Our New Van

Well, we bought a new van.

We scouted the internet for a bit over the weekend and then took LuLu and one of YaYa's friends with us to a few dealerships on Monday. Other then a nice Caravan with a DVD system, we didn't see much that screamed 'buy me'.

But that night, while trying to find the DVD van on the dealer's site, I came across a vehicle that caught my eye. Tuesday after work I decided to go look at it and dragged YaYa along - Lisa bowed out of the process, citing her purchase of the lemon Voyager (a foolish thought, as she did all the right research and just hit some bad luck).

YaYa and I test drove the car, looked at all the features, debated price with the salesman for awhile, then took the plunge and bought it. The decision was simple, the actual purchase was not. We were at the dealership from just  5 p.m. until just shy of close at 9 a.m.

[note: aside from an initial bout of brattiness right at the outset, YaYa sat patiently for hours, coloring, reading and playing on my phone. She also walked right into the side mirror of a Mustang, cutting her lip open (!). All in all she rocked and I was proud of her.]

In the end we - or rather I, as Lisa's (superior) credit was not run - got the loan and we were good to go. With the downpament payments are only $15 more a month than we paid on Lisa's Ford Aspire back in '95.

Of course, we haven't had a car payment at all in years and years, so the whole thing is frightening and very adult-ish.

It's a white 2005 Ford Freestar. Please spare me any formulaic anti-Ford propaganda. During our time together Lisa and I have owned a 1994 Aspire (still running) a 1995 Aspire (totaled by a drunk driver, which paid for a lot of our wedding), a 1994 Ford Escort wagon we sold to my Dad when Smiley was born, and a 1998 Ford Windstar (totaled by a woman who sped through an intersection and sideswiped Lis and LuLu). All ran fine and were dependable and durable as you can hope for, especially Vi, our '94 Aspire.

The Plymouth however . . well, p**s on it.  

So I was gleeful to be back in a Ford. It reminds me a lot of our Windstar, with some upgrades. It has stow and go seating, dual sliding doors, a second row bench which gives us a crucial extra seat in the middle, remote keyless entry, a CD player (no small thing, as the Voyager's radio was on the fritz), and more.

What do I like best? Aside from the stow and go, the bench, and the 36,000 miles on the odometer,  I dig the little mirror located above the rearview mirror. It's sole purpose is to allow the driver to see the kids in the back row, which downright ROCKS.

Here's some pics right off the website.

Here's that second row bench:

Here's the stow and go before:

and after:

Some of the dealer perks: a $520 gas card, a year of roadside assistance, a 3 month/3000 mile comprehensive warranty, and free car washes for the life of the vehicle, which can come in handy with a white car.

I like it, and I hope/pray/wish it works out well for Lisa for many years to come.