ALT-2 Are Minivans Cool or Uncool – uncool
I cried like a baby (literally, I sobbed uncontrollably) when we traded in my Chevy Suburban for my husband's new truck last year. I was in love with my beautiful white SUV. "She" had been part of our family trips, hauled many things for us, and had brought home a baby or two from the hospital over the five years we had "her". It was a good choice to trade it in since we save alot on gas money, but it was hard for me to watch something like "her" go. I was left with a Chevy Venture. Never in a million years did I think that I would be driving a mini van! Don't get me wrong, it has its good points, I guess. We now have a built-in DVD player feature which comes in handy on long trips. But it still is a mini van, there is nothing remotely COOL about the car. I would say that getting 23-26 miles per gallon is a plus since the Suburban maybe hit the 20 mpg mark sometimes, but if I were rich I'd be driving my Suburban STILL!
My ego tends to get the better of me when I'm out and about driving my mini van, I duck so some people won't see me. Sounds stupid, I know, but its so humiliating some days to have been reduced to the mini van life. Honestly, who would think that driving a mini van would ever be cool?! It is what it is....the redesigned station wagon. And if you were like me as a kid, I was always embarrassed to be seen with my parents in their station wagon...such a drag. I have seen the newer mini vans coming out, the automobile companies are trying to make them look better and some do. They even add more features to make them more enticing which most of us (including myself) take the features over the "look" of the car. And at the end of the day, we also accept the fact that the fuel economy supersedes everything else. Which as I'm writing this, I noticed that I keep telling myself that very fact over and over again.
So the mini van is definitely "uncool". It will always be "uncool". There is nothing "cool" about the way they look. I have affectionately started calling our vehicle the "M-V" and when people tease about the "soccer mom" car I drive, I say "C'mon, you know you envy the M-V!" But believe me, they don't and I can't blame them.
