Tag Archives: #KBBDads

Grab Bag

Safe Driving and Car Buying Tips for the College Bound from KBB.com #KBBDads

Behind the Wheel

After my trip out to the Kelley Blue Book Headquarters where I test drive five of the 16 top cars for families I consider myself a KBBDad. I’ve got the app on my phone and I won’t be going into another dealership again without checking it first. While I still have some years yet before either of my kids go off to college, please don’t make me do the math I’ll faint, I do have friends who are bringing their kids off to school right around now.

So, I thought I would share with you some information from KBB.com that was shared with me. Namely the 10-Best Back-To-School Cars for 2016, which includes information for the 10 best new cars for students that cost under $20,000, and 10 Best Used Cars Under $8,000, which offers more cost-effective vehicle solutions for students and their parents. Both of these best car lists are from the editors at Kelley Blue Book and the B.R.A.K.E.S. information is from our friends at Kia. These are great resources for college bound kids. Cars that won’t break your bank accounts. Speaking of not breaking the bank, at the end of this post you will find several tips for first time car buyers that are really perfect for anyone looking to purchase a car.

Before we get to those tips I do have some Teen driving Safety tips that the folks from Kia shared through the the B.R.A.K.E.S. Program, a non-profit Teen Pro-Active Driving School founded by Top Fuel drag racer Doug Herbert in memory of his teenage sons, Jon and James, who were tragically killed in a car crash on Jan. 26, 2008. The B.R.A.K.E.S. curriculum includes advanced, behind-the-wheel training from professional driving instructors including: skid avoidance, distracted driving awareness, panic stopping (ABS activation), drop-wheel recovery and car control. Continue reading Safe Driving and Car Buying Tips for the College Bound from KBB.com #KBBDads →

Food, Friends, Photo-A-Day, Travel, Vlog

#KBBDads Test Rides of the Top 5 Cars for Dads

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Catching the Red Sox at Angel Stadium
Photo-A-Day #4124

Today we got up and headed over to Kelley Blue Book so that we could test drive 5 of their top 16 cars for families. The five that we were driving were selected as the top five cars for dads and there was a diverse bunch of cars, almost as diverse as the #KBBDads were. We partnered up after breakfast and headed out on our routes. I was partnered up with Chris Lewis from Dad of Divas. He’s a great friend and a fun ride companion. We started in the Kia Optima. That is the car closest to what I am currently driving. I enjoyed driving that car very much. We drove from the Kelley Blue Book Offices over to Dana Point Harbor. We did some time along the PCH and ended ad a nice beach area.

After the first leg we switched up cars to the Honda Civic. I drove a Honda Civic for 13 years and it was nice to ride in an updated one. Lots over very nice features in it. We drove that to a Gelson’s parking lot where we took a biological break and then switched over to the Toyota Sienna Minivan. That was nice to drive. It really ran smoothly and I enjoyed the infotainment aspect of it. I paired my phone with the car’s bluetooth and played Chris some Rock Sugar.

This third leg ended at our lunch at Javier’s Cantina and Grille in the Irvine Spectrum. Very tasty Mexican food.

With some full bellies we took on an additional passenger, Mark with Cox Auto and he rode with us during the last two legs of the trip. For the fourth leg I really wanted to drive the Tahoe but we got the Subaru Outback instead. Not my favorite car of the bunch but I did get to drive through the canyon and that was cool. We stopped at a biker bar called Cook’s and waited for everyone else to arrive. Our last car, the Tahoe had actually sped past the stop point and we had to wait for them to come back. We ended up being the last car to make it to the end point.

After a super quick trip tot he hotel we were off to Angel Stadium to see the Los Angeles Angels play the Boston Red Sox. I was fairly excited for it because it is the hometown team. Unfortunately they lost, but touring the stadium was a lot of fun. Here is my vlog as a recap of the day. Let me know it you like this new format with music and quick clips of stills and videos together.