I did not go well into the land of the minivan. I have completely enjoyed my Honda Odyssey for the past seven years, but lately I have been eyeing a 2006 Dodge Charger. Big engine, sexy lines, but it is still a four door sedan. Would it be stupid for a stay at home mom of seven and six year old children to down size right now? My husband just bought a Susuki Grand Vitara, so we can tow the camper. It could seat five comfy enough, but what if both kids have a friend with them? Right now, the kids get along so well that we haven't had to haul many additional children around. Do you think I could have a few years before needing another minivan, or should I just keep the one I have?

I am debating a car next time too. My problem is that I have 3 kids. I had planned on buying another van, but miss my car so much. I worry about the friend thing also. I think it would be o.k. for you to buy a car. One way to look at it is, if your husband is going he can drive if there is more than one friend, or if he isn't you should have room.

I have 3 boys 10, 5, 4, but I bought my stow and go town & country to haul cakes around

The trunk in this thing is huge, so I don't think I would have a problem hauling cakes. I can just imagine me pulling up to a wedding reception with my V8 Hemi roaring in the church parking lot... Of course, I can always borrow DH's when I need to.

I recently went from a car to a Suburban, we needed something to haul a camper and my husband's truck is a single cab.

My husband won't even look at mini vans, he HATES them. The list of reasons why he doesn't like them is huge but it boils down to them being hard to work on (he's a GM mechanic) and he doesn't like driving them. Of course he doesn't really like driving cars either unless it's his Camaro, he says cars are too low to the ground.

We have 2 kids also and we survived fine with a car so if that's what you like than go for that, you can always tell them no if you don't have room. If you want something with more room look at an SUV, you might like them better than a van.

I am also in the same boat, I do not want a MINI Van, and while I only have one son of my own, I am going to start watching my cousins 10 week old baby along with the 5 year old niece I watch now and we have a blazer and let me tell you 3 car/booster seats in the back seat of a blazer is a TIGHT fit.....I REALLY Want a Tahoe with that 3rd row seat (or my second choice is a Honda Pilot)

The last time we bought a car, I was thinking minivan, but DH talked me into a sedan. I hate it, because I don't have any extra room! I can only fit 3 kids in the back, and even though I only have 2, we can only ever take one friend somewhere. Our next purchase will be a minivan. I figure when the kids get old enough to drive, they can have the minivan and I'll get a hot car.

If you're having a mid life crisis, I don't know what my crisis is! I just turned 33 and got rid of my mini-van. (I got it when I was 28! ) Mini vans are great for extra space, but I guess I let my vanity get the best of me and got a Ford Escape (smaller SUV) My gas mileage is better now, but there isn't as much room when my 3 kids are in the back. Luckily, my oldest son usually sits up front with me so there's plenty of room for the other two. I say, get what makes you happy...life's too short!

I keep wondering if I should write out a pro and con list, but then I think, "Here is my window of opporutnity...I know I will go back to a van or SUV in the future, (when the kids are older with more friends and larger in size), so why not now?"

My husband traded in his Honda Civic SI, tiny car, for a Susuki Grand Vitara yesterday. If I thought I could fit six people in either car, this would be a done deal, but neither have a bench seat in the front. I am a big fan of the seatbelt laws, but man, I remember having kids all over the seats, in each others laps, on the floor board, and laid out across the back of my mom's station wagon.

Here's a picture of it. It even has satelite radio and a built in dvd player with screen in the back seat with remote.

hahaha bethroze sounds like you are smitten....I could never go back to a car (I like the sit up taller part)...but it is a good looking car! My cousin just bought one for a great deal thanks to a hail storm......from a distance the car looks fantastic, up close you can see what he calls "performance dimples"

What I wouldn't give to be a hot momma driving a hemi! For now I have to stick with the caravan!

i want a charger too!!! but definitly won't be getting one for a long time. i think they look awesome and the power has to be great. i won't test drive it because then i ll have to buy it because i ll be in love with it. and i can't afford it.

i want my in black with tinted windows and with a pin stripe down the side. and with the hemi and spoiler. so basically i want it pimped out, which is about 40 grand.... and i definitly don't have close to that but i can dream.

I have a Tahoe and I would have to bury my DH if I even mentioned getting a mini-van. He absolutely hates them & calls them "soccer moms".

I also told him if I ever said I wanted a cadillac to have me committed. To me that is the ultimate old lady, maw maw car - YUK!!!!!!

