72°
Although her family continued to grow -- in height, that is -- Lauren Riordan and her husband Rob decided it was time to scale down the size of the family car. With four children (one of whom was licensed to drive), a standard poodle and three cats (none of whom hold licenses), the Riordan family needed to reconfigure their automobile situation.
"I was driving a Honda Odyssey mini-van, which had about 100,000 miles on it and I was driving it all over town all day long. My husband didn't feel it was going to last much longer," says Lauren Riordan, a Stamford resident for the past 17 years. She adds, "Since we had a new driver in the house we decided I should get a new, smaller car." They kept the Odyssey for Rob (who has a short commute) and gave his Honda Pilot to their daughter Emily for her daily trip back and forth to high school.
Lauren is a clinical psychologist who spends plenty of time on the road evaluating children for developmental, learning, and behavioral disorders. She says of her miles logged, "I am all over the county doing observations of children in their classroom settings, as well as attending team meetings at their schools." And as a mother of four, she's also on the road frequently delivering and retrieving her kids from various after-school activities and appointments.
The Riordans had always owned Hondas and out of reflex planned to buy another one -- the CRV, a small-sized SUV. But they decided to road test a few other vehicles. When she took a Hyundai Tucson for a spin, Lauren found it drove "very much like the Honda CRV. It was comfortable and smooth." Their interest was piqued. Further research revealed the Hyundai would give them "more bang for their buck," as Lauren could procure built-in Bluetooth technology without having to purchase a pricey navigation system.
Hyundai's Tucson has gotten some attention for its introduction of more refined and sophisticated vehicles. In fact, Edmunds voted it one of their top picks for a small crossover SUV for 2011.
After nothing short of an automotive scavenger hunt, Lauren found her Tucson in the perfect color, kiwi green. "I love my car," she states emphatically, "Even though it's only four cylinders, it feels zippy compared with my big mini-van, and best of all I got three months of free XM radio, which I can never give up now. It is not luxurious but it has most of what I need and I was able to buy it without having to trade in my van. The Riordan's automotive reconfiguration, it seems, was a major success.
What's your family ride? Are you more mini-van or SUV? Let me know, here. Or email me, at jcurtis@mainstreetconnect.us.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Norwalk and receive free news updates.
