A few things have changed since the 1930s: the invention of the radio, television coming to America, cellphones, the internet and the VW Beetle appealing to a broader target market than just teenage girls.

The Beetle has a long history, but its most-recent design with its rounded looks mainly appealed to women. The redesigned 2012 Beetle has a more masculine look it to.

In the video below, MotherProof’s Chief Mama Kristin Varela checks out the all-new third-generation Beetle, which was just released at the New York International Auto Show.

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Ford’s all-new 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 isn’t just a high-performer on the road. The fuel-efficient engine is also tearing up the sales charts faster than expected.
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It’s PUTC in Moab, Utah driving the Jeep pickup truck you can build in your garage.
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Before I ever got into the 2011 Nissan Juke, I was sharpening my pencil. I was preparing to go all Chrysler 200 over it in a spate of carefully worded comparisons to turtles, puppies and Glenn Beck.
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The Mazda3 sedan and hatchback were both redesigned for the 2010 model year. The new look included more curves and the love-it-or-hate-it smiley grille. Little has changed on the Mazda3 for 2011. For MotherProof.com’s Car Seat Check, we tested the 2011 Mazda3 hatchback, which seats five passengers.

For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide 30 rear-facing infant-safety seat, a Britax Roundabout convertible child-safety seat and Graco high-back TurboBooster seat. The front seats are adjusted to a comfortable position for a 6-foot driver and a 5-foot-8 passenger. The three child seats are installed in the second row. The booster seat sits behind the driver’s seat, and the infant seat and convertible seats are installed behind the passenger seat. We also install the infant seat in the second row’s middle seat with the booster and convertible in the outboard seats to see if three car seats will fit. If there’s a third row, we install the booster seat and a forward-facing convertible.

Here’s how the 2011 Mazda3 hatch did in MotherProof.com’s Car Seat Check:

Latch system: The Mazda3 hatch has two sets of lower Latch anchors in the outboard seats. The Latch anchors are buried in the seat bight, where the back and bottom cushions meet, but the cushions can be moved out of the way, making the anchors easy to use. There are three tether anchors. The outboard tethers are midway down the seatbacks. The middle seat’s tether is at the lip of the cargo area, under a hard plastic cover. When in use, the tether strap will intrude on the usable cargo space.

Booster seat: Seat bolsters cradled our high-back booster seat, helping it to fit well in the Mazda3. The seat belt buckles were only somewhat floppy, so most kids in booster seats should be able to use them independently.

Convertible seat: The forward-facing convertible fit easily in the hatchback. However, we had to move the front passenger seat forward quite a ways to create enough room for the rear-facing convertible. The front passenger’s knees were pushed into the glove box.

Infant-safety seat: We also had to move the front passenger seat forward when we installed the rear-facing infant-safety seat, but not as far forward as we did with the rear-facing convertible. This left the front passenger with a little more legroom, but not much.

How many car seats fit in the second row? Two

Editor’s note: For three car seats—infant-safety seat, convertible and booster seats—to fit in a car, our criteria is that a child sitting in the booster seat must be able to reach the seat belt buckle. Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat.
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To celebrate the release of Carte Blanche, the new James Bond book by Jeffery Deaver on May 26, publisher Hodder & Stoughton has partnered with Bentley Motors to create an exclusive Bentley special edition: the ultimate luxury edition of the highly anticipated new James Bond adventure. The 500 limited edition copies are available for pre-order [...]
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Volkswagen has partnered with LinkedIn to run a contest for the users of the professional network based in Netherlands. In a new campaign dubbed ‘LinkedUit’ (LinkedOut) and intergrating LinkedIn API, Volkswagen encourages the users to challenge each other and see who’s got a stronger profile on LinkedIn based on such criteria as education, work experience, number of [...]
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Dearborn — Ford Motor Co., recovering from a stumble in late 2010, on Tuesday posted its best first-quarter earnings since 1998, and is determined to maintain momentum despite rising commodity costs, higher gas prices and supply issues in Japan.
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Washington — Despite rising gas prices, hybrids and electric vehicles will remain below 10 percent of the U.S. market through 2016, a leading automotive forecaster predicts in a study released today.
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For 2011, Toyota restyled the Corolla’s look and improved the sedan’s aerodynamics. The Corolla seats five passengers.

For the Car Seat Check, we use a Graco SnugRide 30 rear-facing infant-safety seat, a Britax Roundabout convertible child-safety seat and Graco high-back TurboBooster seat. The front seats are adjusted to a comfortable position for a 6-foot driver and a 5-foot-8 passenger. The three child seats are installed in the second row. The booster seat sits behind the driver’s seat, and the infant seat and convertible seats are installed behind the passenger seat. We also install the infant seat in the second row’s middle seat with the booster and convertible in the outboard seats to see if three car seats will fit. If there’s a third row, we install the booster seat and a forward-facing convertible.

Here’s how the 2011 Corolla did in MotherProof.com’s Car Seat Check:

Latch system: The Corolla has two sets of lower Latch anchors in the outboard seats. They’re buried in the seat bight, where the back and bottom cushions meet, but they’re not tough to get at because the seat cushions can be easily moved out of the way. We did have trouble with one of the Latch anchors, though. The inboard anchor on the passenger side is about a half-inch more inboard than the Latch anchor symbol on the seat, which is supposed to show the anchor’s location. The Corolla’s three tether anchors are on the rear shelf behind the head restraints and are easy to use.

Booster seat: The high-back booster seat fit well in the Corolla. The seat belt buckle for the outboard position is well-anchored, but the center buckle is right next to it and kept falling behind our booster seat. The positioning of the center buckle might cause problems for kids buckling independently since it doesn’t work with the outboard seat belt.

Convertible seat: There was just enough room for our rear-facing convertible car seat. To get the forward-facing convertible to fit, we had to remove the head restraint. Once done, the car seat fit well in the Corolla.

Infant-safety seat: We had to move the front passenger seat forward to create enough room in the second row for the rear-facing infant-safety seat. Our tester’s knees were a half-inch shy of hitting the glove box.

How many car seats fit in the second row? Two

Editor’s note: For three car seats—infant-safety seat, convertible and booster seats—to fit in a car, our criteria is that a child sitting in the booster seat must be able to reach the seat belt buckle. Parents should also remember that they can use the Latch system or a seat belt to install a car seat.
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