New Ride

I almost forgot to blog about our new family car! Remember back on Valentine's Day weekend when our four-door Hyundai was totaled? After much waiting on AAA and paperwork to be processed, we finally received a check for the value of our vehicle. To my surprise, the check we received was more than I expected to get for our little car. With the check from our insurance and some extra money we have saved up and received from the government (tax refund) we were able to put a down on a nice family car for us to enjoy.

We have been talking about getting a family car since I was pregnant with Brendan, but the timing was never right, or we just did not have the money. God took care of us and was able to take our bad situation of our car accident, and provide a bigger car for us! Of course now we are back to having a car payment for the next 5 years or so, but we really got a great deal, less than what Kelly Blue Book lists as Suggested Retail Value.

I am so excited for our new car, after months (possibly years) of asking for a minivan (nagging)for the family, Scott took me to the Honda dealership without a fight. Quite a few hours later, we walked out with a 2007 Honda Odyssey EX. I love the features of the car.

When we went to go purchase a new car I only had 3 request for the car (I’m flexible right?) I told Scott it didn’t have to be a minivan, but there were 3 items I was not willing to compromise on: 1. I wanted sliding side doors that would not close on me as I leaned over a car seat (basically a minivan). 2. I wanted enough trunk space to carry a stroller while all seats were up. 3. I wanted at least 6 seats so that I could go somewhere with my sister or friend and we could take one car that would hold us and our children. Basically, the only car that will meet my criteria would be a minivan. We drove the Mazda5 as a rental for a while, it was like a mini-minivan, but you got either storage or extra seating, I want both at the same time.

So we looked at a couple models, but we really liked the Honda Odyssey and were afraid that if we left to go to other dealerships we would miss out on the excellent price on the 2007 model we found. So we bought it!
If we were to have bought a brand new van, we probably would have bought the standard model, because that is more in our price range. But because it was used, we were able to get the Odyssey EX which comes with extra features that we typically would not have paid for. Like automatic sliding doors that open with a push of a button. Or the nice Baby mirror (“conversation mirror” as Honda calls it) where I can watch Brendan in his Car Seat, a 6-disk CD changer, and other little perks. We are very happy with our purchase. Even Scott has admitted that the sliding doors are nice, the storage in the back is great and the bigger vehicle (8 seats!) really is more practical for our growing family. (Although he probably won’t admit it to you, especially in so many words, he will tell you that he just got the car for me, but I know he love it too!)