Seeking MiniVice (Minivan Advice)
Feb. 22nd, 2011 08:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
judecorpI 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
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
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-23 12:14 pm (UTC)"we bought our minivan in september and love it. it is a 2010 kia sedona and i couldn't be happier. we got good rebates because it was not the new model. i love the fold-in-the-floor last row seats like in the odyssey, but we could never afford the honda. it has automatic doors a back up camera too!
our salesman was great. i let him know that we were going to check out another dealership too, because they had a better rebate and would match any offer somewhere else, although i really didn't want to buy at the other one. he did what he could, gave us a good offer, and we left. he called the next day and offered us more for our trade in. i told him that was great news and we were still going to look at the other place. at that point, i just said "look, this is a big purchase for us, and we don't have a lot of money to begin with. i have to go where we get the best offer. i'm sure you understand." he called again a little while later and asked if we would finance through them if they could beat the credit union rate. i said yes, and i told them we would be down within an hour to get it and do the paperwork.
he camera displays on the rear-view mirror when it's in reverse. and it beeps if you get close to something.
a lot of people think kias are bad but they have come a long way. i love the safety features... if you go look at one, have them talk to you about the engine... if you get hit head on, it's designed to drop down before it can get pushed back, so that it doesn't crush the driver and front-seat passenger.
i love everything about it, including the stupid little things, like the hood stays up without one of those prop bars. it just stays up by itself until you close it.
check out the kia website. they are definitely worth looking at, especially if you plan on keeping it for a long time. a honda or toyota could resale nicely, but we plan to keep the kia for the life of it so that didn't matter to us. there were nice service incentives at our dealership, too."