Car Issues on the Road

Over the weekend, we attended a very grown-up brunch on a Sunday afternoon at a friend's lovely home. We had a grown-up catered meal as we talked about very grown-up things like weddings, married life, lawn and house upkeep and ... car troubles. Ha! Nothing like being an adult to make things real. It turns out that a number of us have been encountering some car surprises over the last number of months. Our cars, some 15+ years old at this point and some ones that we have owned since we got our permits all those years ago, are all getting towards the end of their lives. Our eyes are on the car market and our bank accounts as we save up for that next set of wheels. My oh my, how time flies and reality hits, right?

We had some good laughs in particular while recalling our most recent girls road-trip and how the right car can make or break a trip. Earlier this year, I gladly volunteered for one of the driver spots on a bachelorette trip down to Charleston, SC, thinking that my SUV would make the perfect car for the long drive. Sure enough, it had tons of room in it for bags and bachelorettes alike, with extra room to spare for food and drinks for the five hour drive.

Unfortunately for all of us, that car decided to go and start SMOKING on us on our way home. SMOKING. I have never in my life experienced that! What on earth does it mean if your car is smoking out from under the hood?! Yikes. Luckily, a call to my dad solved the problem for the short-term to get us back to town, and a visit to the shop solved it for at least the near-term future :) (knock on wood)

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What was supposed to be a totally flawless road trip was totally thrown for a (now hilarious) loop with that little incident. Ever since, it's had me thinking about the things that are really important to me in a car for road trips. For me, I love cars that:

* Are great for singles, doubles or groups. Whether I am running up to the outlet malls an hour away or grabbing the girls for a beach weekend hundreds of miles away, I want to the car to fit us all comfortably with room to spare.

* Are tech-savvy. My poor old SUV has a broken CD six-disc changer, so I usually stick to radio. But on long road trips, changing radio stations constantly is a pain! I would love the option to hook things in for Pandora or my iTunes on my iPhone without having to use one of those first generation iPod cassette tapes to plug things up ;)

* Have lots of cupholders that fit all sizes of cups. My first car has ridiculously shallow cup holders that wouldn't hold a soda can without it tipping over around a turn. Thank goodness car makers have long since figured out that Diet Coke addicts like me need somewhere for my Big Gulp to keep me going until the next rest stop :)

* Ready with a sun roof! How else can you really soak up all that Florida sun when you make it to the beach??

* Have great gas mileage. Road trips are only really fun if you aren't driving a gas guzzler that almost makes it more efficient to fly. I love a car that can get me where I am going on a single tank of gas, even if it's hundreds of miles away.

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What about you? Are you going to be on the market for a new car sometime soon? What is your favorite road trip memory?

Disclosure: I am a KIA Influencer Network-Sponsored Blogger with the #kiasocialclub and may receive compensation in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own.