DEFEND YOUR RIDE: Vince At Milt & Edie's

Q: Welcome to Defend Your Ride Los Angeles. Great Ford Escape XLT. Tell us about it. What is its main use?

A: Taking the daughter to preschool, dropping the wife to work and grocery shopping. Yes, we have one car. It was a test in the beginning, but it's getting better. You know, we kind of have a routine. There are certain times when they've got to go and be picked up.

Q: Sounds like that requires some serious coordinating. At least there's plenty of room for the family?

A: Yeah, it's great. You know, it's great for my daughter. She has plenty of room in the back to have her toys. There's plenty of room in the trunk. We can easily put the seats down. It's great to have the roof rack, so we don't have to try and rework big things. We can just hook them up up there.

Q: OK, now for a couple of fun questions. Do you have any rules in the car?

A: Only really for my daughter. No kicking the back of the chair! No trying to open the door, even though we've got child locks.

Q: Safety first. And if your car had a human emotion, what would it be?

A: I'd say happy. It gets taken care of. It gets good usage. We don't take it crazy, you know.

Q: Your buying experience, was it positive? What made you pick the Ford Escape?

A: It got good reviews. We looked at some other cars, but we had a couple of minor points. This kind of like ticked all the boxes. We actually went through Costco! They gave us a great deal and recommended a local dealership closest to where we lived. It was a dealership in Santa Monica.

Q: So you actually bought your car through Costco!?

A: Through Costco, yeah. And you get a better rate.

Q: Wow, that's interesting. What do you think your next car will realistically be?

A: It might not be a car. It might actually be a truck for myself, for work. If not that, then depending on how work goes, it may be a hybrid just for use around town and use this for more trips together.

Q: Anything else we should know about this car?

A: Considering it's quite a big car, it gets good gas mileage. It's nice to have the tinted windows, which helps a lot with kids. The leather interior is great, especially when you have more kids in the back--spillage and use. The step helps on the side of the car. Great space, good driving, very smooth. Yeah, it's perfect for us!