The research begins

I grew up in a Ford family - in 2 Senses actually. My moms maiden name is Ford, and growing up we only drove Fords. My dad had 4 vehicles in my life, all Ford trucks. My mom drove a Mazda twice, but same thing right? And my brothers have both driven primarily ford trucks. I had a Ford escort in high school until a friend totaled it, and then I drove a Ford explorer.

I married a chevy man. He has only had chevy trucks and when he bought me a vehicle my senior year of college it was a chevy trailblazer. I LOVED tb...not because she was a chevy just because I loved how she drove, the size was perfect, it was comfy...me and tb had a nice loving relationship.

Other than a corvette, I do not have a dream vehicle and I don't have any loyalty to any car manufacturer. I actually laugh when people are SO loyal to a manufacturer - they all make good and bad cars, all have their benefits and down falls. Maybe if I cared about vehicles more I'd get it.

But I don't.

So now that it is time for me to begin researching and selecting my next vehicle, I've decided to do what any good logical-brained person would do: I'm going to compare them all, test drive all that I'm interested in, make a spreadsheet comparison complete with color coded charts, and make a final decision. We are hoping to decide on a car when Austin is home in august, then he will work on online negotiations while he is back in afghanistan so that we can buy it right when he gets home.

Here is what I want: I want a crossover that holds 7 passengers. I do not intend to fill the seatbelts with babies so don't go freaking out, but I would like William to be a big brother and would then have 2 car seats. It's kind of hard to pick grandparents or aunts/uncles or friends up at the airport when there is only one seatbelt-free seat. And we love having our visitors so we want to be able to pick them up all together!

Because I will have 2 car seats for awhile, I'd like my vehicle to have captains chairs in the middle row in order to make it easy for other people to climb into the back seat. If the middle row is a bench seat we'd have to pull out car seats anytime someone Needed to climb back there.

Besides those 2 specifications, and a sunroof for William, I do not have a preference yet. There are some luxuries we've grown accustomed to (translation: been spoiled with) like heated seats, memory seats, auto start, etc. Here are the vehicles that are in my spreadsheet right now, in alphabetical order :)

Buick Enclave
Chevy traverse
Ford Explorer
GMC Acadia
Toyota Highlander
Volvo xc90

I have thrown out the Honda pilot because I don't like the way it looks on the outside. But if you have any additions to my list or any feedback on any one of these I'd love to hear it! I don't like the car buying process but I'm finding that this part - the time before you ever enter a car lot - is pretty fun for nerdy brains like mine :) so suggest away!

I know my family is silently cheering for a Ford Explorer and Austin is cheering for the chevy - we will see where I end up. I could choose FOREIGN!!! (though I wouldn't hold my breath on that one...)

Happy shopping :)


- manda