CanyonAg77 said:
Quote:
My wife and I are just anti-minivan
Why?
This has always been a weird reaction to me. Why rule put the best option because of some odd prejudice? Do folks in your generation equate it to being old?
I was reluctant to get the one we had, but even an 2001 Oddy drove and rode better than any Suburban, costs less to buy and drive, and lasted longer. More space and overall utility. The new ones with all the bells and whistles have got to be 10x better than that.
Canyon, since you're closer to working the land than most of us, you'll need to consider the yuppy (for lack of a better word) perspective. Since you're older and have had time to acquire the things you need and have acquired things that are built for purpose, consider that young folks gotta start out somewhere.
There's also a female angle to consider for those of us who are on wives #1 through #4.
I live in SoCal where you are what you drive (never work with a Sales Rep driving a Hyundai/Kia/Honda - unless it's an S2000, etc.) but I think for most of us, the hatred for minivans can be explained as follows:
- We work white collar jobs so we're already emasculated to some degree. We never break a sweat at work, we never have to lift anything heavier than a ream of printer paper and we never get sunburnt. If anything, the only injuries we might get at work are carpal tunnel and eye strain.
- For those of us starting out, we don't have the luxury of having 4 cars (I didn't get there until I was 36). We are probably going to buy at least one new car and it's going to be expensive. So, we need it to perform multiple roles.
No decision making criteria yet but here goes.
- We don't want to look like every other emasculated lemming out there who gets led around by their wife.
- We would rather drive something that is closer to a farm, ranch or drill rig. Even though we're doing inside office work, we'd at least like to feel some masculinity when we're in our vehicle.
- Serving those multiple roles, we know that if we need to tow a trailer, we can.
- I'm sure they make AWD minivans but, when we finally save up enough coin to take that ski vacation to Colorado and we want to drive our own vehicle there, we've got 4WD the the M+S tires in our SUV.
- When people ask us questions about our vehicle, we don't want questions from old ladies who are thinking about getting a minivan to transport their dogs when they go out of town to beanie baby swap meets.
- From the ladies perspective, they like the SUV because it sits up higher in traffic so they can see what's happening on the road ahead.
In summary, there are a few more practical angles to having a SUV versus a mini-van but when it comes to the primary decision criteria, it's mostly machismo.
But, if you're going to spend a bunch of money on a vehicle and own it a long time, you really should feel good about driving it. You don't want to have a vehicle as your daily driver that is something that makes you feel depressed every time you drive it.
My 2020 Wrangler was in the shop for about a month while they replaced the rear axle and transfer case. They gave me a Dodge minivan as a loaner. I wanted to slit my wrists every time I had to drive that thing. It's not the same feeling at all.
