Reality wins agian

AngryCorvair wrote: i have two close friends with mazda5s and they love 'em.

Make that three. We love our 5. When I got new wheels for the Speed3 my wife scammed my old wheels for the 5 and it looks pretty sweet.

5s rule.

jg

jeep liberty

Update: I bought her a 99 Lexus Rx300 on monday. It's two tone beige and slightly darker beige (seems like most of them were this color combo), 186k miles, and in almost perfect shape. It's AWD and the only option it doesn't have is the nakashimi (or whatever) audio system. The drivers side window switch array is a little flaky, and the radio antenna is missing, but other than that it's freaking mint!

Pads and rotors, trans service, changing all the fluids, and fixing the above problems are hopefully the only things I'll have to do in the upcoming months. Anyone know if this is an interference motor? I've found conflicting information on a bunch of websites. I'll probably do the timing belt anyway, but it'd be nice to know how soon I should worry about it.

JG Pasterjak wrote:

AngryCorvair wrote: i have two close friends with mazda5s and they love 'em.

Make that three. We love our 5. When I got new wheels for the Speed3 my wife scammed my old wheels for the 5 and it looks pretty sweet. 5s rule. jg

pics of that?

Shoot when I was a kid I rode in the back of a Trans Am, the center seat of a Dodge truck, a GLH and in a Volvo. Almost died in the Volvo, had fallen asleep and was leaning against the door (I was like 6 at the time) and my Mom went around a corner and the freakin door swung open! My Mom caught me just before I fell out. They got rid of the Volvo shortly after that (it had been bought new like less then a year prior)

Yeah... I can't imagine how I survived the first 15 years of my life in my parents' smallish 2-door cars... ('71 Dodge Demon and a '78 Datsun F10).

That said... +1 for a minivan... minivans rock... SUV's are stupid... Once you experience a van, you wonder why SUV's exist...

+1 for almost falling out of a car (the Demon), although we still had the car for another 5 years... attributed to me not closing the door hard enough... I've worn a seat belt ever since...

skruffy wrote: Later that night she tells me she's "late".

Buy that ho a Timex!

As evidenced by my amazingly mature response, I don't have kids. If I did, I'd be rocking a Minivan or a Mazda5, though!

skruffy wrote: Update: I bought her a 99 Lexus Rx300 on monday. It's two tone beige and slightly darker beige (seems like most of them were this color combo), 186k miles, and in almost perfect shape. It's AWD and the only option it doesn't have is the nakashimi (or whatever) audio system. The drivers side window switch array is a little flaky, and the radio antenna is missing, but other than that it's freaking mint! Pads and rotors, trans service, changing all the fluids, and fixing the above problems are hopefully the only things I'll have to do in the upcoming months. Anyone know if this is an interference motor? I've found conflicting information on a bunch of websites. I'll probably do the timing belt anyway, but it'd be nice to know how soon I should worry about it.

Congrats on the pending delivery. I hate to say this now that you've bought the thing, but you bought the wrong car, dude. Having transported babies and kids in our 01 Highlander, it is much, much easier with a minivan. Luckily we didn't buy the 'lander it was given as a present and eventually it will go away for something more fun.

With the Highlander/RX clones you have essentially the same door limitations as you would on a sedan/wagon but now you have to step up into the car while crouching to latch them in place, the cargo area is tiny and to be honest they are typical Toyota driving appliance schlock. No feedback, overboosted steering and brakes (that fade much too easily) combine all of this with the height create a feeling of invincibility that can cause people to get in over their heads.

Luckily it is reliable and since ours is a FWD 4-cylinder, I can't comment on the reliability of the V6 or the AWD. I can say that ours has been very reliable and boring. I just wish it had a limited slip so that it would work better in the snow.

fiat22turbo wrote: Congrats on the pending delivery. I hate to say this now that you've bought the thing, but you bought the wrong car, dude.

Agreed... but I somehow get the impression the choice of car wan't really his...

FWIW, it's amazing how many women I know who absolutely detest minivans... it's a shame...

We're actually getting rid of my "work" voyager now that we have the RX. I like the van better too, but she REFUSES to drive a minivan, no matter how much sense it makes.

Yeah, the RX is an appliance. But it's a freaking nice appliance. It doesn't need to be sporty. She wouldn't know the difference even if it was fast and fun. She wanted comfy leather seats and a nice ride.

I feel your pain... in a small way... sort of how I ended up with my truck... and sold my van... a situation I plan to rectify as soon as possible. My situation is not the same as yours.

Yeah, I hear ya. I tried to sell the SO on a turbo Volvo. Same sort of resistance. Until a friend of hers bought a S70R and took her for a ride in it. Even then it was only if we would get the fast one, not a wagon. She hates wagons (yet she likes her Highlander, go figure) Sigh some people are so hung up on "looks" and what others think of them that they ignore the logical beauty underneath.

Try to hold onto the Villager until after the kid is born and show her the difference in putting the kid in the back seats. Yeah you may not be popular for that move, but honestly sometimes people need to be virtually smacked over the head before they realize that they were being silly. After all, Odyssey's and other vans do have comfy leather seats and they can ride much nicer than the SUV's.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for making sure the better half is happy with whatever they drive, etc. but if I'm going to drive it and make payments on it, I want some input.

When I decided to Replace my Wife's Corsica to transport us, my two step-sons, and the little one on the way I was pushing for a Mazda5 when they first came out. She detested (of all things) the tail lights and passed. Found the last blowouts of the 6 Wagon's, lots of power, good room, and great comfort. But Wagon specific parts can be pain since there's only a handful of them out them out there. But their demand is low so you can probably get a kicking deal on ones on the market.

That said my wife looked at the Mazda5's later and wished she had gotten one of them. Thats when I felt the urge to kick her square in the ass.

One odd thing about the 5's, unlss they changed it recently. They run on low profile 17's..... why on a family car?

I used to detest mini vans. Always thought they were the ugliest mode of transport possible. We are working on the second van now. My eldest totaled the Caravan. Replaced it with a Chevy Venture. It now has about 170K on the clock and we will probably replace it with another one just like it. That van rocks. It has hauled everything from Boy Scouts and kids to 2 - 4.2l Chevy I6 engines in the back. Drives and rides like a car and hauls like a truck. Even tows pretty well. If you have a choice, I would go for the Venture. Drives better, and has way more power than the Caravan. The Chevy will flat haul a$$. Really pisses off the rice boys when their big winged pos gets smoked by a mini van.