Just how many things are in your car? Our lift-out cover explained

This weekend, Drive is publishing a 12-page Family Cars lift-out in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers. The guide provides some insight, tips and a buyers' guide for families of all shapes and sizes.

MORE: Explore the Drive Family Cars Guide

To give the lift-out a bit of character it needed an eye-catching cover, and with this, we wanted to convey a message that anyone with a family car would understand. So we ask the question, just how much stuff do you need your car to carry?

As an illustration, we grabbed a bunch of things that members of the Drive family have in their cars and, following the theme of what is known as the 'Tetris Challenge', laid them all out to showcase just what goes into your car.

For the shot, we used a quiet carpark where we worked out some rough measurements around the Volvo XC90 that would suit the printed cover, and set about positioning everything in a randomly formulaic way.

For added family effect, we've included Heidi, Isabella, Mathieu, Minty the sausage dog, and me in our layout of 'gear'.

It took about 30 minutes to get everything into a rough spot, and we used the live feed from the camera on the drone to fine-tune everything.

Now to answer the burning question, did it all fit in the car?

Yes! Although, not with more than the driver in it.

The double-pram and car seats wouldn't fit with four passengers (and a dog) on board, but with just a driver and the seats folded flat, we were able to cram it all in.

In case you are wondering, here's a full list of everything in the shot:

Phew!

Let us know if there is anything a little strange that you carry around in your car?

The Drive Ultimate Family Guide lift-out is available in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday 14 October and The Sunday Age on Sunday 15 October.