Yes it is simple that I have good reliable transportation, but that is about it. It is not really fancy, but we had the most basic model for the past 9.5 years. I was probably the only person who still actually rolled a window down. I locked each door separately with a KEY!!! Now my van tells me the temperature, the direction I am driving, the doors all lock and unlock at the push of a button. I can open and shut the side doors pushing a button. This is all nice, but it scares me!! Is it all necessary? Or is it more stuff that can break? Also, my old van had hail damage and a big dent in the rear quarter panel. I did not worry about dents and dings. Heck you could not hurt that thing. Today, I found myself parking by myself out in the middle of the parking lot!! I needed a really big opening before I would pull out. Yikes!!! I suppose I will get used to it, but I am now mourning my simple van!

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~Happiness is a large family~

I think a lot of the bells and whistles are silly, too. We got a simplier model because, well, I was afraid a lot of the stuff would break! I did not see the point (and still don't really) of sliding side doors when I can open them just as easy. The only problem I have is when I drop the kids off at school, the safety patrol kids don't shut the door because they are so used to them shutting automatically. So, I have to get out of my van, go around to the passenger side, shut the door, all the while people behind me are getting mad, but what can I do? Leave with my door open?

You will get used to it, but I agree with you on a lot of the features. The same thing with phone service to me, too. If you are not used to it, you don't miss it when you don't have it, right?

I completely understand. All of these extras = more stuff to break - though I do like power locks and windows! We test drove this car last year that did all this special stuff - the salesman was looking at me like I would fall in love, my husband was falling in love and I refused it - didn't want a car that was smarter than me!

But I'm glad to hear you got your new car ... I think you'll learn to love those power windows and locks!

for the record.....I still have to hand roll my windows and manually lock and unlock my doors......have NO CLUE what the temp is, or what direction I am driving in, etc!!

No cruise control, no air bags, no anti-lock breaks, factory installed radio (with cassette).


Enjoy your new ride........YOU DESERVE IT (and so do the kids).

Gotta be careful with those sliding doors!! Here's a funny story
After getting the kids out the van my neighboor accidentally touched the open button on her remote control and did not realize it. She got in the house and did not see the door was open. That night we had a snow storm. Next morning she had two feet of snow in her van

We had a laugh afterwards, but on that morning she was not laughing.

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Marie - SAHM of DS Benjamin (april 2004) and DD Rose (march 2006).

Ours is the same but my Mom has the exact same van you got. I love all the stuff but I'm secretly glad I don't have to deal with how complicated it all is.

When we were shopping for stove / oven, I said to the salesman, "Do you have one with knobs, you know like the old fashion kind that are easy to fix when they break?" He thought I was pretty strange but I like simple.

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I don't have the automatic rear doors but now I wish I did. Within the first year of our van ownership, the passenger side rear door broke. I was parked pointing up a slight hill and one of the kids went to open the door. The door slammed back and mis-aligned something in the mechanism. I got it fixed but it mis-aligns again so I stopped trying. Now, to close the door, you have to jiggle it or it gouges the side panel. If I had the power doors it wouldn't have broken and my life would be so much easier.

I think it was on that same roadtrip where DD (age 2 at the time) decided to purposely spill her orange juice all over the back seat area. Yes, those spots are still there. Orange juice is surprisingly difficult to extract.

But I do understand about those dings. Before this van, I drove a Saturn sedan. I loved it. That car had the dentless side panels and the car stayed looking so good for so long. I never worried about where I parked.

However, the first time my husband drove the van he was trying to be extra careful while backing out. It was concentrating in looking the wrong direction and ended up backing the van right into his pick-up truck! That quickly fixed my worry of dinging the van.

Much later I was carrying something through the garage and accidently bumped something on the shelves. That caused a chain reaction of things moving around and eventually a heavy metal pole fell over and hit the driver side of my van. Finally, I was the one who put a dent in the van - very minor - and now it is officially USED.

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"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

When a car has alot of Automatic stuff you have to Remember it is the Battery that is Powering all that stuff .... I Ended Up with a Dead Battery Twice in my Van ,

And When I Talked to My Neighbor whose Hubby is a Big computer Tech and she has an 08 van... and he told her to be careful about the battery ( Trust me he studies this stuff ) , so she always opens and Shuts the doors manually , unlocks Her Door with a Key and Unlocks the others with The Auto Button ,
Also she won't charge her cell phone in there. And She limits DVD use , Etc.
I started doing the same stuff. Hopefully it works out ....

I have a similar problem with my van, but it is the &@^#%$%! dome lights that does it to me.

The van designers seemed to think that each passenger needs their own dome light. Well, of course, the dome light switches are great fun for the kids to play with. I have a main switch on my dashboard that allows me to send power to the dome lights all the time or when only when the doors are open or to turn them off all together. I have learned to keep that switch in the OFF position. I can't tell you how many times I've had to jump my battery because one kid left a door (usually the slider) slightly ajar. What I really hate is that DD loves playing with the main switch so sometimes it gets turned on and I don't even realize it.

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"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."