DH wants a minivan...

[Anonymous]

OP, get over yourself, seriously.

[Anonymous]

I just couldn't have "driving my friends around" as a reason to get a new/different car.

If you're happy with the car you have, and it will accommodate your whole family once the new baby is born, keep it. No need to go through the additional expense/hassle of buying a new car--your friends can find their own transportation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to think a MV would make me uncool. Didn't happen.

Of course, my friends who think a MV will make them uncool, I just don't have the heart to tell them that they were never cool and their imagery is all in their mind. No, really. I just think they are trying too hard to portray something they are not. Others have brought it up and have said the same, so it is not just me.

OP, can't DH just buy and drive what he wants? I think there is at least one MV with AWD. D.C. shuts down at the threat of snow, so I don't see AWD as an issue either way. Your arguments do not sound rational.

I guess you're not following. I'm the OP and let me say all that again... We're a ONE car family who doesn't live in DC. I never said anything about being cool or not.

[Anonymous]

Why can't your friends drive themselves?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BWAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

OP here and I had to wait a good while until I stoped laughing and crying to be able to type my response!!!!

How old do you guys think I am? No, I'm not worried about being cool (HA!) and my babysitting years ended just 2 years ago when I had DC1. And I still babysit on occasion and the last van I drove was just 4 weeks ago when we went to FL for vacation. It had a camera but still I felt like all the other cars were on top of me.

We practice sports that's why we like our SUV and I told DH there's nothing wrong with asking friends to meet us at our destination or have them drive behind us when we go out together. Our family is growing and some things inevitably must change.

I'm doing just fine handling DC in and out of the car and our weather is much worse than DC's mild seasons. Our car is in the garage and most of the palces we go to also have covered lots.

Seems like I got exactly what I was looking for. There's absolutely no great reason to get such a huge car for us just yet.

I think it hits you when your kids want to bring friends home, carpool to practice, etc. At some points the parents stop coming on playdates, and if you carpool to practices that means you can cut out a lot of your car trips. I am guessing you are not at this point right now, but I would not buy a new car without considering whether it will fit you 5 years out, when your oldest is in 2nd or 3rd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here who's not anti-minivan per se. I also drive a small SUV which still feels a bit too big. Minivans are boats. Way too big for me to ever feel comfortable driving, much less parallel parking. So I completely empathize.

My next car will be the Mazda 5.

Love the Mazda 5. Love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Minivan is totally practical. I wish I'd gotten one years earlier.

If you're just opposed out of some vain sense that you're too cool for a minivan, then you should get over yourself and grow up. If you've got some practical reason why it won't work, then you can try selling that to your DH (but know that the reasons in your OP don't really seem very persuasive). If you truly will hate every minute of it, and won't ever drive the thing, out of some irrational aversion, then I guess you need to admit to your husband that you have an irrational aversion, and try to find some alternative.

Just because you feel a minivan is practical doesn't mean the OP or anyone else has to drive one! She's not vain, immature, or have an irrational aversion just because she doesn't want to drive a minivan.

I hate them as well for many reasons, one being the look of the car, so I don't drive one. My SIL angrily said to me several years ago, "you'll be driving one soon enough as well. Once that 2nd baby is born." Guess what? NO MINIVAN in my driveway yet and #2 is 3 yo!! It's a personal choice and if the OP doesn't like driving them, no matter what the reason, then she shouldn't have to drive one.

You sound bitter because you were told they are practical and you must have one as a mommy! Just because you follow the herd doesn't mean OP has to.

Grown-ass people who are scared of minivans for aesthetic reasons are pretty sad. "Minivan uncool! SUV? Cool!" It's like the bloated, wrinkly Baby Boomer who wears tight jeans and can decide whether the Grateful Dead or Janis Joplin is coolest. Most successful, educated people under 40 think that cars are a tool--a necessary evil. The idea that it's some sort of signaling device to tell the world how special and unconventional you are is a pathetic remnant of a by-gone age.

