It would be very comfortable for my kids with lots of space to sit down and good for long trip.

Let me just say first, I HATE grocery shopping. So I was pleasantly surprised at how a car could make my weekly shop easier. Firstly, car park visibility – you can see much further than my sedan – tick. Getting into tight car spaces easily with the parking cameras and sensors – tick. Fitting all the groceries in the boot without squashing the greens and eggs – tick. A quiet drive home with a two-year-old pacified with a Shrek DVD – priceless. I never realised how much a car made a difference to the quality of your everyday life… I need to get myself one of these cars!

I’ve been road testing the Kluger, and have to say, carting around the family and all the stuff you need to pack is an absolute pleasure with this car. For the first time in years, a Sunday drive is actually something to look forward to! Smooth and quiet to drive, super easy to park, entertainment for the kids, plenty of room for the bikes, scooters, food, blankets, eskies etc that you need to take for a day out with kids in tow. Something I didn’t expect was MORE quality family time – everyone is keen to get out in the Kluger.

We test drove the Kluger Grande over the Christmas and New Year break, and it was a godsend for carting around Christmas presents, food and people to the various family lunches and outings. The inside is absolutely huge – presents, family picnic, bike, scooter, and esky all fit in the back comfortably.

It is truly a pleasure to drive – the seats adjust perfectly to contour your body, the interior is sleek and it drives like a (quiet) dream. The safety features are so reassuring when traveling with children – blind spot indicator and an indicator that lets you know if you’re veering out of your lane or a car is driving too closely and is at risk of collision. We live in the Eastern Suburbs, so parking is generally a nightmare, but the parking cameras made everything so much easier. You can literally pull a real-time, 3D image of the car and it’s surroundings on the screen to make sure there are no dangers around it. Amazing technology.

My husband is a landscape photographer, so we are often up before dawn and eating breakfast in some remote location in the car – while we had the Kluger, we flipped up the boot and all sat comfortably in the back of the car enjoying the sunrise while we ate.

Our two year old absolutely LOVED the DVD player (watch Shrek! watch Elsa!) and the amount of space inside.

There is only one tiny criticism I would make – you can’t power the windows up or down when the ignition is off – or when the accessories feature is on (but the radio and DVD player work). This lost a point for convenience, but every other aspect is absolutely 5 out of 5 stars.

Definitely worth the investment.

The kids loved showing off their shiny new car to their friend at our holiday house. The DVD player was naturally the winner for the 3 kids. The Kluger seems to have thought of everything, everywhere you look there’s an additional new feature, from conveniently placed cup and bottle holders everywhere to back passenger controlled air con. The leather interior feels both luxurious and practical. There’s even what they call a “Conversation Mirror” so you can see what the kids are up to at a glance which doubles up as a little holder for small items. Having sat in the back for the first time today, I realised how much space there is and you can comfortably sit an adult and 2 car seats in the back. We also checked out the 7 seater arrangement where you can turn the seats in the boot into a third row. Even with the third row arrangement, we still managed to fit a mountain buggy pram and bags in the boot! Big thumbs up and 5 stars for the Kluger for both stylish interior and flexible storage and seating options today!

Now it was time to put the Kluger to test for our weekender to Berry, NSW. Loading up the car was made really easy with the enormous boot! Travelling with a toddler for a 3 day weekend as always, included everything bar the kitchen sink and I was amazed at how easily everything slotted in. You can see from the picture above just how much space was left, you’d never believe there was a big mountain buggy pram, travel cot, case for a family of five (Grandma included) food, wine, nappies, toys and goodness know what else!

The drive down was a breeze and the kids were delighted to discover a DVD player in the back which kept the dreaded repetition of “are we nearly there yet?” at bay! The Kluger was just beautiful to drive, smooth down the Freeway, and we felt safe and in control throughout the challenging drive up Berry Mountain, with some pretty hairy bends! The entrance to our bush setting holiday home was a 2k off-road track and once again, the car handled the roads brilliantly.

Today I am going to rate the car a full 5 stars for safety, I really felt at ease throughout the journey. I was able to focus on the road while the kids were entertained by the DVD player and the Kluger was an absolute trouper on those daunting hair-pin bends!

Hubby fitted the car seats this morning easy peasy and Mr2 was very excited to get into the shiny new car. I couldn’t help but take a diversion to daycare this morning as was enjoying the drive so much! I decided to check out the car boot with my little toddler and he gave me a big round of applause and a big “yayyy!” when I pressed the button on the car key to open and shut it. I can see this feature is going to be handy with a toddler in one arm and various toddler gear in the other. It’s such a gorgeous drive, the wheel turns beautifully in your hands . I know already I am going to be putting up a fight to return the Kluger, my heart sank as I got back in my old Honda CRV to move it out the garage to make space for my new baby!

