Mad Woman Will Travel

Compare and contrast, Venice and Queenscliff. Same Mad Woman at the wheel, same caravan but on the other side of the world!

Pictures 9975 miles / 16053.21 km apart!

Mad woman in Queenscliff, Australia!

Mad Woman in Venice, Italy!

Four Countries in One Day

Today we left the stunning Soca Valley in Slovenia. We headed to Camp Grubhoff near Salzberg in Austria. Due to my advanced navigational skills we ended up traveling through 4 countries in one day. Slovenia, Italy, Germany and Austria. It's a good job there are no border posts left.

Note the Crazy Woman at the Wheel of the Car

Ford S-Max Review European Car of the Year 2007

We bought a 2007 Ford S-Max 2.0 litre diesel as the car for our trip.The primary reason for this was safety it ticked all the necessary safety requirements. It received a 5- Star/ 36 Point (Best in Class) rating from the Euro NCAP. The S-Max's safety features include the Intelligent Protection System (IPS) which combines a body structure optimised for strength and crashworthiness with state-of-the-art restraint equipment and driver aids that help avoid an accident and features that lessen the likelihood of injuries in an impact. It has many modern airbags, including a knee airbag and a thorax airbag. S-Max's also have an advanced neck protection system, three-point seat belts, optimised pre-tensioners, load limiters, anti-submarining seat subframes, a collapsible steering system and safety pedals. For handling it has an Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), of course, along with Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD) and standard Electronic Stability Program (ESP) system. 

The car is a 7 seater with a fold flat system. It is also an ideal tow car with 2.0 litre diesel and its heavy enough to tow our 1500kg caravan.

Verdict (so far)

S-Max Outside Harewood House

We are now 3 months into the trip and so far so good. The kids love it. Samantha used to hate driving but now she is happy. The back seats are actually higher than the front seats so you can see a lot more than in a normal station wagon. We think this is why she is so much happier. It's also a very good looking car. It was designed by David Hilton. It was named European Car of the Year 2007. David Hilton has recently been head hunted and is now head of exterior design at Bentley.

To be honest its better than anything Ford do in Australia why its not available in Australia is a mystery but I suspect its got something to do with not wanting to compete with the locally produced Ford Explorer.

BTW: Used cars in Europe are also much cheaper than in Australia probably one third of the price.

David Hilton S-Max's Designer

David Hilton
http://www.cardesignnews.com/site/designers/whos_where/display/store4/item249904/
http://www.motorcityeurope.com/#/portfolio/cars/ford_smax/