Give me speed and power any day

and how did we all grow up before the advent of the mini-van???

we made it.
our moms made it.

and no--our moms didn't offer taxi service to half the neighborhood.

the cars were big enough for 6 (3 front 3 back) normally ---w/ a squish could get up to 7 (4 back) or even 8 (shhh...someone riding on lap no seat belt! which of course would be illegal today)

amazingly we survived.

CHARGE(er) on!!!

Ok guys I REALLY need a bigger car !! I drive a toyota seca hatchback with a babyseat in the back & I usually have 3 of my 4 boys in it too - on the few occasions we are all in it I have 3 squished boys in the back with sis in her seat & older son ( 6ft 3in!! ) in front !!
Friends have to sit in the boot !! ( joking )

I want a big, big 4wd.....

While waiting for the key to test drive it one more time, SOMEONE BOUGHT IT!!!!
Now I'm on the hunt... How does orange sound?

Okay, so I look more like a mom with a need for speed! I got a 2006 Dodge Magnum RT with all the bells and whistles. The one down fall is that it was a program car and has 30000 miles on it. Hopefully these are highway miles, to and from an airport. It's not a Charger, but my Greyhound can lay down in the back. I'm happy, but I need to have glass packs added to the muffler sometime.

So , you got the orange one in the photo ? Nice !!!!! I would love a car that says " one hot sexy mama inside " !! but They don't make them big enough

Nope, no the orange one. It is a white station wagon style sedan that looks like a gangster car fromt the 1920's. I love the engine, just wish gas prices would stop going up!

I know what you mean about petrol prices - that's the only thing I like about my small car - great economy !!

Maybe you could paint it orange ??!!

I've had a mini-van for the last 4 years and I love it. I really don't care what people think of what my car choice is. I care about the space for my kids. I sometimes wish I'd have gotten the extended van though because the trunk space isn't always enough.

I think that my next van purchase will be one of those where the seats go into the floor or you can use that space when the seats are up for extra storage. Those are so cool.

I also use my van to haul to the farmers market. We just take out the back seat and all our bins of bread, etc fit in there, along with the canope and folded tables. I usually end up using the car for cakes though. The trunk is big enough to fit a 4 tier cake in separate boxes.

I´m not a mini van person, I have a Ford Edge (DH got it for my birthday, I´ve had it for like a week now) I love love love it, before I had an Expedition and before that an Explorer, love SUV´s, can you tell? Back to the charger... My BF has one and I LOVE her car and she loves it as well!!!! She has 1 child though, so it is perfect for her, her son and friends, her DH owns one too, I guess they love that car! It is a fancy ride I must say!!!! Go for it girl!

I went from a Mercuri Capri convertible to a giant ole clunky minivan. It has certainly seen its better days, but I'm going to drive that bad boy until it's dead on the side of the highway and can't be used for anything other than a wildlife habitat in the back of someone's yard. It was hard adjusting to the minivan, but when I compare hauling my kids to their grandparents house (6.5 hrs) with beach gear in my "fun" car (VW beetle) and then hauling them in my clunky butted minivan, the minivan wins EVERY time.

I refuse to get a minivan. I'm not the minivan type. Right now I have a Ford F-150 crew cab truck. It seats 6. We got it because our grand am we had wouldn't fit 3 car seats in it. My oldest who is almost 8 is about ready to get out of her booster seat, but in the mean time I can haul 6 around in my truck and have plenty of room. It has 4 doors. My DH loves it because he can tow his trailer with it. He has a small truck that won't pull it. It was either get the truck or get an SUV. He likes to mess with me and tell me he's trading it in for a minivan. I just keep telling him over my dead body! I will not get a minivan!!!

I'm going to sound awful when I say this, but I bought a 2007 Mitzubishi Eclipse. It is a stick and it only hold 4 people-no if ands or butts!! I wanted to get away from the mommy-mobile but at the same time when my husband gets deployed, my MIL can't ride with us to see him off!!!!!! Wrong? maybe--but at least my sanity is intact.

I HATE Mini Vans.....my husband LOVES Mini Vans.....I drive a 2006 Sebring Convertible ...husband drives a Town & County.

OK, I can make everyone here think a mini-van is NOT so bad after all, here's what I have to drive. BTW it's about 22 feet long and just over 9 feet tall, it doesn't fit into one parking space. I have to pull into a pull thru space and park in 2 parking spaces. It also didn't fit into most fast food drive thru windows, it's to tall.






But at least I have tons of room in the back.