WOW… I picked up the car late afternoon and after just 20 minutes in the Kluger today, I am already a convert! They call it the Family “SUV” and you can see why, it feels HUGE inside, but also really easy to manoeuvre. It’s comfortably spacious, but not so big that you feel like you you’re taking over the streets! The interior is just gorgeous, lovely black leather seats and the technology is mind-blowing, I get the feeling I’m going to be getting to know the cool little tech intricacies during the days to come. The Smart Entry and Start is brilliant, even if it did take me a good 5 minutes to work out (don’t let that put you off, I am not best known for my adaption to new technologies ;)) Parking itself was a whole new experience, the Reversing Camera is great and the birds eye view camera is a great little feature. Looking forward to the next challenge tomorrow, fitting the car seats and seeing what the boys think about our latest addition to the family!

Kindy and Work day today. The Kluger proved useful… the “school run” was smooth and we finished off with a scoot/bike ride… I made great use of the voice activation in the Kluger today. Making phone calls is so safe and easy.

Today we made the most of the sunshine and headed to Centennial Park. The sunroof got a great workout and we turned the music up and cruised to the park. I love how I’m able to control the music and make phone calls with the handy steering wheel controls. The kids had a ball and so did I. So easy to fit the scooter, bike and picnic gear in the boot! #toyotaklugergrande #momreview #mouthsofmums #thebestsuv

It is a small review today… I had to zip into work and I thought about taking my current car just to compare… Hopped in the driver’s seat and then jumped straight back into my Kluger… #canIkeepit#toyotaklugergrande #momreview #mouthsofmums #thebestsuv

Today we decided to “stretch the Kluger’s legs” a bit and take her for a drive over the bridge. I also loved the opportunity to be the passenger and not the driver. First we took the kids to Saturday morning sport and had a scooter and a ride at the park (before we were rained out). No problem fitting everything we needed in the boot. We then headed to Killara and had lunch at the Belrose Hotel which has a huge indoor play centre which the kids appreciated in the rain. Today was a great chance to not only see how the car handles in the rain but also review the cars navigation system. On both fronts the Kluger proved more than satisfactory. It handled well on the wet roads and as my husband (who was in the drivers seat today) said – it’s such a comfortable and easy drive. The navigation system was relatively easy to work out and it was fun playing with the different “voices” for directions and working out if we wanted minimum verbosity or someone a little more talkative. The kids were very pleased to break out the DVD player in the back seat on the way home… silence from the back seat which is always a treat. Another great day with the Kluger. Ps. I’m just going to mention again the leather seats and interior luxury of the car – it’s so nice jumping in and hitting the road…

I have to say three things that I am going to find hard living without are:
1. The seat belt warning alarm. Whilst I have a little warning sign in my SUV when seat Belts are not fastened… the klugers alarm system makes it impossible not to fasten your belt. The 5 of us are in and out of the car like yogos and whilst I remind everyone to ‘buckle up’ this alarm system makes it a must… & I don’t have to say a word!!!
2. Fancy a boot that shuts by the click of a button. I have always fancied one but thought it wasn’t a trimming worth paying for. I will often load myself up hoping to only do one or two trips unloading the car… even the kids could tap the button and voila boot shuts itself! No putting shopping on the road to free a hand and close a big heavy boot!
3. I did surrender to the video system on a
Few afternoons when I had to lug the kids around with me for a few hours … not only did They fall in love with the inhouse movie (they thought they were in business class) I gave them ear phones and drove in peace! Pure heaven for road trips and needing some ‘precious quiet time’…
#toyotaklugergrande #momreview #mouthsofmums #thebestsuv

It’s always a challenge on Friday afternoons to get the kids out of kindy and home without some kind of end-of-week-I’m-so-tired-kid-meltdown… but today was relatively easy when I mentioned I had the “new” car! The kids farewelled their friends and climbed into their seats without much ado. We had a small debate about the tv (the answer was no!) but happily listened to the stereo together (I really like the ease of the touch screen). I find the Kluger surprisingly easy to maneuver in city traffic and it is easy to handle in stop and start traffic. My parking skills are definitely improving as I learn the dimensions of the car and realize it’s not as big as I imagine… #toyotaklugergrande #momreview #mouthsofmums #thebestsuv

I always wanted a Toyota Kluger and my husband kept saying wait for the new one to come out and we’ll see. Well finally after 17 years I got my new Toyota Kluger and I love it. There are so many convenient features i never knew i needed. With build in DVD player, seat warmers and coolers, memory adjustable seating, GPS, key less entry and the list goes on. We now fight over who is going to drive it because it is just so comfortable. I love it and especially in my rain forest green.

Today I was feeling brave enough to tackle our very busy local Shopping Centre with the very very very busy carpark… I actually dread parking there! I’m pleased to report all went well and I parked first time – have I told you how much I like the reverse cameras. Today I’m rating the car based on its features. Some of the things I love are the leather seats (with temperature control!), the touch screen monitor for music and making calls etc. the huge storage in the middle console and the luxurious feel of the interior. The sun roof is also a huge hit – particularly with my husband – who I must say has been very eager to catch a lift to work for me these last couple of days… is it me or the Kluger?!?