We Joined the Club I Never Wanted to Join

I'm not sure when I became old enough to have a kindergartner, let alone own and drive a minivan. Yikes. It really makes me feel old, but oh well. It's practical and we need the extra space. With the upcoming arrival of our 3rd baby boy, we knew we'd need something bigger than our beloved Subaru Outback to put all 3 kids into. We looked at SUVs with 3rd row seats, and while they were very tempting in their non-mom-ness, we just couldn't go for something that was twice as big but had a fraction of the cargo space we have in the Subie. As it is, with 2 kids and 2 dogs we're stuffed to the gills to get our things packed to visit Scott's family for a weekend. We have to put things between the kids' seats and under their feet. So, being practical, we opted for a minivan instead.

We've been researching different models for quite a while now, gathering as much information as possible from consumer reports and other auto internet sites. We test drove just about every single van on the market that was in our price range and talked to people who own those models as well as mechanics for their opinions on the various brands/models. What we found most frustrating was that one website would say awful things and another would say great things. Or the van would get great ratings but the people and mechanics we talked to would say terrible things. Or it'd get unfavorable ratings but people who owned them (and mechanics) absolutely loved them. It was all so confusing. It would literally keep me awake at night, fretting over this important decision, or if it wasn't keeping me awake, it was invading my dreams. It was stressing me out so much it was literally making me feel sick to my stomach.

After a month of test-driving various vans we finally found one we felt good about buying. We are now the proud owners of a silver 2006 Kia Sedona LX. While it didn't get stellar reviews in all areas, we found that it was good in the major areas and was rated the safest minivan around - yes, safer than Toyota Siennas and Honda Odysseys, which are the big names in minivans. I figured I could handle it if a window motor stopped working, or if a speaker went out, etc. Those things I could work around. I can't work around safety, and I feel good that my family will be ferried around in the safest van on the market. Radios and door handles are replaceable, my family is not. We are also excited because our van only has 57k miles on it, which is MUCH lower than other vans we were looking at in our price range, most of which had close to (in some cases more than) 100k miles on them. I LOVE all the space in the van. We installed the infant car seat today and it's amazing how much room everyone still has. Mister has plenty of room in the 3rd row and the infant carrier fits great without having to move the front passenger seat so far forward that it's uncomfortable (like in our Subie) to sit in for long stretches. Everyone has their own climate zones (driver/passenger/rear) which makes us all happy, and it's pretty zippy to drive. So while our cool factor has definitely taken a hit by becoming minivan owners/drivers, we're really happy with our purchase.

Our last hurdle is to sell the Subaru. We lost the title so we had to order another one, which should be here within the next week or so, if the DMV is to be believed. Once we get the car detailed and get the title we're putting it up for sale and someone sure will get a great car. We LOVE that car and haven't had a single problem with it. If you're interested in buying it, it's a 2005 Subaru Outback 2.5 XT Limited with 52k miles on it. It runs like new and has all sorts of bells and whistles on it.

Now if only this baby would come out....... the white-hot, searing rib pain is getting old. And the new development of heartburn so bad that it makes me puke a little is not a welcome one. Two weeks and counting every second.....