just bought '03 MPV

Count me in as one of those anti-minivan types, who by too many children, must give in. I myself am expecting baby #3 soon...so my cute VW Passat had to go.

Just a rundown of my buying experience, and why we chose what we did.

Small was important for me. Odyssey too big, but don't trust the reliability of the Caravan. Ideally, I want to buy a car that i can drive for 10yrs or more. While this is one of the smallest vans on the market, it seems super spacious to me, a former sedan owner. Those who say the legroom is tight must be used to gigantic SUV's. Sit in the backseat of your average sedan, then you'll have nothing to complain about in the MPV!

Fold down seat also very important. As a stay-at-home mom, my only income comes from decorating wedding cakes, and in a minivan you sacrifice the ample trunk of a sedan (cakes are delivered in individual layers in their own box.) I need something that I can fold down in a snap, deliver a cake, come home and put the seat back up. I refuse to *remove* an entire seat, lug it in and out of the garage every Saturday. Options abound in the Odyssey and Sienna, but when shopping for a used minivan, they are priced out of my league.

That's right. I have a used '03, already. Has 24k mi, Certified preowned. So after the 50k manuf warranty I get another 12k mi warranty, and powertrain warranty up to 100k mi. In that regard, may was well be brand new. But here's the kicker, only paid $16,900! Odyssey's especially, people were buying them over MSRP new, comparative age and milage will still go for over $22,000 used! Maybe new there isn't much price difference in the Odyssey and MPV, but used there sure is!

Drove several 2.5L MPV's. I must tell you, I have never been an engine snob, always been satisfied with the base engine of my sedans, but oh, it was anemic, quite pathetic. Maybe the 1.8L TURBO of my VW had me spoiled on get-up-and-go...it is quite zippy...but I could not handle the hesitation and hard work of the 2.5 MPV engine. The 3.0L is a BIG improvement...and a must! Sorry, still no "soul of a sports car" but the power is at least respectable.

One peeve is the key. Never in my history of buying cars have I even considered negotiating about the key. But really, this is infurriating!

Papers signed, time to hand over the keys. We give 2 VW keys with the built in key fob's (it's a switchblade key, so cool!) and an everyday spare... 3 keys total. Dealer gives us one key, no key fob, nevermind this van has pwr sliding doors, what good is that with no button to push? Basically the equivalent of a spare. Almost wanted to say, give me back 2 of my VW keys...I'll keep them as souveneers, my kids love playing with them. I insisted they give us a key fob for our ONE mpv key.

Manager digs in his drawer finds some old key fob that will work (needs to be programmed) but says it'll cost $100! What??? Oh, but he "cuts us a deal" and gives it to us anyway. Well, I went home assuming I can get a spare key cut at any old place, we can live with only one key fob. Nope, the MPV key has some sort of chip, and a spare key (alone!) goes for $80.00! I'll be back to the dealer on Monday, hopefully sweet talking these jerks into one more key. Something I never thought I would to negetiate during a sale, but FYI for anyone in my shoes!