Thule assigned points in 10 categories to come up with the winners, each category being something important on a road trip. Extra points were given to cars that were fun to drive or offered four-wheel or all-wheel drive. Sounds like the Thule dudes like to road trip pretty far off the highway system.

In the Under $30k category, they picked Volkswagen’s Jetta SportWagen TDI. “Volkswagen did a great job with the Jetta SportWagen TDI. It is a reasonably priced vehicle with lots of great standard options. With a gas mileage rating of 30 mpg city and 41 mpg highway the Jetta SportWagen TDI can go 600+ miles without refueling,” remarked Tripp Wyckoff, Thule’s VP of Sales, Marketing and Service.

From the release: “In Thule’s testing, the Jetta SportsWagen TDI was a comfortable, all day travel companion. With a very intuitive dashboard layout, all the important controls are right at the tester’s fingertips. The 6-disc CD player, MP3 jack and 10 speaker sound system provide adequate audio options for the trip.” Because we all know that’s what is most important. Music. Forget adequate leg room, comfortable seating or even cup holders.

And, in case you were wondering how this ties in with roof-top storage, here’s some extra details: ”With the standard raised rail on the roof, installing a Thule multi-purpose roof rack system took less than 10 minutes. The test vehicle was equipped with a Thule roof box for carrying longer items and two Sidearm upright bicycle carriers. This gave more interior space for snacks and games on our road trip,” said Karl Wiedemann, Thule’s PR and Communications Manager. Finally, they’re speaking my language. Snacks, games, maybe room for a car seat or two inside the vehicle.  That’s important.

For the over $30,000 category, the Ford Flex Limited AWD took the honors. “The Ford Flex Limited AWD is a very fun vehicle. Ford thought of just about everything with this one. Available options such as ambient lighting, rear refrigerator/freezer, seating for seven and a panoramic sunroof make this vehicle a pleasure to drive on long trips,” said Wyckoff. Panoramic sunroof? Wow. The rear fridge sounds awesome, however, and while I’d never want seven people on a road trip with me, it sounds like a great car.

Thule adds: “The Ford Flex was a great balance of utility, style and fun. When the third row seating was not in use, the Flex provided adequate storage for a weekend away. The rear DVD entertainment center will keep backseat passengers occupied during any trip.” Any trip? Huh.

The generous width of the roof, providing up to 58″ of roof rack space, can easily accommodate two bicycle carriers and a Thule cargo box. The vehicle’s lower profile design made it easy to load and unload the rooftop cargo.

Getting back to roof-top storage, “As with most vehicles on the market, the Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI and the Ford Flex Limited AWD work seamlessly with Thule’s complete line of racks, cargo boxes, organizational solutions and sport specific carriers. With innovative solutions to carry bicycles, kayaks, surfboards, canoes, camping gear, snowboards and skis, a multi-purpose Thule rack system will take away the age-old road trip question of, “how are we going to fit all this stuff in the car?”  Thule’s world-class products help to safely and stylishly transport all the gear a family needs to carry this summer.”

Well, ok then. I have to hand it to Thule for a fun release, and I’m marginally more interested in throwing some stuff up on the roof than I was earlier today.

www.thuleracks.com

For those of us without a fancy internet-enabled phone, it can be expensive to need directions at the last minute. I do ok at home, but sometimes when I’m traveling I just have to have directions at the last minute. And, there’s usually no one to call who can do a quick MapQuest lookup.

That’s where 800-FREE411 comes in handy. Just dial (800-373-3411) and access the phone listing. Then, turn the phone listing into turn-by-turn MapQuest directions sent right to your cell phone. Just do us all a favor and pull over when you use the cell phone!

Even though gas prices have gone down, the economy sure hasn’t made us feel any better about spending money. But, Farmers’ Almanac, the original sustainable living guide (who knew?, suggests some easy-to-follow tips that can cut your gas usage and save you a few dollars whether you’re headed on a family vacation or taking a routine car trip.

1. Avoid fast acceleration. Easy does it and a steady pace are best.
2. Obey speed limits. Driving too fast or too slow can waste gas.
3. Don’t warm up your car – just start it and go. The engine will warm up faster while driving.
4. Don’t leave a car on when running into a store, even for a short time. Idling wastes a quart of gas every 15 minutes.
5. Empty your trunk or truck bed. Every 200 pounds of unnecessary weight reduces mileage by one mile per gallon.
6. Keep your tires inflated to correct pressures.
7. Buy gasoline during the coolest times of the day – early morning or late evening. Gasoline is densest during these periods.
8. Use cruise control whenever possible. This will decrease gas use by 5 to 10 percent on long trips.
9. Walk or ride a bike when possible.
10. Maintain your car with regular service checkups. A well-serviced vehicle can stretch your gas mileage by 15 percent.
11. Walk or ride a bike when possible.
12. Maintain your car with regular service checkups. A well-serviced vehicle can stretch your gas mileage by 15 percent.