Out With the Old and In With the New!

That's right! I traded in the old swagger wagon for a new one. I've now had my Toyota Sienna for 3 months and am happy to say I still love it!

It was quite the experience for me. We'd been saving money for some time because our Dodge Grand Caravan was starting to act...suspicious and we weren't sure how long we had until we needed to dump money into it. I was ready for something new anyway, so the search began. I actually studied and read critic reviews and consumer reviews on multiple vans. I was always drawn toward the newest style of the Sienna but I wanted to make sure I'd like it all and not just the look. I test drove different vans. Being a teeny tiny person that I am, finding a driver's seat that feels real good for me isn't always easy. Sometimes the lumbar support on the seat is in the middle of my back...not too comfy. As soon as I sat in the seat of a Sienna it felt right.

I wanted something that'd be easy for my kids to get in and out and easy for me to get them out (yes I still have two in car seats that can't always get out or in themselves. Difficult buckles ya know?) I knew I wanted to upgrade from what I already had...the basic of basics in a van. I wanted automatic doors for sure. That's standard on most vans now, but still! It was a definite upgrade from my Grand Caravan. After I knew FOR SURE what I wanted, I decided to be a little more picky...since I could. There was no rush! I wanted a nice gray one! We had a price set for what we wanted to pay. Jaime or I would find a nice gray van and we made offers on two different ones in the Fall. Each time they wouldn't come down to what we wanted so we passed. Jaime kept telling me to be patient. I kept looking at vans on Cars.com and Auto Trader. (Shocking I know!) I tell you, I really wanted to know what I was going to be getting.

I test drove one van, a very nice gray and I did like it. The seat wasn't as good as the Sienna but it had a lot of great features. They came up with the numbers for us and we said we weren't quite ready to settle on it yet. So he got his manager who tried to figure out why we weren't driving away with this van since the numbers worked for us. (They obviously didn't listen to us when we said from the get go that we weren't buying that day.) They were going to give us great trade in for our Grand Caravan but I wasn't excited for it and I still wanted to drive another one. They knew if we left we probably wouldn't be coming back...we didn't. That was the only pushy experience we had during the van search.

At the beginning of March Jaime came across a gray Limited Sienna in Seattle. He showed it to me. I was excited about it however, I wasn't keen on the price. He said it wouldn't hurt to make an offer. They didn't like our offer but went down as far as they said they could. So Jaime responded back saying we'd pass on it. Not long after the salesman wrote back saying they'd make it work. And they really did! No extra hidden costs when we went to pick it up. They treated us great and couldn't believe we came all the way to Seattle to buy it from them. The Sienna was so beautiful when the salesman took me out to see it! It had waaayyy more features in it than I had asked for. I didn't complain though. ;) The signing of papers actually was quick. We transferred car seats over and we took the van home. (The fastest, shortest trip to Seattle we've ever made.) They even filled it up with gas for us since we had so far to drive. (I've never been able to get a new car with a full tank of gas. Somehow my dad always gets that, but not me. So this was a pleasant surprise for me!)

I'm happy to say that I actually searched and hunted for my van. It's usually Jaime's fun thing to do but I really got in to this and enjoyed it. I love my van! The ONLY thing I miss about my Grand Caravan (I know the mind reels that I could miss something about it) is the Stow-n-Go storage under the seats. My back seats fold flat in to the floor like the Grand Caravan but there's no storage under the middle bucket seats. But that's because the seats slide up and back and have "lounge seating" where the seats recline and the foot rest comes up like a lay-z-boy. :) Lindsey's the only one who can enjoy the lounge seating  while watching a movie but Olivia's not far behind and she won't need a booster. Besides, there's still a lot of cargo space so I don't complain. She's a wonderful, beautiful van. Yes it's a she. Only a she could have that many curves and still look good. ;)

And to Jaime...well it's a van. He's never wanted one and now we've had two. Hahaha- sinister laugh. But it's so much easier for me with all the kids. And a big reason that I got Jaime on board with getting another van and not an SUV is that I don't have to worry about one of the kids opening the door and hitting the car next to us. He actually agreed with me on that point.

Happy Drives!

Oh, and a fun little bit of information on this baby. It's previous owner was former Seattle Seahawks head coach, current UCLA Bruins head football coach, Jim Mora! They didn't have it long. We got it shortly after they moved to CA. Even their contacts were still listed on the phone list of the van and their insurance card was in the manual in the glove box. So would you say we have a famous van? Ok maybe not. But she's mine!