It Happened...

We're now a minivan family.  I'll admit I used to be the one to mock minivans.  I thought they represented over-indulgence and were a cliché of America's suburban car culture.  And then I had kids and grew to accept how practical they are.  Within a year and a half, I went from driving a compact car, to a station wagon and now to a minivan. 

I loved my Corolla, but two car seats in the back turned a fiver-seater into a four-seater because there wasn't enough room left in the middle for anyone to sit.  Rear-facing seats pushed front seats dangerously close to the dashboard and a double stroller took up the entire trunk.  In some ways, our Subaru Outback wasn't much better.  The all-wheel drive drove better in winter conditions than the Corolla and the trunk was bigger, but the passenger seating, at least on our 2006 model, was no bigger than in the Corolla. 

The minivan has features I think only people who've driven with kids can appreciate.  I think the feature I'll love the most is the automatic sliding passengers doors.  The kids can hop in and wait in the safety of the car, instead of a parking lot or the side of the street, while they wait for me to buckle them in. 

What really drove us to a minivan, though, is the reality that our family is getting bigger.  Faced with expensive repairs to the Subaru, if we had to replace the car, we had to think about the needs of our family in the future.  If we have a third child a year from now, we probably would have ended up with a minivan at that point, so why delay the inevitable?



I was sad to say goodbye to Subaru.  This was the car we brought both of our kids home from the hospital in.