Seeking MiniVice (Minivan Advice)

[judecorp]

I am getting a new computer for the first time in many many years. It will be shipping soon. So exciting! I got an iPod Touch for Christmas and haven't been able to put any music on it because my old iBook can't run a new enough version of iTunes to sync up. Whoops. So it was time.

Financially, it was more prudent to leave the world of Mac for a while, although I am super sad to do it. I feel like I am cheating, ha. But this way I can get a bunch of software from Jen and can have Photoshop again, hooray!

I got one of those Dell Inspiron thingies that you can get in different colors, because I got in my head that I needed a smurfy blue computer. Of course. Of course.

My tax return - which was pretty significant thanks to Senor Cupcakey - is completely and totally gone now. Man, that was quick. Paid off both credit cards, got our heating system in the house fixed (it didn't have cold air returns, stupid prior owners), and now a new computer. Ch-ching!

Jen's should be coming soon, and is earmarked for getting the crack in the living room ceiling fixed, putting some away for the summer when I'm not working, a couple of flight vouchers to go to SC in the summer, and potentially paying off the rest of my car loan to get a jump start on replacing Jen's car. I was rallying for a Mazda5 but Jen thinks if we're going to "go minivan," we should go big or go home. So we might be getting a regular minivan and be a minivan family. EEEEEEEK.

Tell me your minivan stories and advice, please.

Being a grown-up is way less glamorous than I thought it would be. Whodathunk that spending all of that money could be so PRACTICAL and BORING?

p.s. Name my new computer

Comments

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

It's much more like a wagon than an SUV - it's either a small minivan (some people call it a "microvan") or a wagon with a larger rear than normal, depending on how you look at it.

[bloomchen.livejournal.com]

I call it a "tall station wagon". It replaced my old 196 Honda Odyssey, which was the smaller one with regular (not sliding) doors which I managed to fit a small pew into once. With the rear seat folded it has a LOT of cargo space - very deceiving. Our sister-in-law had the "new" Odyssey and I helped drive it once and it was like going from driving a car to a bus and the mileage wasn't great.

[bloomchen.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Dan has a Matrix so we are in that "lots of cargo" camp as well. Mazda usually has 0.0-0.9% interest on new, but buying used can be cheaper. We got Dan's Matrix at a year old from a dealer in Wellesley. Apparently the dealers around there have a lot of Japanese businessmen who are here on short-term work buy cars from them and then sell them back a year later, sort of like an outright-purchase-lease. So they have relatively low mileage and are in great condition when they're returned.

And I was leaning toward the Honda CR-V when I was drawn in by the siren song of the Mazda5 (which wasn't even on my list - Dan made me look at it and my first comment was, "It has sliding doors! I don't want a car with sliding doors!" I have since grown to like them). There were very few people with Mazda5s a few years ago so I could easily find my car in a parking lot, but suddenly a lot more people have them...