I'm such a car snob... who knew?

I was given a Dodge Grand Caravan as a rental while my poor pilot gets repaired. I have always hated vans, because to me they were the epitome of reaching "middle aged". I also just don't like the way they look. They aren't feminine in any way, they're honestly rather bulky and slow. They aren't manly looking at all. This is my first time driving a van and I am so unimpressed it's sad. The thing can't speed up to save it's life, it has a horrible turning radius, and the visibility sucks. This particular van I am renting has transmission issues and I mean major, it feels like someone has bumped into the rear end every time you attempt to start moving from a dead stop. It has 2800 miles on it. It feels cheap inside, cloth seats are awful when you're used to leather. It has no heated seats, which I have apparently become very accustomed to, and it took me 20 minutes and a phone call to figure out how to even tilt the steering wheel.

No more fussing. I hate the van. The strange part is the space it has inside is amazing! The kids call it the magic car because the doors open and close automatically. Cracked me up! They are in love with how much more room each of them has, not to mention we all fit with room to spare as a FAMILY in it. Big Kid has an entire back row to himself THAT HE FITS IN when hubby and I go somewhere together. In the pilot Big Kid has to literally climb into the back row, because we have two carseats in the second row preventing the one seat that folds down to do so. Once he's in the third row he is so smooshed if I ever had an accident he could lose use of his legs. Thankfully he doesn't have to ride back there very often!

I want a van. Not this one for sure, and thanks to this hoopty I will never buy a Dodge or Chrysler, but I'm seriously considering trading in my good ol pilot for an odyssey or something similar. I still can't stand how vans look, or handle, but the roominess inside is extremely tempting. I considered an SUV with the same set up inside, two rows of captain chairs and a back bench seat, but really what would that be - a full sized truck turned into an SUV. Tires would be stupidly expensive and I would get 10 miles to a gallon at best. I get 16mpg now, and I think that sucks. No humungasaur SUV for me, thank you. I'll have to do my best to like the inside of my future van, and I'm considering something light on the outside, maybe silver... I will still want all my "snob" amenities - heated leather seats, dvd player, A WORKING TRANSMISSION, and that tinted strip across the top of the windshield. I didn't even know cars came without that until this rental, and let me tell you it is very missed. Yep, total car snob :)