The Nissan Murano doesn’t seem like the likeliest candidate to get the convertible treatment, but it gets the top-down look as the 2011 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet. Unlike the five-seat Murano, the convertible seats four comfortably. 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 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet did in MotherProof.com’s Car Seat Check: Latch system: The Murano CrossCabriolet has two sets of lower Latch anchors and no tether anchors, which isn’t unusual in convertibles. The Latch anchors aren’t visible from the seat bight, where the back and bottom cushions meet, but they’re easy to use. Booster seat: The high-back booster seat fit well in the CrossCabriolet. The seat belt buckles are on stable bases and are easy to reach for kids. However, the seat belt might sit too far away from the booster seat and be hard to reach for kids. Convertible seat: The forward-facing convertible fit well in the soft-top crossover. The seat bottom cushions are flat, providing a stable foundation for the car seat. There was plenty of room for our rear-facing convertible, too. Infant-safety seat: This rear-facing car seat also fit well in the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet. 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 criterion 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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Technorati Tags: 2011 nissan murano, 2011 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet, 2011 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet car seat check

There might be something to the saying, “Third time’s the charm.” I’ve now test-driven the Subaru Forester three times in two years, and my latest test drive showed me how well this crossover can work for a family of four.

Nothing significant has changed with the Forester since I first tested the 2010 model two years ago. What has changed is my family and its needs.

Today, my sons are 4 and 8, and both sit in booster seats. When I drove the 2010 Forester, my younger son was in a bulky forward-facing convertible seat (photo below) that ate up a lot of the valuable legroom in the second row. Here’s what I wrote about the second-row legroom in my 2010 Forester review:

“My husband is 6 feet tall and had enough legroom if he moved the front passenger seat all the way back. However, our 2-year-old son, who sat behind him, had barely enough legroom when my husband had his seat in a comfortable position. While the legroom was workable for now, it would be a real problem in a few years when my sons have gangly legs. The backseat legroom could also be a problem for anyone needing to put a rear-facing infant-safety seat behind someone with long legs.”

With my now 4-year-old in a high-back booster seat, I found that he had enough legroom to sit comfortably behind my husband’s seat. It’s still a little tight, but it’s a lot more livable than I imagined it would be. When my younger son sat behind my seat, which is positioned for my 5-foot-8 frame, he had tons of legroom in the second row.

Some things haven’t changed, though. My kids had trouble buckling up when sitting in a booster seat. From my 2010 review:

“My 6-year-old did have problems buckling his seat belt, though. The rear seats have some bolstering on the outboard sides that pushed his booster seat over, so it ended up sitting on top of the seat belt receptor. He couldn’t buckle up on his own and was near tears over it. We finally arrived at a solution that involved me hauling his booster seat (with him in it) over so he could buckle up by himself. It got us through the test drive, but I don’t think I could survive doing that maneuver for years. Yes, I know he’ll outgrow his booster seat, just in time for his younger brother to grow into it. We’re talking four to five years of hauling that booster seat in the Forester. No thank you.”