We currently have a Honda minivan AND a giant SUV (equivalent to a Land Cruiser), and I hate them both. We bought them because that was what was available (that would seat 5, and was cheap) when we moved overseas. And I don't hate them because of aesthetic reasons -- I simply think they drive poorly. Before we moved overseas, I drove a mazda CX-9 and loved it. Absolutely loved it. I'm so sad we sold it before we moved. It seats 7, but it drives like a car AND has the rear-view camera. I hear you OP. Consider the Mazda?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Minivan is totally practical. I wish I'd gotten one years earlier.

If you're just opposed out of some vain sense that you're too cool for a minivan, then you should get over yourself and grow up. If you've got some practical reason why it won't work, then you can try selling that to your DH (but know that the reasons in your OP don't really seem very persuasive). If you truly will hate every minute of it, and won't ever drive the thing, out of some irrational aversion, then I guess you need to admit to your husband that you have an irrational aversion, and try to find some alternative.

Just because you feel a minivan is practical doesn't mean the OP or anyone else has to drive one! She's not vain, immature, or have an irrational aversion just because she doesn't want to drive a minivan.

I hate them as well for many reasons, one being the look of the car, so I don't drive one. My SIL angrily said to me several years ago, "you'll be driving one soon enough as well. Once that 2nd baby is born." Guess what? NO MINIVAN in my driveway yet and #2 is 3 yo!! It's a personal choice and if the OP doesn't like driving them, no matter what the reason, then she shouldn't have to drive one.

You sound bitter because you were told they are practical and you must have one as a mommy! Just because you follow the herd doesn't mean OP has to.

Grown-ass people who are scared of minivans for aesthetic reasons are pretty sad. "Minivan uncool! SUV? Cool!" It's like the bloated, wrinkly Baby Boomer who wears tight jeans and can decide whether the Grateful Dead or Janis Joplin is coolest. Most successful, educated people under 40 think that cars are a tool--a necessary evil. The idea that it's some sort of signaling device to tell the world how special and unconventional you are is a pathetic remnant of a by-gone age.

Do you actually know any people under 40 besides your kids?

[Anonymous]

Buying a car to accomodate DC's friends is asinine. What's with this notion that minivans are required once you have 2+ kids? It's like saying you NEED a garage once you purchase a car.

My grandma is the only person to own a minivan in our family and she was a grandparent by then. We got around in a sedan or by Metro as kids and were just fine. I will have 3 kids in my coupe before I buy an ugly ass minivan. They drive horribly and usually have more blind spots too.

Misery loves company.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buying a car to accomodate DC's friends is asinine. What's with this notion that minivans are required once you have 2+ kids? It's like saying you NEED a garage once you purchase a car.

My grandma is the only person to own a minivan in our family and she was a grandparent by then. We got around in a sedan or by Metro as kids and were just fine. I will have 3 kids in my coupe before I buy an ugly ass minivan. They drive horribly and usually have more blind spots too.

Misery loves company.

I would have agreed with you in the old days. But then we didn't have kids in big car seats and you could put one up front. The law makes this solution problematic.

[Anonymous]

OMG I forgot about the blind spots!!!! I was always scared of changing lanes.

Sorry DH we're not getting a mini-boat, err, mini-van.

[Anonymous]

You don't need a minivan with 2 kids. More then 3? Sure. 2? No. I personally would stick with the vehicle you have if you like it rather then buying something else.

Can you fit 3 across in your vehicle? Most vehicles can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't need a minivan with 2 kids. More then 3? Sure. 2? No. I personally would stick with the vehicle you have if you like it rather then buying something else.

Can you fit 3 across in your vehicle? Most vehicles can.

Yep. I fit three car seats across the back seat of an Audi A3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't need a minivan with 2 kids. More then 3? Sure. 2? No. I personally would stick with the vehicle you have if you like it rather then buying something else.

Can you fit 3 across in your vehicle? Most vehicles can.

Not 3 carseats but 2 carseats and a person definitely. Yup I'm telling DH it's a no go.

[Anonymous]

BWAHAHAHA!!!!!!! ...How old do you guys think I am?

10? 13?