My wife and I have two kids (6 and 2) and we had the minivan discussion several weeks ago. We're keeping our Subaru Outback, but we were thinking about replacing our Toyota Corolla. (Incredibly reliable car by the way!) We live about 400 miles away from our extended family and visit them about three times a year. My wife liked the utility of a minvan. I certainly see the appeal, but with driving being the pain in the ass that it is, I needed something that was (1) highly rated in crash safety, (2) fast, (3) fun to drive, (4) comfortable enough for a six hour trip, and (5) had plenty of space for luggage. So on February 21st, I bought an 2007 Audi A4. I love it!
Niiiiice, Magpie! We should have our new car by Saturday, if all goes according to plan. I can't wait.
I bought the four door sedan. My wife lobbied for the stationwagon, but I convinced her that the sedan was enough. We took our kids to see their grandparents over the weekend. (We took Friday and Monday off to make it a long weekend.) We put the portable DVD player on the fold-down center rear seat, loaded up on car-friendly snacks, and headed out. The car did really well for the 800 mile roundtrip. It's way too easy to start flying in that car. Even at speeds well above the interstate limit, you feel like you're cruising along at 50 MPH. I love my seven year old Subaru, but the Audi is in a different league. It's hard to explain, but I just had a lot more confidence in the car's ability to take corners and overtake traffic.
I adopted the new baby on Saturday. She's 200 inches long and weighs over 4,000 pounds. We've named the new baby "Sienna" and she has already found a special place in our hearts and our garage. Delivery took two days and was incredibly painless. (Flew out to California to finalize the adoption process and delivered the new baby home over the weekend.) Here's the new baby. (Ignore the crazy, tired-looking lady standing next to Sienna.)
I'd be scared to death for any company that used that lady as a model! Sales would plummet! <yes, that's montgjules "in the flesh">
so you flew to California to get it? really? where'd you fly from/to? even with the cost of plane ticket(s) and gas home it was still the best deal? you're hardcore!
Airfare from Salt Lake City : $150 Hotel night in Vegas on the trip back : $150 Gas money to deliver Sienna : $100 A night away from the kids : priceless My hubby really wanted all the schmancy features and he really never asks a lot financially so I decided not to make a stink of it. It ain't easy to find a Sienna XLE at a good bargain, so we kept our eyes open then pounced when we found exactly what we wanted. Heated leather seats, 3-zone auto climate control, stability/traction control, 6-disk changer w/ premium audio, three automatic doors, and this kind of interior : Still under factory warranty plus the extended Certified Used warranty... All in all, it was almost exactly what we wanted and only slightly out of my comfort zone for affordability (still well within my husband's). edit 1 : Next time we buy a car, I'm insisting on flying to buy it because it was just a fun thing to do. Visited my sister and got to hang out with her and her boyfriend. Good times! I'd recommend it to anybody! (Plus, "California cars" haven't been through the wicked winters in Utah that put grime and salt up into the vehicle... Okay now I'm getting way too detailed...) edit 2 : Do you know how hard it is to find a good minivan in UTAH where everyone has a gazillion kids?!?! Plus we have like three big Toyota dealerships in the Salt Lake metro area... There is tons more competition and competitive pricing in L.A. We passed about six dealerships just from my sister's apartment to Huntington Beach.
sounds like the trip was worth it. our last car (the honda CRV) we bough the base model. it came with all the safety features we wanted and the ipod jack I wanted. It's nice to splurge a bit and get the nice seats. nothing wrong with treating yourself to something like that. I'm sure you'll consider it money well spent as time goes along -- especially those heated seats come next winter.
Well, I'm not one to claim I deserve niceties in life, but I'm not going to complain about them either! One of the things I was sad about this particular car was that it did NOT have the MP3 capability, but oh well... no car (in our price range) is perfect! It helps, of course, that we were buying this car used. We could never afford this car new.