My parents hung them in the car, and man did they stink. Oh they did what they were intended to do– mask the smell of 6 stinky teenagers crammed into a summer of ’76 station wagon. The “pine” scent wasn’t too bad (the scent was taken from REAL Upstate New York trees, did you know that?!) but the “coconut” made me sick to my stomach. And all my friends’ parents loved “lemon” which smelled like a mixture of Pine-Sol and shoe polish. Yik.

Do you know that they STILL sell those things?! I was wandering through the automotive aisle and saw them. Oh my gosh, talk about flashbacks! Pine-tree fresheners, bell bottoms, Afros, and funk. :bop: wowsa, that’s going back.

Welcome to the 21st century, people.

Here in our modern age, teenagers still get sweaty and cars still absorb all the odors… but there’s a new de-stinkifier in town: Febreze Car Vent Clip! It’s CUTE!!! The folks at Febreze sent me a sample to try it out. The first thing I liked was the easy-to-open package. No wrangling with scissors here– just pull the tab and the package pops open.

The clip is a tiny thing. At first I figured you put it on the visor, but no– the clip attaches to the air vent of the car.

I wasn’t too keen on that, really. I don’t like overpowering scents in the car or anywhere. But the Febreze clip scent is adjustable. There’s a little slider on the top of the device where you can adjust the scent outflow. I chose the lowest setting because, as much as I like nice scents, my nose is sensitive. The last thing I need is to open the car door and watch as a blue puffy cloud of air freshener odors belch out of my car. The clip is supposed to last for 30 days with “low, ambient conditions.” I really like the scent, Linen Sky. It’s fresh without being perfumy. My husband, who usually hates air fresheners, didn’t particularly notice any overpowering scent, so that’s a big plus.

After driving around for a while, I could smell the scent even on “low” setting. It started to give off a slightly acrid smell, a little unpleasant. I have a very small car and my nose is practically right up on the dash. I think the clip would be better placed on the sun visor or in the back seat, away from my nose. Unfortunately, the clip is too small to fit on the visor. I placed the clip in the back, by the speakers near the window, and it seems to do better there.

The car clip is probably best suited for a minivan or SUV. Those things are huge and usually the driver is sitting up higher above the air vents. I like the Linen & Sky scent in general– we have the aerosol for the house and it smells great. In the car, it’s so so. I would LOVE to see a vanilla scent come out, or maybe a very light cinnamon scent. I love cinnamon.

Other scents are Thai Dragon Fruit, Hawaiian Aloha (there’s that coconut thing again!), Meadows & Rain, and Midnight Storm, a new scent. The clips are brand new in stores, released today, so go check them out. They are very affordable, at just $2.99 a package.

Please be aware that I received the Febreze Car Clip Air Freshener for free, to test it out. I am doing this review on my own accord and all my opinions are 100% mine. Thanks for reading!

My reverie was suddenly interrupted by reality. Oh wait. The car.

This will be my first year driving a sedan in… oh wow, 20 years? Have I really owned a minivan that long?? Sedans operate differently in snow than the heavier vehicles. I remember quite a few mishaps as a young employee whose place of work was at an elevation of 1500 feet atop a mountain. There is NO WAY I’m driving that sedan without snow tires.

Then a flood of other things hit me. I need an oil change. I need the husband to check the brakes (they are squeaking again). And the mud flap wheel wheel area is all busted up (it wasn’t me!) as if the driver plowed through a huge bank of snow. I also need the emergency brake fixed, and a new battery and my suspension parts need installing. Plus there’s a blown fuse that affects window operation….. ugh !!! I have to winterize the car! Not fun. My car is foreign, so parts are not exactly cheap (thank God the parts last longer, though). A long time ago when I had an American car, I could find find ford fiesta parts pretty easily, and at good prices. Now, everything is online, even mud flaps, car mats, tires, and oil filters!

Well, I guess this ruined my hopes of simply “cruising” into autumn. Still, I love my car and I LOVE that car parts are less expensive. The hard part is getting the guys to install them for me. :D

I don’t want another minivan. NEVER EVER NEVER. The only reason we’ve had one for the last 17 years is because it’s the only vehicle that holds six people (and I dislike SUVs, too big, too expensive to maintain). I want a sedan. Oh, I’d so love to get a Lexus. Who wouldn’t?! *sigh* The Hubs actually saw a Scion, a funky-looking SUV/minivan/toaster thing, on par with the Ford Transit Connect. Another nice car is the Infiniti Ex35 Crossover, but it’s way out of my price range. Unless some rich advertiser wants to give me one for a review. :D

Anyway, we really haven’t made up our minds…. what do you drive? Got any suggestions? I need something to seat AT LEAST five adults comfortably, but a six-seater would be great. Help!

