For the past five years and 60,000 miles, our trusty little Sedona has carried our family anywhere we've wanted to go! Out to Orcas Island, Down to Disneyland, Over to the Tri-Cities, it's done it all... And all without any complaints at all. Quite a workhorse, this little Kia.
But while IT hasn't made any complaints, I've had a couple... When we first bought it, I knew that if we had any complaints, they would deal with the length of the van. The Grand Caravan we had previously was a good 18" longer than this one, and that space is sorely missed, especially as the kids get bigger!
These days, not only have the kids gotten bigger, but their legs have gotten longer, and the size of their stuff has grown as well. We need our rooftop carrier just to take a simple overnight trip! Although we really like not having a car payment, there's definitely a desire for more vehicular space.
And then, two weeks ago, Cindy asked me if I'd noticed the car parked across the street with a for sale sign in the window. Switching to this car would kinda be like last summer when we traded in our truck for our sexy Sebring. The "other" car has leather interior, all kinds of options, nice custom chrome wheels, and is all around luxurious. It also seats one more passenger, which will really be helpful in another week when Chelsey comes to live with us. Upon researching info on this car, I discovered that although it has a bigger, more powerful engine than the van, it gets considerably better mileage! And finally, the average private party sale price for our van is in the same neighborhood as the asking price on the other car.
Sounds pretty cool, huh? Just wait 'til you see it!
Yep, it's a station wagon - a 1995 Buick Roadmaster, to be precise! Now, I know that they have long carried a stigma of "not cool", but if you look at current trends, wagons are coming back in a big way, baby! One of my favorite cars on the roads right now is the Dodge Magnum, which is 100% Muscle-Wagon. All of these new "crossover" SUVs look more like station wagons than suburbans... Heck, even the suburban itself is like a truck version of a station wagon!
Furthermore, I've always loved station wagons. In high school I had a 1966 Chevy Bel-Air Wagon that was my favorite car! It seated 9 semi-comfortably, and was the ultimate car to drive my friends around in. We went to drive in movies where we paid by the carful, we went on weekend getaways, it was all good times. Then one night I got rear ended by a drunk driver in a 1967 Chevy Pickup.
Although that pretty much ended the Bel-Air's life, I managed to drive away from the accident that totalled the truck that hit me... And I definitely love a car that can take that kind of impact and still drive away under its own power.
Even more shocking to me was that Cindy likes the Roadmaster too! In fact, if you were paying attention earlier, SHE was the one who brought to my attention that it was available!
Two nights ago, we got a chance to drive it... Oh man I forgot how much I love driving a full size, rear wheel drive Big Ol' American Car! And how much I love the sound of a deep, throaty V8 engine growling under the hood...
Oh, that engine? Same one they put in the 1995 Corvette. Yeah. It's got some spunk! And yet still gets better mileage than the v6 in our van.
So now our decision making process is sorting out things like the fact that our van still has another 5 years or 40,000 miles of warranty coverage, while the Roadmaster has 91,000 miles (VERY low - 7,000 per year) and no warranty. According to numerous reports, that car will go several hundred thousand miles if you just give it routine maintenance... Still, the security blanket of a warranty is nice to have. Also, Cindy felt like in order to reach the pedals, she had to have the seat uncomfortably close to the steering wheel. She would be the daily driver, so I'm giving that a lot of consideration.
There we go... Some good points, some bad points, kinda works out to a wash. The prevailing plus is the additional seating, which is kind of a big deal.
Maybe this weekend we'll load up all the kids in it for a trial run... and then maybe we'll make an actual decision on the subject...
Susan weighs in.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I can't help but remember was our (as in you me and the rest of our family including mom and dad, not me Don and our kids) old station wagon did indeed have lots of seating. The problem was that some of that seating included one big seat in the very back that faced BACKWORDS! Now when we first saw that car we were so excited by the novelty of a rear facing back seat. Yeah for all of maybe a week! For some reason mom and dad decided that we older girls were the lucky new owners of that notorious back seat. We HATED IT! Just try climbing into that stupid seat to go to church with a dress on. And even when it wasn't church, you still had to climb up, way UP through the back hatch into that seat. Now maybe I have judged this station wagon of yours wrongly and perhaps it doesn't have that awful back seat, but if it does, beware. It grows old real quick.
Also I would question getting rid of a car that still has a warranty intact for a 13 year old car with almost 100 thou miles on it that doesn't. But then you do have the dillema of needing an extra seat. Oh, oh, oh, where is Soloman when you need him?
Really??? the station wagon has that much seating?? I had no idea...seeing that I have no station wagon experience. But it sounds like it might be the perfect car for your clan! Good luck making your decision!
ReplyDeleteWell, I remember your old station wagon. Not only was it great for stereo security (Who would ever think to break into it to steal a worthwhile stereo) but it had
ReplyDeleteP O W E R ! ! !
I would have never thought that wagons would make another spash...but they are.