DH wants a minivan...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 5'3 and *somehow* I've managed to park my minivan for 10 years without backing into anything (and my van was built pre-backup cameras). I'd much rather drive my van than my husband's sedan. His car is too low for me to see around all the giant SUV's people drive out here in the 'burbs.

"somehow" you're used to it. "Somehow" I'm not willing to start practicing now with 2 young children in the car when I'm perfectly happy with the car I already own.

[Anonymous]

I don't care whether minivans are "cool" or not. I just think they are ugly and no fun to drive. I drive a stick shift, 6 speed station wagon that is fun to drive AND practical, and would not drive a minivan because they are no fun to drive at all. And my kids are old enough to get in and out of a car on their own.

OK, I lied. I do think driving one signals that being a parent/chauffeur has taken over your life. They just seem to go with mom jeans and bad hairstyles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From your comment about parking, I am wondering if you have strong glasses. I have strong glasses and would never get a minivan. I stick with the smallest car I can because I just can not judge distances very well. If this is the case for you, please explain this to your husband. He may not want a dented-up minivan...

Yup, I wear contacts. I told DH about the blind spot thing but he's 6ft tall and he just doesn't get it. I have to twist and turn like crazy to check over my shoulders and I was never comfortable driving a car with extra rows. Too much margin for error.

To the "few inches" poster - I drive a SUV so I feel like I can see things around me much better. When I drive sedans and mini-vans I feel like I can't see very well what's going on around me. It's hard to park because I have to keep twisting and turning. DH travels for work and comes home every week with a different car. We've driven every car under the sun through out those 7 years and we picked our current car based on one of those experiences with his rentals. I tried driving an Odyssey some time ago and could not stop laughing. At the highest point on the seat I could driving either looking under or over the wheel. The top of the wheel was almost at my eye level!

Anyway, I guess if I mention the dented bumpers he'll stop trying to convince me

Sorry, you can't drive a sedan??? What's the point of continuing this disussion. If you can't even drive a sedan, there is no point in dragging a whole group of posters through your car selection process. Obviously you need a car with a barber chair in it, or the next best thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From your comment about parking, I am wondering if you have strong glasses. I have strong glasses and would never get a minivan. I stick with the smallest car I can because I just can not judge distances very well. If this is the case for you, please explain this to your husband. He may not want a dented-up minivan...

Yup, I wear contacts. I told DH about the blind spot thing but he's 6ft tall and he just doesn't get it. I have to twist and turn like crazy to check over my shoulders and I was never comfortable driving a car with extra rows. Too much margin for error.

To the "few inches" poster - I drive a SUV so I feel like I can see things around me much better. When I drive sedans and mini-vans I feel like I can't see very well what's going on around me. It's hard to park because I have to keep twisting and turning. DH travels for work and comes home every week with a different car. We've driven every car under the sun through out those 7 years and we picked our current car based on one of those experiences with his rentals. I tried driving an Odyssey some time ago and could not stop laughing. At the highest point on the seat I could driving either looking under or over the wheel. The top of the wheel was almost at my eye level!

Anyway, I guess if I mention the dented bumpers he'll stop trying to convince me

Sorry, you can't drive a sedan??? What's the point of continuing this disussion. If you can't even drive a sedan, there is no point in dragging a whole group of posters through your car selection process. Obviously you need a car with a barber chair in it, or the next best thing.

Bad day over there? You should be glad it's almost over...

[Anonymous]

We are getting our (gasp) minivan in the next couple of weeks and I'm so frickin excited. We have an almost 5 year old, almost 3 year old and I'm 24 weeks pregnant. We bought a new Ford Focus when we got married, and it has served us well,but it is tiny. There is barely room for 2 carseats, 3 is impossible. Even if they would fit, someone would be touching the other or waking the baby etc.. We wanted a SUV, but then we found a minivan. Holy cow! Power sliding doors, 3 rows which means no one will be touching anyone else. Its going to be so awesome. I'm 25, and while I wouldn't have thought I would be going the minivan route, with soon to be 3 kids, its going to make my life so much easier...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are getting our (gasp) minivan in the next couple of weeks and I'm so frickin excited. We have an almost 5 year old, almost 3 year old and I'm 24 weeks pregnant. We bought a new Ford Focus when we got married, and it has served us well,but it is tiny. There is barely room for 2 carseats, 3 is impossible. Even if they would fit, someone would be touching the other or waking the baby etc.. We wanted a SUV, but then we found a minivan. Holy cow! Power sliding doors, 3 rows which means no one will be touching anyone else. Its going to be so awesome. I'm 25, and while I wouldn't have thought I would be going the minivan route, with soon to be 3 kids, its going to make my life so much easier...

How is this relevant to OP's question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are getting our (gasp) minivan in the next couple of weeks and I'm so frickin excited. We have an almost 5 year old, almost 3 year old and I'm 24 weeks pregnant. We bought a new Ford Focus when we got married, and it has served us well,but it is tiny. There is barely room for 2 carseats, 3 is impossible. Even if they would fit, someone would be touching the other or waking the baby etc.. We wanted a SUV, but then we found a minivan. Holy cow! Power sliding doors, 3 rows which means no one will be touching anyone else. Its going to be so awesome. I'm 25, and while I wouldn't have thought I would be going the minivan route, with soon to be 3 kids, its going to make my life so much easier...

How is this relevant to OP's question?

