Just over 6 years ago I shopped around for the perfect family vehicle. It took me almost a year, but I researched, test drove and narrowed my search until we purchased our lovely Saturn Outlook. It fit my family, my husband, tons of stuff, and I loved it! I still love it, but as we discussed going to Utah for Christmas the greatest concern was comfort. I don't think that a car ride should feel like you are sleeping in your bed at home, but for those of you who haven't noticed, my children are getting tall fast. Michael is already 5'11" at the ripe old age of 12. Yes, 12! I fear he will be 6 feet tall before his 13th birthday, which still blows my mind.
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| Michael is running out of leg room! |
So, we talked about getting a bigger car. But what is bigger than our current 8 passenger outlook? A Suburban? Expedition? So, we test drove some. Now, I just have to tell you that this was harder to do than before because now we live in the middle of nowhere and finding vehicles to test were few and far between. We even borrowed vehicles from friends to check out to save in driving time. We found a brand new Expedition to sit in just to get a feel for it and compared it to a Suburban that our friends own but to be honest I wasn't impressed by the leg room, but it was better than our current car. But what we learned quickly is that they are built higher and don't have as much head room in the front passenger seat. James couldn't sit up straight in either of them. And the car seat didn't fit behind the drivers seat! I was baffled and didn't know what to do?!? What car will seat a minimum of 7, give leg room for multiple 6'+ children and be tall enough for my husband up front??? I even had a dealer at a loss and I've never seen that before. ;)
Well, James and I were out doing grocery shopping when I got the idea to try a minivan. Let's be clear here, I had no intention of ever owning a minivan again, so even trying to sit in a minivan was a big step for me. Six years when we last owned a minivan they were known for their poor quality, fast depreciation, etc. Now in my defense I was looking at used minivans 6 years ago and I have since learned that around that time their quality was improving. So, we drove past a Toyota dealership in town, and I saw that they had a few Sienna's, so I pulled in and asked James to see how they fit. I am pretty sure that by the end of this experience he was tired of sitting in the front seat of many mini-vans, so we could see how comfortable they were. I was amazed by the room. Now, it wasn't as roomy in the front seat as my Outlook (I really had found the perfect car), but the leg room in the back was amazing and the front seat was roomier than the Suburban. And the storage they created in the back for the seats to fold into was incredible. So, we looked at the Sienna, Odyssey, and Grand Caravan and the Sienna was the winner. I even dragged all my kids out to the dealership to see how they fit. They enjoyed it much more than James did. :) As a matter of fact I learned a lot about the can in the 5 minutes that they played in it. And yes, it felt like playing!
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| Much more leg room for Michael and the car seat fit. |
We ended up driving to Peoria and then to Quincy to see if the '07 was as big as the '09. It was an adventure, but we learned that even though Toyota insists that nothing changed in these models that the front seat got a little bigger each year. So, we shopped around, decided what we had to have and what we could compromise on. I learned that I could not find an 8 passenger Sienna with a DVD player within 300 miles. I even checked in Utah since we were planning to be there soon. I also learned that when they put leather seats in the car, the front seat got a little more cramped. You can blame it on the electronics or anything else, but the end result was that I needed a van without leather which pretty much took the Odyssey out of the game because the only way to get a DVD player was to get leather. I was very saddened by this news as I have always been a Honda fan. :) After researching, driving, testing, etc, we actually ended up with a 'new' minivan that was for sale right here in Galesburg. The chances were small, but it was nice to buy local, get it checked out by our own mechanics and stop driving for hours at a time to find a new car. It didn't have 8 seats, but we thought the boys would like the DVD player and it would make our car drives much more peaceful. And no matter what people say, that 8th seat is a fake seat, but I can imagine it would come in handy, so maybe one day I'll have it all. :)
After our first drive after owning the van the boys let me take their picture. They weren't thrilled, but here you go.
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| Michael admits that the front seat is not the best, but it isn't bad and he fits really well in the back seat! |
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| Jacob loves sitting in the back. They love that the rear seat reclines which will come in handy when they try to sleep on our long drives. |
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| Hyrum is still in the back, but I find it easier to get to him with the rolling middle seats when I need to help do that (which isn't often). |
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| We sold our car to our friends for high trade in value, so it was a great deal for us and a great deal for them. Bye-bye to my baby. |
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| Hello to our new car! It is nice driving a more car-like vehicle again, and the savings in fuel will be fabulous! |
We are all glad it is over, and I am happy to no longer be researching, testing, etc. It was crazy, but we got a good car and look forward to more comfortable car rides!
