New Car Features Soccer Moms Will Like
We all have someone in our life we call mom. It may be your own mom, grandmother, your mother-in-law, your baby’s momma, etc. All moms work hard and their jobs seem to never stop, they never get a day off and they’re always busy doing something. I’ve decided to dedicate this page to the new car features that will make mom’s life a little easier.
Vehicle manufactures have been installing rear-seat DVD players and rear door kid-locks on vehicles for a long time now. However, there are several other features with added benefits to help mom out with her daily driving activities.
The features listed below range from special safety features to keep your precious cargo safe to making it a little easier to load or unload your vehicle with groceries or cargo. Some of these items are not just limited to the soccer moms out there, I’m sure some of the hard working dads out there will enjoy them too.
Top New Car Features Soccer Moms Will Like Best
These are my picks for the top new car features soccer moms and dads will like best in a new car. If you can find a vehicle that has all of these features you are sure to make your mom very happy. Maybe this article should be forwarded to the vehicle manufacturers.
1) Conversation Mirrors
Not to be mistaken for vanity mirrors, a conversation mirror is normally located in the center of the roof by the windshield. It drops down and gives a fish-eye or 180* view of the vehicles cabin so mom can keep an eye on who’s hitting who in the backseat.
2) Foot Activated Hatchback
We all know most new cars come with key fobs so you can open the trunk or hatchback by pushing or holding a button. However, this can be complicated if you have your arms full and the key fob is in your pocket or purse.
There are some vehicle manufacturers, such as BMW, making it to where you can wave your foot under the rear bumper to automatically raise and lower the hatchback without the use of a key fob. This is a great benefit to the person that has their hands full unloading their vehicle of groceries or cargo.
3) Remote Start / Heated Seats / Heated Steering Wheel
I’ve grouped these together because they’re considered overboard and not worth the money to most people. But, if you want to score some brownie points with mom, this is what you do.
Flip the heated seats and heated steering wheel switch too on, on a cold winters night. Then let mom start the vehicle with the remote start and run for a few minutes the next morning. When she gets in the vehicle and it’s all defrosted, warm and toasty, you’ll never own another vehicle without them.
4) Large Purse Sized Center Console
One of the accessories most women have is a purse, some are small and some are quite large. Moms normally have to throw their purse in the passenger seat or have it, being a safety issue, sliding around down by their feet while they drive. Vehicles like the Kia Sedona have a nice big center console that fits a plus size purse easily and allows mom to have space just for her in the car.
5) Stow’n Go Seating
Most SUVs and minivans will let you fold down the rear seats so you can get more storage space if needing to haul something large. Some automakers also allow you to fold down the front passengers seat also. The problem with this is you still have about 12 inches of unusable space because of the folded seats.
Stow’n Go Seating from Chrysler allows you to drop the seats down into special compartments in the floor. Storing the seats in the floor is the same as if you were to completely remove the seats from the cabin, dramatically increasing the storage capacity of the vehicle.
The Dodge Grand Caravan (except entry level American Value package line) and the Chrysler Town & Country come standard with Stow’n Go Seating. The upper trim level of these minivans come standard with third-row seats that stow themselves with a push of a button.
6) Built in Car Vacuum
The Honda Odyssey Touring Elite has a built-in vacuum cleaner called the HondaVac. It’s a much smaller version of a Shop-Vac. With two attachments and a hose long enough to reach anywhere in the cabin, it makes quick work of any crumbs, dirt or other kid creations that normally accumulate on a family ride.
7) Built-in Cooler / Refrigerator
Vehicles such as the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Ford Flex and Lincoln MKT offer cold storage as standard or optional equipment. Some of these systems are just insulated coolers to help keep drinks that are already cold from getting warm and some are actual little mini-fridges that tap into the vehicles electrical and cooling systems.
They’re normally just big enough to keep a few drinks in them but that can mean the difference of defusing a child’s tantrum on a hot summer’s day stuck in traffic.
8) Collision Avoidance Systems
When it comes to kids, mom’s number one priority is to keep them safe. Collision avoidance systems are radars built into the vehicle that detect when a vehicle in front of you has slowed down or stopped and you haven’t.
They normally flash big red lights on your windshield or dashboard and sound a warning tone. These visual and audio tones are great if you’ve taken your eyes off the road to play referee with your little ones or teenagers. Some of these systems will even automatically apply your brakes if the other warnings failed to get your attention and the system detects a crash is imminent.
9) Phone and Tablet Mounts
These mounts easily expand or retract to fit any size phone or tablet and are adjustable to be viewed from anywhere in the vehicle. This allows you to use a tablet instead of a standard in-vehicle DVD entertainments system.
Many car shoppers are opting out of DVD players with the versatility of the hand-held tablet and it’s understandable, you can switch between games, movies and all kinds of entertainment without mom having to remove or replace DVDs while driving.
10) Dual Cargo Floor
The Fiat 500L has a dual floor in the cargo area. it allows you to store “not-used-as-much-items” and leaves the upper cargo space for daily storage use. The Fiat’s cargo shelf holds up to 200 pounds, plenty of weight for groceries or sports equipment.
Most under-floor storage bins are hard to get too, but the Fiat allows you to reach in and grab whatever you need without having to clear the upper cargo shelf first.
If you’re considering the purchase of a new car for mom, I recommend using a free online referral service such as Ryde Shopper and Motor Trend to guarantee you pay the lowest price. These services will tell you what others are paying for the vehicle you’re considering in your local area and which dealers give the greatest discounts.
