Toyota Family

We are now officially a Toyota family! (both of our cars are Toyotas now)
We have been looking for a new minivan for our family for about the past year. Up to this point we have been driving a 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan and it has been a great car for us, but our family has outgrown it. It only seats 7 and our family currently has 8 people in it. We have been able to make do with it up until now but I really felt strongly that we needed to upgrade to one that fits our family before our scheduled family trip to Washington.

So one reason I was a little more scatterbrained then usual during the kids' last week of school is because I was busy car shopping. I drove to several car dealers with MJ and decided that the 8-passenger Toyota Sienna (a.k.a. the Swagger Wagon) was probably the best fit for our family. On Monday, June 6th I test drove a couple of them and found a 2008 model that I really liked. (Apparently the 8-passenger Siennas are a pretty hot item in Utah because one dealer I went to that day had sold two of them that morning.) DH agreed to accompany me to the dealer that evening and in the end we spent way too much time there because we decided to buy it! There were a few things that they needed to fix on it (such as replace the front windshield) so we decided to leave it there until everything was finished and ready for us to take home.

My dad gave me a ride to pick up the new minivan on Thursday. Unfortunately there were a few things that I noticed before I left the dealer that weren't taken care of - like they couldn't find the mats for the car anywhere so they had to order a new set for us. We were also only given one key so I went over to the service department and had a second key made - it's definitely better to have an extra one and not need it than to need one and not have it!

I think it's a very pretty car. They called the color "sand" - it's kind of a very light gold color. Thankfully it came with an overhead DVD player and crossbars for the roof rack so it pretty much came trip ready for our upcoming trip. DH asked me when we were looking at it if our old van has any features that the new van doesn't have. I told him that no I didn't think so, but after driving it around for a while here are some things that I have found: no separate climate control for the passenger, no remote for the DVD player, the rear climate controls are located on one side of the van so you need to have a passenger sit there who is tall enough to reach the controls, no lockable storage drawer under the passenger seat. Here are some features that I love: stow-and-go back row of seats, super deep trunk, not as big of a step-up to get into the van, power sliding door is much quieter and smoother than our Dodge, seats 8 and is fairly comfortable in the back seats - even with car seats (I rode in the back for a good chunk of our trip to & from Washington and there was plenty of room for me), we can fit a car seat and two booster seats all on one row, the front row seats can all slide forward and backward individually. We are still trying to figure out how everything works and where to best sit everyone - especially the car seats - and still allow the side seats to fold down so the kids can climb into the back row. It's also kind of difficult to buckle the seat belts for the booster seats when they are next to a car seat. (One of these days I won't have to worry about these things anymore...)