I’m not in any position to get a new car (yet). But someday, hopefully later this year, I hope to get one. We are down to one vehicle right now, and that serves part-time as a postal vehicle when my husband is called to deliver mail. Needless to say, my van is now pretty beat up. If I have to go anywhere and he’s on the route, I have to either cancel my appointments or get a rental car. Not fun. I’ve had to get rental cars twice so far for appointments I could not cancel… the only bright side is that I get to check out vehicles I might be interested in getting someday. So far, I’ve tried out the Chevy HHR and the Subaru Outback. I disliked the Chevy HHR very much. It rode nice enough, but I felt like I was in a tuna can, riding really low. Have you ever seen American Graffiti? You know the part where John Milner is driving his yellow ’32 Ford deuce coup, and the cop stops him to ask him if his windshield is legal height? And Milner says it’s tiny, but it’s regulation… That’s how I felt about the HHR. The windows were so tiny that I could barely see.

Sheesh.
:ermm:
Well, the reason I’m mentioning the Outback is because I thought I might consider buying the car someday. But after trying it out… I don’t think I really like it. I drove the kids up to Tupper Lake recently– really rugged country in the Adirondacks. And the roads were bad with snow and sleet. I was surprised that the Outback performed so poorly. My minivan with its snow tires does better than the Outback. The Outback has this freaky slippery-car-auto-control function that must have kicked in from time to time. I did not like the car taking over when the roads were slippery. It just seemed like we slid more than we should have, driving the car. It was scary a couple of times!

I like the all wheel drive aspect. I thought that would make the Subaru a better choice than, say, our minivan. I don’t know if the Outback had snow tires. My minivan has terrific snow tires (remember, it’s a part-time postal vehicle, so it’s rigged up good!), but the van only has front-wheel drive. I expected the Outback to perform better on the slick roads, but it didn’t. I was out driving my minivan today, after the Snowmaggedon we had yesterday, and it handled the slushy roads like a PRO.

The Outback windshield also iced up a LOT. I had to pull over and scrape it off twice on the way to our destination. I panicked one time, because the ice was literally forming as we drove (downhill in snow!) and I couldn’t see. I finally figured out that to prevent the windshield from icing, I had to crank the heat. And with four teens in the car, it was HOT in the car. So that was a real stinker. Also, the Outback is small. I suppose it would comfortably seat four, and we had five in there, but the kids were uncomfortable in the back because it was cramped. I guess we are spoiled from the spaciousness of the minivan! They disliked the car a lot.

And too many buttons! I couldn’t figure out half of them. I never did find out how to adjust the side mirrors. I tried everything in the blasted dashboard, no go.

By now you may be wondering why I am complaining so much! LOL. Well, I’m just giving my opinions about the Outback as a family car, as a recreational car. I’ll get to the positive stuff in a second!
The car performed very well going uphill. It kept the speed and shifted very smoothly (it was an automatic). I like the automatic on the floor– very nice. And the seats came with heaters in them! That was a cute touch. A this made me happy– the horn is LOUD!! I have complained previously about minivan horns and how pitifully lame they are. I liked the booming blast when I pounded the horn. Not that I ever honked at ANYONE… noooooo. :whistle:

Anyway, the Outback doesn’t seem to be such a car well suited for really rugged roads and weather at all. It seems more suited for a Yuppie in suburbia who wants to LOOK rugged. I was disappointed. I was hoping we’d found the car to work toward, and it turned out to be a stinker. I think I’m going to try a jeep next. I REALLY want a smaller -sized car, but I wonder if that’s right for us. I have four teens, we drive in rough country a lot, and it’s winter up here six months out of the year! I don’t need a sunroof, I don’t need a GPS or a DVD player or even anti-lock brakes! I am used to being in control of the car, and not the car being in control of me. I want a simple, reliable, rugged car that will get us up the mountains in snow and still be small enough to get around town and the city.

…maybe I should just get another minivan?!?! :thinky:

Last time, we turned to the Internet, and we’re doing it again. The Net offers a much better selection of styles, anyway. And if you’re looking for some classy and very fancy custom headlights, there’s a sweet selection at Carid.com. This is a site for the car-conscious or car collector– the headlights and car accessories just ooze class. They’ve got grill guards, spoilers, hitch covers, bug guards, and all that stuff, but the headlights and taillights are very, very slick. They have them for just about every model and make, too. I can see a car collector going ga-ga over that stuff. I know I will be keeping the site in mind when I (finally) get my Lamborghini. ;) In the meantime, it’s another taillight for my Dodge.

Remember, I’m a pro-blogger and I am sometimes compensated with stuff or money to review or mention products or services! This was one of them. :D You can read more about my blog policy on my My Pledge page.

Hey, I love the Eco/Hybrid/Futuristic car/bike/motorbike/jet just as much as anyone else, but… don’t these Europeans realize that people have FAMILIES?! I saw a short video on Flixxy called Test Driving an EcoMobile (Flixxy won’t allow me to embed their videos, so you have to go to the website to see it). EcoMobiles are these bubbles on wheels– looks ridiculous! Imagine bringing home the milk and eggs in that thing.

