Is DH unreasonable? Minivan edition.
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Anonymous
| DH claims we need a minivan to transport DS and friends in circumstances where DS is bringing more than 1 friend and I am also going. He claims that three 14 year old boys cannot fit in our rear seat. I am befuddled. I can see how it would be tight on a long drive, but we are talking about a 30 minute max drive to local things, or at maximum, if we take two teammates to a travel soccer game, one hour. Our car is fairly new and I am not seeing buying a minivan for just this. Am I being unreasonable, or is he? |
Anonymous
| I agree with your DH that 3 adult-sized people in the back seat of most sedans is tight. I agree with you that you don't buy a new car for something that happens only occasionally and for short periods of time. If it's a big problem, you can rent a car for the few times you need it cheaper than buying a whole new car. |
Anonymous
Three sweaty kids crammed into the back on the way back from a game would be miserable, doubly so if they have long legs |
Anonymous
|
I would never buy a minivan, because I prefer allocating my money to other needs. However some families jump to the minivan thinking they'll need the trunk space to move kids AND their sports gear (which can take up a lot of space depending on the sport), or move furniture or gardening things, put the Christmas tree in there without having to tie it to the roof.
So... it's just a preference. |
Anonymous
| Interestingly, we had this debate and then literally never had a situation where we needed to drive anyone else's kids anywhere. Seems like in our area carpooling is dead. |
Anonymous
| I believe your husband is wrong. We have one kid and would never dream of getting a minivan for random carpooling. We put 3 kids in the back all the time. They will survive. |
Anonymous
|
Are both parents going, because your 14 year old son can sit up front. Or take two cars for those trips when both parents are going -- you will likely still have better gas mileage from two cars than you get from one minivan.
That said, we got a SUV for carpool reasons, because the kids just enjoy being together in one group and this gives them a good hangout space. But it sounds like you only have 1 child, 14 years old? Yeah, the minivan window is closing fast. |
Anonymous
We got an SUV despite DW opposition, and use it all the time for picking up Home Depot supplies, carrying five bikes on the hitch for trail rides and on vacation, and of course on road trips. And we took the sedan the other day for a longer ride, and she was aghast at how in the world we did road trips with the 5 of us in a sedan... |
Anonymous
| Re sedan, the front two have plenty of legroom and they're aghast at what in the world the back three complain about. |
Anonymous
|
Eh I bought a 3 year old minivan a few years ago, the price was about the same as small / medium size SUV and we love the extra space. It is nice to drive family around when they are in town without having to take multiple cars. My mom lives near by, so we are often 3 adults and 2 kids.
When going on road trips to the beach or such, it is also nice to just load up whatever you want and not to have to worry about if it will fit. So do you need a minivan? Probably not, but it would be a nice thing to have. |
Anonymous
| SUV with 3 rows of seats |
Anonymous
| Our minivan allows us to be part of carpools to camps and sports practices. We live in the suburbs, this is what constitutes building community. |
Anonymous
| A minivan for an only child? |
Anonymous
We're able to build community without having a minivan. Remarkably, people are always happy to lend out their van/SUV if it means someone else has their kids. 
But most of the time, we only need to take 3/4 kids. Or if more, we can take two cars. I have thought about something like a Highlander, but frankly I think I'd get more carpool duty than I'd like. |
Anonymous
| When it comes up, rent one. |