New Ride

We've been having trouble with our Tahoe.  Sure, it looks nice on the outside and is a very comfortable ride.  But, the outside body was about the only thing nice about it.  Hybrid batteries usually go out around 80,000 miles.  Ours was at 79,000.  Batteries cost about $5,000 for Hybrid SUVs. Yikes!  And the AC was making funny sounds and only working properly about half of the time.  The quoted price on repairs was around $2,500.  The touchscreen interface that was glitchy would be another $1,000. And the DVD player that didn't work, $1,000 more.  Oh, and finally, the lock was broken in the back.

Scott and I ran the numbers and it was going to cost about 10 grand to get our 2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid in tip top shape.  Ummmm, no thanks, we decided.  So we went car shopping to look for a comparable car.  They have raised SUV prices so ridiculously much!  Our same car brand new would be upwards of 70 thousand dollars.  Mmmkay..... NO thanks!

After running our budget and test driving some cars and vans, we decided to take a Dodge Grand Caravan home for the night and see how we liked it.  Yes, we liked it; surprisingly well.  Scott did some research and found an identical van with a few more perks than the one we borrowed.  The 2nd van had 2 dvd screens and special sensor mirrors that beep and light up if cars are in your blind spot.  The second auto dealer also matched the price of the first auto dealer for a better van.  We decided to buy the second van and drove away with 8 miles on it!

One thing we've observed is that you get no respect driving a van.  We felt people were a lot nicer (on the road) when we had the Tahoe.  Now people are quicker to cut us off or drive with road rage.  Weird observation, but true for us.  Going from an SUV to a van is humbling.  Once you get inside the van, we're comfortable.

We never thought we'd be van people, but here we are!  This is ironic because we have even told people that we were not a van family and wouldn't ever drive one.  Looks like karma has come full circle and here we are.  Mostly, we are relieved to have something reliable that works and functions well.  And let me say, we love the storage space!  The SUV never had enough room for groceries or anything.  The van has room for everything and even extra storage compartments.

Bryan and Candalyn decided to pull a trick on us and affixed a custom made window sticker to the van last time we were in Cedar City.  How funny, that they special bought a little van family to represent us and our decisions.  That was a pretty clever prank!  We still laugh when we look at it.  And we're happy with our van!