Nothing is relevant to the OP's question. She stated three pages back that she's decided, she is not getting a minivan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are getting our (gasp) minivan in the next couple of weeks and I'm so frickin excited. We have an almost 5 year old, almost 3 year old and I'm 24 weeks pregnant. We bought a new Ford Focus when we got married, and it has served us well,but it is tiny. There is barely room for 2 carseats, 3 is impossible. Even if they would fit, someone would be touching the other or waking the baby etc.. We wanted a SUV, but then we found a minivan. Holy cow! Power sliding doors, 3 rows which means no one will be touching anyone else. Its going to be so awesome. I'm 25, and while I wouldn't have thought I would be going the minivan route, with soon to be 3 kids, its going to make my life so much easier...

25 yo and 3 children already? Are you from effing Utah or what?

[Anonymous]

I have a Highlander Hybrid. It's great. I highly recommend it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are getting our (gasp) minivan in the next couple of weeks and I'm so frickin excited. We have an almost 5 year old, almost 3 year old and I'm 24 weeks pregnant. We bought a new Ford Focus when we got married, and it has served us well,but it is tiny. There is barely room for 2 carseats, 3 is impossible. Even if they would fit, someone would be touching the other or waking the baby etc.. We wanted a SUV, but then we found a minivan. Holy cow! Power sliding doors, 3 rows which means no one will be touching anyone else. Its going to be so awesome. I'm 25, and while I wouldn't have thought I would be going the minivan route, with soon to be 3 kids, its going to make my life so much easier...

25 yo and 3 children already? Are you from effing Utah or what?[/quote]

Definitely.

Signed,
A first time Mom at 28 and I thought that was young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are getting our (gasp) minivan in the next couple of weeks and I'm so frickin excited. We have an almost 5 year old, almost 3 year old and I'm 24 weeks pregnant. We bought a new Ford Focus when we got married, and it has served us well,but it is tiny. There is barely room for 2 carseats, 3 is impossible. Even if they would fit, someone would be touching the other or waking the baby etc.. We wanted a SUV, but then we found a minivan. Holy cow! Power sliding doors, 3 rows which means no one will be touching anyone else. Its going to be so awesome. I'm 25, and while I wouldn't have thought I would be going the minivan route, with soon to be 3 kids, its going to make my life so much easier...

25 yo and 3 children already? Are you from effing Utah or what?

What's wrong with you? Are you one of those who focus on your career for 20 years and when you realize it's time to have kids you're all wrinkled, your ovaries are dried up like raisins and you have to hire a surrogate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I kinda wish I had one just for the sliding doors. And fyi - I had a small SUV before moving to my bigger one and there is no way a double jogger would have fit in the back of it. No way.

Clearly you have the wrong double jogger. We bought the Baby Jogger City Select Double for our twins specifically because it fit in both my small SUV (Ford Escape Hybrid) and DW's Prius. In both cases is folds up small enough to only take up half of the trunk space and still let us close the privacy screen. The Britax B-Ready double also folds up small enough to fit into a compact car, so you would spend $30+K for a minivan rather than $400-700 for a better double stroller? Must be nice to have that kind of cash just lying around. Or are you one of the ones on the Off-Topic chat who keeps asking how to get out from crushing consumer debt because they bought a huge house, have student loans and still bought new cars with $50K worth of debt?

There are reasons for buying a minivan...this is not one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I kinda wish I had one just for the sliding doors. And fyi - I had a small SUV before moving to my bigger one and there is no way a double jogger would have fit in the back of it. No way.

Clearly you have the wrong double jogger. We bought the Baby Jogger City Select Double for our twins specifically because it fit in both my small SUV (Ford Escape Hybrid) and DW's Prius. In both cases is folds up small enough to only take up half of the trunk space and still let us close the privacy screen. The Britax B-Ready double also folds up small enough to fit into a compact car, so you would spend $30+K for a minivan rather than $400-700 for a better double stroller? Must be nice to have that kind of cash just lying around. Or are you one of the ones on the Off-Topic chat who keeps asking how to get out from crushing consumer debt because they bought a huge house, have student loans and still bought new cars with $50K worth of debt?

There are reasons for buying a minivan...this is not one of them.

Fair enough, but your stroller isn't really a jogging stroller. You have a double stroller with the word "jogger" in it. OP may have different needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP here. I'm 32.

If you guys help me out to find a mini van that will make a 5ft tall lady feel like she's up there with other drivers, something with minimal blid spots, 4WD that does not need a camera to be parked I'm willing to review my opinion. But seems like such van does not exist yet.

OMG -- get a camera, no matter what car you drive! They are awesome!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I kinda wish I had one just for the sliding doors. And fyi - I had a small SUV before moving to my bigger one and there is no way a double jogger would have fit in the back of it. No way.

Clearly you have the wrong double jogger. We bought the Baby Jogger City Select Double for our twins specifically because it fit in both my small SUV (Ford Escape Hybrid) and DW's Prius. In both cases is folds up small enough to only take up half of the trunk space and still let us close the privacy screen. The Britax B-Ready double also folds up small enough to fit into a compact car, so you would spend $30+K for a minivan rather than $400-700 for a better double stroller? Must be nice to have that kind of cash just lying around. Or are you one of the ones on the Off-Topic chat who keeps asking how to get out from crushing consumer debt because they bought a huge house, have student loans and still bought new cars with $50K worth of debt?

There are reasons for buying a minivan...this is not one of them.

Fair enough, but your stroller isn't really a jogging stroller. You have a double stroller with the word "jogger" in it. OP may have different needs.

Granted, but I still say it's a little odd to have to spend $30+K on a vehicle to accommodate a $400-700 double stroller. I can't imagine what needs there would be that would justify forcing someone who otherwise doesn't need a minivan to purchase one. Even one of those "real" double joggers will fit on the roof rack of my Escape if I absolutely needed it to go somewhere. I stand by what I said, there are reasons for buying a minivan...this is not one of them.