Cars

So, now it is time for me to ask my seven readers their opinions on vehicles. I want a new car. I hope we don’t absolutely have to obtain one for another two years, but my old white Ford Explorer, Blanch, with 170,000 miles on her appears to break down, piece by piece on a daily basis. A week ago, I noticed that my seat belts don’t retract like they should, and 3 days ago I saw that when I put my gear in park, the engine dies. It always restarts, so as long as it still runs, I’ll keep her. Then yesterday I noticed the left side mirror shaking as if it will fall off soon.

Her gas mileage is horrible. Last time I measured it, we got nearly eleven miles per gallon. Yikes. Every so often, I hear a piece falling off. Again, as long as she still runs, we’ll keep her.

So, I’ve been looking at cars so that when the fateful day comes, I’ll be prepared. What I want, is a high-sightline, very gas efficient, vehicle that will fit six to eight people, comfortable head room, few blind spots, plus some cargo space, and amenities for the kids (cup holders, trash holder, dvd player for the back seat). Not all of the cars I have seen have the six to eight person occupancy, but my biggest desire is good gas mileage. So, here’s my list. If any of you, my three to seven listeners, have experience with any or all of these vehicles, I’d appreciate your opinion. Unlike the U.S. voting system, your opinion really does count with me. Here goes:

The Honda Pilot—lots of room, high sightline, pretty good gas mileage, seats eight. Comes in a color I could live with.

The Honda Odyssey—again, pretty good gas mileage, room for seven or eight plus some cargo, additional advantage of the seats folding into the floor for a flat surface when construction/other materials are necessary rather than children. Comes in the same color as the Pilot. It’s the Odyssey’s chassis that gives the foundation for the Pilot’s body. Also, it’s a minivan, where the Pilot is an SUV, if that gets/subtracts any points.

The Volkswagen Passat Station Wagon—great car, seats five I think, with cargo space, disadvantage for me is the low sightline. Beautiful little car, and great gas mileage.

The Volkswagen Phaeton—Meets none of the above qualifications, but is a gorgeous, gorgeous car. At $75,000, it is out of the running, but as a good friend of mine from Connecticut says, “a girl can dream, can’t she?”

The Toyota Sienna—Nice minivan. A Toyota, which from what I’ve heard, has a great maintenance/car repair record. I’ve seen Toyota’s as old as Volvo’s on our streets, and they still run without much extraneous noise, so I assume they are low-maintenance. Ok colors, seats seven. My friend gets seven people and a bunch of luggage in hers, but then she’s an expert packer.

Any Volvo—the station wagon, a sedan, the C-70 (mmm, yumm!) I’d love any of these. I have no idea what colors they come in, or what the gas mileage is, just would appreciate hearing about them.

Hybrids—I loved the hybrid cars I saw in Norway. They were kind of funny looking at first, but looked as though the gas mileage was great, plus looked as though they could handle any cargo I needed to carry, plus my kids and husband. The more I saw, the more adorable they looked.

There are others, of course. I drool over the Lexus SC convertible, the Porsches, the Range Rovers. Some other day, I think.

Feel free to suggest other cars.