Soon.
Preferably before last week when the current vehicle snapped a belt and cost us $400 when it’s barely worth that in trade-in.
Sigh. Hindsight and all that.
Our discussion is an age-old one, with a bit of a twist: the slightly cooler SUV with fair to crappy gas mileage or the practical mini-van with the total giving up of any pretense that we’re a cool young couple.
The twist? Scott is the one who is clamoring for the mini-van.
I know! What dude is all “this is half the reason I got married and had a kid, I want the mini-van.” Say whah?
Look, I was never a member of the cool club. I was marginally acceptable in school, not so dorky as to have the radar gun of bullies at me; but not cool enough to bully anyone myself. I just imagine after I get the keys to a mini-van, there will be a line of cool moms with their colored hair and manicured nails ready to throw tomatoes at me.
That’s what happens when bullies grow up, right? This is my understanding.
There are no practical reasons Scott wants a mini-van, I would just like to point this out. Since he’s given up his truck, he is clamoring for a place to put his tools. Apparently a 1997 Saturn doesn’t provide enough space for the amount of tools formerly held in a Chevy S-10? Who knew?
And let’s just be honest: this is going to be like the dog. “Oh we can totally handle a baby and a dog, I’ll walk the dog twice a day, it’ll be fine.”
Yup, til you get a job and don’t want to walk the dog at 6 a.m. I’ve got approximately 4 pairs of eaten shoes and a destroyed comforter that shows you how well THAT argument worked out. Let's not even discuss the nightstand drawer. THE DRAWER, PEOPLE!
It’ll be the same with the van. I’ll be driving the damn thing around with his tools and a bunch of baby crap, and really, is it big enough to hold all my tears, people? IS IT???
The man has done his research, though. And he wanted to show me the coolest car he’d found. The Honda Odyssey. Honda…freaking…Odyssey.
He tries to point out the cup holders, the fancy seats, the this and the that. I’m searching for the in-seat Kleenex dispenser and mentally revising the lyrics to the Britney song all “I’m not a giiiirl, not yet a crone.”
I mean…come on! Who are you trying to kid? He’s talking to me the way I talk to Wee ‘Burb to try to convince her that the broccoli is just as delicious as the steak I am eating. Only, contrary to popular belief, I wasn’t born yesterday!
The only thing I am afraid of with the SUV option is the perception of invincibility you get when you get behind the wheel of those bad boys. I saw the best example of 4-wheel-drive hubris the other day. A tow truck driver and a cop had stopped traffic while they towed a car out on the ditch. The tow truck had to park on the right side to get the car out of the left side ditch, for some reason I assume has to do with gravity or leverage or something. I didn’t question it, just put the car into park and turned up the Christmas music.
But the 4WD vehicle in front of me was in NO MOOD to wait. So he attempted to drive around the tow truck. And ended up in the ditch himself! I am not going to pretend I didn’t totally crack up and thank the entire principle of karma.
And thought to myself: don’t think there’s such a thing as mini-van hubris.
So weigh in, party people. Mini-van or SUV?
7 comments:
SUV my friend!!!! I'm surprised to hear that your hubs wants to go down the mini-van road! While both the hubs and I know that a mini-van would be the "correct" choice for us to make, we opted for the big ass Expedition! It's a kick ass vehicle, we love it... but I swear we cuss ourselves every time we put gas in it! And oh, I told you we're identical... we too have a '97 Saturn that is just gimping along on it's last leg! lol
I'd go with the SUV, too. I've given up the sporty cars of my youth, but I refuse to be caught driving a minivan. To me an SUV is the best possible compromise. Just shop around and find the best possible gas mileage. They're not all as bad as you might think!
You live in the snow belt, you need the SUV. I had a minivan and apparently I am completely uncool now because I don't drive one but that is another story. There are also SUV hybrids. That would definitely make you the coolest mom on the block. As far as bad driving is concerned, bad drivers are bad drivers and are going to do stupid things whether in an SUV or sedan.
A. If your man is all over the Honda Odyssey, then that means their ridiculous ad campaign must be working.
B. If you're the one who ends up driving the darned thing around, his decision is void.
C. I drive a Honda CRV and just love it. If that's in the running, I would highly recommend it. Most importantly, it gets good traction with all of the ridiculous snow we've been having.
Tough one. I bet you could make a minivan cool, no? :)
I have a commitment to self to never go with the mini-van.
mini van, mini van, mini van!
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