I just bought my first "luxury" car!

[sarahsthreads]

We just replaced our Subaru Outback with a Honda Odyssey EX-L!

I've never owned a car with so many bells and whistles - leather seats, bluetooth phone integration, power sliding doors...and room for 8! Now I can chauffeur my grandparents around town while I have both girls, and pick up a few hitchhikers while I'm at it. ;) (Oh, and everyone can bring at least a drink or two. There are something like 13 (or was it 15?) cupholders in this thing. That's not the least little bit excessive or anything...)

We're still trying to figure out the best seat placement for the installed carseat and DD1's booster while having the easiest access to the third row. Any tips from Odyssey owners?

(And if anyone wants to reassure me that the "driving a bus" feeling will go away, that would be cool too. I adored my Subaru. I just hated the "anti-TARDIS" thing where you could only actually realistically fit 4 people in the car, especially when child seats were involved. The ability to move more people around simultaneously will improve my life, even if it's at the cost of driving a bus. Right?)

Just had to share my excitement after all of my less-than-wonderful posts lately. At least this added a bright note to my dismal December!

Sarah :)

[Nechums]

i love my EX-L as well. We bought it in March and I still get excited driving it! In terms of seating, you can definitely fit the car seat and booster side by side, especially if you move the outer Ody seat closer to the door. In terms of which seat goes where, I'm no car seat expert, but I would think I'd prefer to have the booster in the middle seat because it has less protection than a full 5-point car seat. But again, there are way more educated people here than me who can give their two cents. Enjoy your van! It really is awesome!

[c&j04]

:cheerleader1:yay!:cheerleader1:

[♥ms.pacman♥]

Yay, congrats!! Isn't the Ody great? We have a 2010 Touring we got over a year ago. I love that thing to pieces. Even when I go out alone w/o the kids, I'd rather drive it than our sedan. It is SO comfortable and the turning radius is amazing. doesn't drive like a bus at all.

I used to be one of those people that swore up and down that they'd never be caught driving a minivan..yet here I am. :) It's just so much easier.

And i don't have much carseat advice...I have 2 little ones who are still both RFing (each on one side in a captain's chair) plus we usually keep the 3rd row down (grandparents don't live in town, and it's nice to just carry a couple strollers plus have tons of room for groceries. When we have family visit, I think we remove the middle seat and push one side captains chair to the center, so relatives can have easy access to the 3rd row.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Congrats! what color did you get? I just got new tires and wipers for my 09 yesterday, and it seemed early to need them! Still loving it.

Not sure on the seat placement. Your 3 middle seats are the same size, right? Do you need 3rd row access for kids or grandparents? I'd throw the boostered kid back there and let adults sit in the captain's chairs.

[sarahsthreads]

Congrats! what color did you get? I just got new tires and wipers for my 09 yesterday, and it seemed early to need them! Still loving it.

Not sure on the seat placement. Your 3 middle seats are the same size, right? Do you need 3rd row access for kids or grandparents? I'd throw the boostered kid back there and let adults sit in the captain's chairs.

Thanks all! I got the "smoky topaz" color, which is sort of a metallic-y brownish color. Not taupe, but sort of a more neutral brown. It was the only color I liked on the 2012s - I'm sort of ridiculously picky about car color, though it wouldn't be a deal breaker if I were buying used. ;) It's got a "truffle" interior - again, a nice medium neutral brown. I just had a blue car, so it's going to take some getting used to when looking for it in parking lots!

I'm thinking I'll mostly keep the 3rd row down, for cargo space, but flip it up when I need more passenger space. Maybe I'll try driving around with the two kids in the captain's chairs (with the middle seat down for cupholders!) and the 3rd row down. When I have my grandparents, I'll toss the booster in the back (DD1 can buckle herself up easily in the Odyssey - she had trouble in the Subaru) and have one grandparent up in the front passenger and the other in the second row captains chair? (Mostly when I drive them around, DH is at work.)

I can probably also take that middle seat out for anything that isn't a long car ride. DD1's booster has a cup holder, and DD2 can live without! Though I'm not sure where we'd store it. Our basement and garage are both pretty much full.

Also, I'm trying to decide if I want DD2 (the 5-point harness) on the driver's side or the passenger side. We mainly don't do on-street parking - we have a driveway, and 99.9% of the places we go have parking lots - so it's not a huge issue either way, just more for the convenience factor of getting other people in and out of the car.

