This post is written in collaboration with Ford Kuga.
It’s amazing how your idea of what makes a good car changes as your family circumstances change. When I was in my 20s I thought no car was a good car. I was an urban-dwelling, inner-city chick with no use for middle-class luxuries such as cars (and deodorant, from memory). I bounced around Brisbane, London, Edinburgh and Melbourne by public transport alone and I loved it.
The fact that I couldn’t drive probably contributed to that mindset ever so slightly.
Then, when I was 34 and the mother of a 4 year old with an increasingly impressive social life, I decided it was time to learn to drive, get a car and move into the world of the suburban driving mum. So while most of my friends have tales of their first cars being an Escort or a Gemini, mine was a shiny big SUV straight off the shop floor. (It took me about four months to ruin that beautiful glossy paintwork, but that’s another story.) I remember us being sold on that particular car because it came with an optional attachable awning that we thought would be awesome to sip cups of tea under when we go camping. Hahahahahahhahaha, I know. I have no idea where it is now, but let’s just say it’s in mint condition.
Now, with three kids and my life disappearing deeper and deeper into greater suburbia, we are on the verge of becoming a two-car family. With two careers, school, kindy, touch football, rugby, tennis, music lessons, swimming, yoga and ju jitsu – plus the optimistic notion of a social life – there is just too much going on in too many different directions for one poor car to manage.
What we’ll be looking for in a second car has evolved somewhat since our crazy, aspirational camping days. Now I’m all about cool features that work when I’m shouting at squabbling children while trying to get a week’s worth of groceries in the car and arranging my mother to babysit. I’m talking boots that open and close with the swish of my foot, hands-free phone and music, and – queue choir of angels – a car that reverse parks for me (and the Ford Kuga has all those things, but you probably figured that out, right?). Honestly, I haven’t reverse parked since my driving test. I have missed out on so many great car parks and had to walk loads of extra blocks because I’m too scared to park.
Does your family need two cars? What features do you love in a new car?
Oh yes to two cars. We have always lived in cities with poor transport options and the two of us heading in completely different directions. So yes we have always had two cars (my budget cries). We recently visited the possibility of having one car, but again, poor public transport let me down. Never mind. The Ford Kuga’s are nice, I could probably do with an update 😉
Yep we definitely need two cars as we are often trying to be in about 10 different places at once. I would love a DVD player in my car so I can catch up on shows whilst I wait for kids at sports training 😉 I am a huge fan of the Territory xx
I’d love to be an any car family. Do you think maybe Ford wants me to test drive one for them…. for a couple of years….in Dublin?