2013: A Spacious Odyssey

We now live in a world where I own a minivan.  On Friday night Emily and I became the proud owners of a 2013 Honda Odyssey.  We'd been talking about getting a new car for a while and had been intentionally avoiding looking into minivans.  But the more research we did and people we talked to, the more it became apparent that a minivan was really the best choice for us.  Last weekend we test drove the Odyssey and were really surprised by how much we liked it.  It didn't look or drive or feel like the clunky old minivans from when we were kids.  After checking out a few other similar cars from other manufacturers, we decided we liked the Odyssey the best by far.  We requested quotes from all the dealers in the area, and on Friday when we received a great quote from the place we'd been working with in the city we decided to go for it.

More after the jump...

It was tough to say goodbye to the Civic...  Since I bought that car in 2001 I've moved 7 times (including halfway across the country), had 3 different jobs, bought a house, got married, and had children.  It was a great car for a single guy or a newly married couple, and we would have driven it into the ground if it were just the two of us.  But it was already starting to feel crowded with Simon's car seat in the back, and would have been *really* cramped once we add a second car seat for his little sister.  So it was time to trade it in for something with more room.

The new car seats up to 8, which will be great when we want to drive other people around along with the family.  And 3 of those seats fold down into the floor of the car and 3 others are removable, so we have a lot of cargo space when we need it for trips to Costco or Home Depot.  Plus it has some neat features (heated seats! Bluetooth! rearview camera!) that make it fun to drive.  So far we're really happy with it, and Simon loves his new higher vantage point for looking out the window.  Despite how much bigger than the Civic it is, the size hasn't been a problem.  Emily was even able to parallel park it in a small space on her first try.

The crowded (and messy) backseat of the old Civic

The Civic departs for the great garage in the sky

Oh, dat!  Simon sees the new car for the first time

Me in there?

There's so much room for activities!

This Costco trip would have filled the trunk and most of the backseat of the Civic