When my 4-year-old tried to buckle up, he had problems grabbing the buckle because it was floppy. Then he couldn’t find it after the buckle fell behind the booster seat base (photo below). He wasn’t frustrated to the point of tears, but he wasn’t happy, either. I’d love to see Subaru put the now-floppy seat belt buckles on stable bases.
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A heavily updated version of the Toyota Tacoma midsize truck is expected to go on sale this October.
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Mercedes-Benz is up to upgrade its’ car models with brand new technologies, in the first place with 3D displays. The company has already updated its 2011 A-Klasse Concept with screens that are capable of 3D display and depict differently arranged navigation levels. Photo: www.motorauthority.com Recently, another automobile giant, Audi gave a preview of its next-generation [...]
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Washington — President Barack Obama will unveil the 2017-25 fuel economy standards Friday, doubling current fleetwide requirements to 54.5 mpg, but giving Detroit’s Big Three leeway to keep building profitable SUVs and pickup trucks.
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Remember when the Toyota Prius first came out? Its funky design was an edgy way for early adopters to shout to the world “I’m green and damn proud of it!” Many of those early adopters were singletons and couples since the Prius had a good-sized cargo space but wasn’t up to daily family hauling. Toyota has started to remedy this problem with the introduction of the 2012 Toyota Prius V, the second of four planned Prius family members. The Prius V is the most family-friendly of the bunch. It has 58 percent more cargo space than the Prius and was designed specially to fit bulk paper products from warehouse stores in the cargo space. How is it possible that we’re out of toilet paper … again? During my test day in the V, we also managed to squeeze two suitcases and a cooler into the cargo area, with room leftover for a stroller. The Prius V is essentially a small crossover or SUV built on a nearly identical Prius platform, but Toyota claims it gets better fuel mileage than any other SUV, crossover or wagon on the road today. The EPA-estimated combined city/highway fuel economy is 42 mpg, but that seems to be a modest estimate. On my hours-long test drive combining mountain and highway driving, I averaged 49.7 mpg. The 2012 Toyota Prius V was generally pleasant to drive; I wouldn’t say it was a standout in any one area, though. It felt much like a Prius to drive, and I did like the V’s more traditional back end over the Prius’ distracting split-glass liftgate. I also loved the one-touch climate control joystick, a large knob that toggles left or right and also spins to control the temperature inside the car. Once I got the hang of it, I found this much easier to use rather than taking my eyes off the road to search for different buttons. I also appreciated that Toyota has added a vehicle proximity sensor that’s intended to let pedestrians know if you’re creeping close to them since the vehicle is otherwise perfectly silent while in electric mode. This is something that would also be fantastic to protect children who are usually taught to “stop, look and listen” for vehicles and might not be able to hear the Prius V. While the Prius V had a couple of desirable features, the real story is it’s a small hybrid SUV that shares the Prius name badge. But is that enough in today’s society of eco-conscious consumers and busy families? While the Prius V is designed for families, I would have liked to see a few more details tailored specifically to its target market. How about air vents in the second row to keep little ones cool while riding in roasty-toasty child-safety seats? The Prius V has a third air vent register in the front console that I was told could be directed toward the backseat, but that seems like a stretch. The 60/40-split backseat slides back and forth, folds flat and reclines a bit to help with proper booster- and child-safety-seat fit; that’s nice but nothing new or exciting. If Toyota really wanted to be family-friendly, they would have added a flat-folding third row and sliding side doors, a la the Mazda5. I’ll be curious to see how the Prius V does in a real-world MotherProof test with kids in tow. Maybe it’ll grow on me when I use it with my family. While I didn’t have any major problems or annoyances with Prius V, my initial impression was a just a little “meh.”
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Technorati Tags: 2012 toyota prius, 2012 toyota prius v, prius, toyota prius, toyota prius v

First, Honda redesigned its 2012 Civic. Today, the automaker offered first looks at its 2012 CR-V concept and the 2012 Pilot.

Honda softened the lines on the refreshed Pilot. It also claims that the SUV will have the highest EPA fuel rating of any three-row eight-passenger SUV.

Meanwhile, the CR-V concept looks a lot more aggressive than the current family-hauler. While this is just a concept, Honda’s concepts tend to look similar to the production version.

Click on the links below to read the full stories.

KickingTires: 2012 Honda Pilot to Top Class in Mileage

KickingTires: 2012 Honda CR-V Concept: First Look
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The Honda Ridgeline receives welcome improvements for 2012, including a new Sport trim package.
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After making a splash with the X-Head mini-pickup concept, Suzuki could follow through on the promise of that versatile trucklet by importing a version of its next-generation Suzuki Jimny to the U.S.
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Toyota Motor Europe (TME) together with its consultancy arm of Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID) presented a new Toyota’s ‘Window to the World’ vehicle concept in a simulation video. The near-future concept re-defines the relationship between passengers in a vehicle and the world around it by transforming the vehicle’s windows into an interactive interface, [...]
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