Once upon a time, the minivan was the ruling family car of America. The likes of the Grand Caravan got people out of wagons and into trendy boxy rides. The crossover has since stolen the crown from the minivan, but the van still holds onto a niche. Today, we learn of one way vans can be even better.
Thomas wrote a review on the luxurious Toyota Sienna Platinum. Today’s minivans are practically private jets that stay grounded to the ground, but some of our readers want the luxury to stay where it really matters. Hangover Grenade kicks us off with this amusing remark:
Why yes, I would love to spend $60,000 to drive my kids around like little CEOs with their opulent heated reclining seats and leg rests. Surprised there isn’t a privacy screen like a limousine.
Cheap Bastard brings additional humor:
Gone are the days when you could toss your surplus children into the seatbeltless, cup holder less cargo area of a full sized station wagon and put them to sleep with a combination of unconditioned air, cigarette smoke, dehydration, AM talk radio, leaded exhaust fumes and the drone of the differential humming away.
But V10omous makes a really good point:
I will once again repeat my call for a van with S-class grade chairs in front and hose-it-out vinyl in the back.
My wife and I want to be comfortable, but I have no desire to clean, repair, or pay for niceties for the sub 8 year old crowd.
You know, I never thought of it like that. Kids under 8 years old aren’t going to care about high luxury, so why bother? Now, teenagers are a different story. I remember being 13 and thinking that my mom’s Oldsmobile Silhouette was the coolest thing on the planet.
It was gold! It had leather captain’s chairs! I was able to listen to KissFM through the aux jack in the ceiling. The doors closed on their own! To me as a teen that was practically magic.
This morning, Jason wrote about a patently bonkers video promoting the Tatra 603 by showing a guy loading up a car and driving like a maniac. ExAutoJourno said it best:
An early demonstration of Czechs and balances.
Have a great evening, everyone!
My favorite aunt has always said her dream when my three cousins and I were kids was to buy a used limo, through us in the back, and close the privacy screen so she could have some peace and quiet.
Personally, as a kid I was grateful to be getting a ride anywhere in the first place. My parents were NOT in the business of playing kid taxi. 99% of the time, if I wanted to go somewhere it was the big yellow school bus, pedals, or shank’s mare. This is part of why we Gen-X’s are both hardy and generally a bit pissed off at the world.
On road trips my parents carted us around in a ’76 K5 Blazer with a lift kit and a stickshift with no back seat… or seatbelts. The antithesis of a smooth comfortable ride. We just stretched out on the floor with a blanket and some pillows. At least there was AC and a seemingly endless supply of 8-track tapes of Elvis, Seals & Crofts, and Bonnie Tyler.
Spent much time in the “way back” of sundry plywood pleasure palace station wagons as a kid. A/C? We were from MAINE – roasting alive and sticking to vinyl seats build character. That was my grandparents, who I lived with off and on and then on through college. My Mom’s 911 didn’t have A/C either, and at 6’2 by the sixth grade the back seat of an early 70s Porsche was a delight (shared with my little brother no less). And my stepfather’s Grand Prix was only marginally better four up – but it did have A/C (though given they all smoked like fiends back then, careful what you wished for).
At least in their cars the music was pretty great – 70s hits and lots and lots of Motown (stepfather being a black dude from the Indianapolis ‘hood). Since it was the 70s and early 80s. In the grandparent’s cars, not-so-much, the Old Man being a lover of ancient whiney country music. Blech.