How about this next one? This is the The REVA, known as the G-Wiz in the UK. It’s made in India… and it’s electric, but… TOO SMALL! And God forbid the maniac driver ahead of you should brake for a squirrel.

This next one is a car that runs on salad. As if we don’t have enough food shortages with ethanol… but look at this car! It’s a TOY! I don’t understand the entire purpose behind “eco” and “thrift” if a luxury toy is going to eat up (literally) important resources and be used for no practical reason. And I’m really uncomfortable about vehicles that run on the same things we humans run on. Should the day come when we run out of fossil fuels, well, no more lawn mowing… but should the day come when we run out of food…

Here’s another weirdo car: the Tango. It’s so bad, they need George Clooney to stand next to it, to spruce it up. Again, I think you can get 1.5 people in that thing. It’d be better to ride a bike than drive something so silly! And be prepared to dump out the cash drawer if it’s got a Hollywood celebrity marketing it. No thanks.

This is the Aptera. I love the look of the Aptera, but again, where can you stash the kids, the groceries, the backpacks, and the pet carriers?? It’s impracticable. Plus, on a highway with hundreds of lumbering minivans, SUVs, and Volvos, the Aptera is a safety risk. Ugh.

The best eco-car I’ve seen so far is the “Air” car– a 5-seater car that runs on air (although looking at it, I have no idea where the “5-seater” comes in. I know for a fact that I could NEVER squeeze my 4 teens in such a tight space together, we’d go insane). It’s being marketed as a car that runs on FREE FUEL! Woohoo! Yeah, well, wait until the government gets their hands on this idea– before long, they’ll be taxing us not only for the air required to fuel the car, but the air required for us to breathe. Thumbs down.

So after all these fancy schmancy eco-inventions coming at us left and right, what is still lacking?? A suitable, long-distance-running, long-lasting, passenger vehicle that seats AT LEAST 4 (preferably 6) people. Don’t we call these things internal combustible engines with wheels? Ya know, CARS?! See ya on the road!!

Thanks to Gizmodo and Treehugger for the photos of lousy eco-cars.

Um, YEAH. Having an expensive car doesn’t necessarily mean that a person can drive. Ow!

I have to wonder about the poor guys driving the cars. Yow! Their innards must be scrambled after the day is done. And what do they put on resumes for this job, “crash dummy”?! Still… the video is very cool.

I’ve been a loyal Dodge Grand Caravan owner for almost two decades. I bought my first one way back in 1992, back when minivans where just starting to come into popularity. I had to give up my beloved Chevrolet Nova because I couldn’t squeeze three infants with their mammoth car seats into it anymore. *sob*

The minivan was OK. I won’t grumble about the transmission that we had to replace after only 32,000 miles (we’ve had to replace the transmission for every van, by the way). I won’t grumble about that creepy “auto-lock” mechanism that locks passengers into the vehicle when we reach 15 mph (I always immediately unlock after it happens). And I won’t grumble about the extremely expensive replacement parts. I mean, $100+ for a pair of windshield wipers…  wow. And I’ll not grumble about my van declared as “totalled” the time I ran a red light at 35mph (I didn’t see the light, HONEST!) and smashed into an SUV and my van was declared JUNKED because it was told us the van had a cracked frame, even though the only visible damage was a bent fender– I mean, 35mph and it gets a cracked frame?! Not to mention that it seemed all the motorcycle accident attorneys or some such guys came outta the woodwork to see the wreck… …well, I’ll try not to grumble.

ANYWAY, since 1992, I have owned 4 Grand Caravans, driven them into the ground.

But Dodge Dudes, there is ONE thing I just CANNOT handle anymore.

Your stinking car doors STILL freeze up every winter! EVERY. WINTER. It’s driving me CRAZY!!!

When the weather drops below freezing (which here in NY that happens 3/4 of the year), the sliding doors freeze shut. The ONLY way to wrest them open is to open the driver’s door, clamber over the driver’s seat across the steering wheel, fumble into the back/center of the van on top of the center seats, grab the interior door handle to the sliding door, and KICK THE DANG DOOR again and again, from the INSIDE of the vehicle, until the ice breaks. I am writing about this very, very calmly and mildly, but if you could only see my face as I type this… I look…. pretty mad.

Here, I took photos. This is the door I finally managed to get open. This is the area that freezes shut just about every time I want to open the doors to your Caravans. Oh, and this happens with BOTH sliding doors.

See? See that arrow? It points to the hinge that gets coated with a thick layer of ice.

Please fix this. It’s a severe defect. For pete’s sake– you Dodge guys are from CANADA. You’d think you’d know about this already. FIX IT. PLEASE. FOR THE SAKE OF THE SANITY OF MOTHERS EVERYWHERE.

Sincerely,
the Freaky Frugalite

Can you see how the Porsche was too close to the car in front of it? The air pressure changed and lifted the Porsche up and over. Whoa! It’s a good lesson that shows not to get too close to the car in front of you while driving. Weeeird things can happen!