New Wheels

I apologize for another lengthy silence on the blog. I've been very busy this week with the acquisition of some new wheels for the family. Here is our new ride:



It's a 2006 Mazda MPV EX. Nothing too fancy, though I looked at a 2004 that was loaded. It was nice, but it had 53k miles on it. This one only has 19k, so we're still under Mazda's 5/50 warranty. According to the Mazda guy I spoke to, we're good until August of 2010 or 50k miles, whichever comes first.

I wasn't too emotional about getting rid of the Camry. The only thing I could think of was that we brought both kids home from the hospital in it. Other than that, it holds no special place in my heart.

I've turned into such a dad. If someone handed me $50k right now and told me that I had to spend it on a vehicle I would likely buy a 2009 Odyssey fully-loaded. However, since we don't have that kind of money to spend (nor would we want to), we settled for something a bit more realistic. Frankly, it is still a bit extravagant for our needs. We could probably live with another sedan. We will get a few less MPG with this vehicle than a sedan, but I have yet to talk to a minivan owner with a family who regrets his purchasing decision.

If we had more time with the Camry I would have held out to get a Mazda5. Amanda's lemon car sense told her that we didn't have much time to spare.

By the way, Lily has already announced how she likes riding up high.