The one thing I know I *don't* want to do - unless we ever do become a family of 5 - is put the girls next to each other. I am so incredibly tired of the bickering! LOL!

Sarah :)

[HIU8]

Ok, this is funny. My dad just totalled his luxury outback (all the bells and whistles he could have). He was teasing us about our middle of the road Odyssey (we don't have the touring package etc...).

I'm glad you like the new car. We LOVE driving ours!

[AnnieW625]

I felt the same way when I upgraded from my LX Accord coupe to my EX-L Pilot in 2006. Enjoy your new ride! I never thought I would own a car with leather.

[crl]

Sweet! Enjoy your snazzy people mover. :applause:

Catherine

[lmwbasye]

Love my Odyssey (despite it's being old and falling apart)! Our family is out of town. When they are in town, or I know I'll be driving others, I simply move the boys to the 3rd row. If it's more often, then I move one seat to the middle and they fit side by side just fine and you can access the third row easily.

Congrats!!!

[Pyrodjm]

I have a 2011 Ody in Dark Cherry. The driving a bus feel will pass. The back-up camera ROCKS, especially when parallel parking. We've had the van for about 6 months and I love it to pieces. DH has a civic coupe and I MUCH prefer the Ody, even when I'm alone.

I have my girls in the second row. My baby rides RF in a BLVD center position and DD1 is behind the driver FF in a Frontier. The second row is in "wide mode" to make accommodating seats easier. MIL lives with us and rides with us sometimes, so I wanted her to have a comfy captains seat. Also this allows us to move the passenger side seat up to easily access the 3rd row. There are 5 LATCH positions, so I'm sure you'll find a great combo.

We keep our 3rd row folded 90% of the time but it has so much cargo space my two strollers fit even when it is up.

[Nechums]

just wanted to add another option. if you plan on only using the 3rd row for the occasional booster, you could just leave up one 3rd row seat and put the other two down (the 60-40). i find that its nice to sometimes have that deeper trunk space so that cargo doesnt fly around too much.

[veronica]

Congrats. I'm trying to love ours but I don't. I have a 2011 touring and I just don't like the whole van thing. It became a necessary evil with the twins and I can't stand it.

I have the older kids in the back row, on the ends and the twins in the middle row (middle and driver side). we need to keep the extra captians chair in the middle row in case we drive anyone and I hate moving it forward and back to let the older kids in the back. Plus, I have them in 5pt harnesses so I have to climb in there each time to make sure they are secure. I absolutely hate it.

[sarahsthreads]

Congrats. I'm trying to love ours but I don't. I have a 2011 touring and I just don't like the whole van thing. It became a necessary evil with the twins and I can't stand it.

I have the older kids in the back row, on the ends and the twins in the middle row (middle and driver side). we need to keep the extra captians chair in the middle row in case we drive anyone and I hate moving it forward and back to let the older kids in the back. Plus, I have them in 5pt harnesses so I have to climb in there each time to make sure they are secure. I absolutely hate it.

Ooh, I'm sorry you don't like your van. :( I hope because I wasn't forced into buying a minivan I won't end up resenting it. Our reasoning for getting it now was - we trade in the Subaru *now* while it still has excellent trade-in value (it was only 7 years old) or we drive it until it dies. We looked at the newer (2011+) Subarus with the bigger backseat, but if we were going to go that big, the minivan was only about a foot longer, a couple inches wider and taller, and it holds 2-3 more people. I really, really hope we don't regret it!

At the moment, DD1 wanted to sit in the 3rd row, but she's in a HBB and can buckle herself up, so I haven't even tried to get back there to buckle her in. (I did climb in the backseat a couple of times in the showroom, but haven't yet IRL!) I could definitely see that getting old after a while!

Sarah :)

[sarahsthreads]

Ok, this is funny. My dad just totalled his luxury outback (all the bells and whistles he could have). He was teasing us about our middle of the road Odyssey (we don't have the touring package etc...).

I'm glad you like the new car. We LOVE driving ours!

I'm sorry your dad totalled his outback. :( But we had a rather bare-bones outback, and while we didn't get the touring package, this is a huge step up in amenities. DH was riding while I drove home from the dealership last night, and he felt it was limo-like in terms of comfort. (He's 6' tall, so between his Jetta and my Subaru, he's never had the opportunity to stretch out his legs entirely in the car!)

Sarah :)