In honor of Mother’s Day (it’s this Sunday, so don’t forget people) I thought I’d do a mom-related car posting. In my search, I found a great Web site called motherproof.com. Let’s face it, mothers do a lot of driving. A group of women on motherproof.com take a look at the vehicles, road-test them for two weeks at a time, and then evaluate them based on performance and values. It’s a great idea. Who knows more about car safety than mothers do?

“We load the kids in, test out the latch connectors and the car seats, and the cargo space, and to really ensure that the car that we’re driving would really be a perfect vehicle for the people who visit our website,” said Sara Lacey, a mom-reviewer.

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By Kurt Gensheimer

Blings:

• Seven passenger seating
• Outstanding value
• Super practical

Dings:

• Hit with the ugly stick ten too many times
• Gutless V6
• Low-hanging tailgate devours foreheads

Ruling: Comfortable and practical, but as sexy as a pair of orthopedic shoes.

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Here’s some news that’s not all that surprising, Volkswagen’s Routan minivan, essentially a rebadged Chrysler minivan, is on the chopping block. You could pretty much see this coming from a mile away, almost before the Routan was rolled out. Rather than design and build their own minivan (a class of car that VW invented with the Type II way back when) VW decided that a better route was to take Dodge’s Caravan, change the trim here & there, add a VW badge and give it an Euro-sounding name. The Routan was built alongside its Chrysler Corp. counterparts at Chrysler’s Windsor, Ontario, plant until last December, when VW asked Chrysler to stop production. Apparently, not a single Routan has rolled off the assembly line since, and there are no immediate plans to resume production according to sources.

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