Mp3 Gone

[Rainman]

You just got to know how to pack!

Whoa....slow your roll friend! My wife and I have a 2000 Protege SE and a 2003.5 MSP. We have three kids and two cats. We live 7 hrs away from our outlaws. We have made the trip many times in the SE with all the kids, the two cats, and enough gear in the trunk for a 1 week stay. It is a bit harder now that they are older (12, 10, 8) and larger, but we have never really had a problem fitting everything. One, you gotta know how to pack stuff efficiently. Two, most of the stuff that people cart around with them for their babies, they DON'T need. After three kids trust me on that one. With each successive child you carry around less and less, because you realize that you don't really need it. With so few hands to take care of so many little ones you learn to take only the barest of essentials....LOL!

Having said that, now that the wife's lease on the 2000 SE is almost up I did take a look at the Mazda 6 Sport Wagon. Since I can't afford the the Subaru STi right now, I figure that the Mazda 6 is a sweet looking ride. With the kids playing multiple sports and carting their friends around, I figure that a cool wagon is OK. I do, however, have SOME pride left and I will not do the minivan thing, nor will I board the SUV/SAV/WTF-AV bandwagon. Kick ass wagon or a sedan. Whatever you can't fit it.....leave it at home!

Rainman

What a riot! Spoken like a bunch of people who have never had to deal with it. You should really have a clue what you're talking about before you slam people who have had to make this decision. I was, until recently, in your shoes and talked just like you.

Believe me, after you try to get a sleeping infant into/out of a rear-facing car seat in the middle of a Proteg without hitting his/her head on the ceiling, you'll understand.

Also, the trunk of a Proteg won't hold NEARLY enough stuff for a trip longer than 2 days. Look at the "normal list" for a 4 day trip (remember that the car seat takes up half the rear seat)...

1 - Pack & Play (30" L x 12" H x 12" W) for baby to sleep in and for a playpen/changing table (search at babiesrus.com if you don't know what a Pack & Play is)
2 - 2 med/large duffel bags for your clothes and your wife's clothes
3 - Diaper bag with at least 50 diapers and at least 100 wipes
4 - Baby food bag with formula, bottles, bottle brushes, cereal, baby food, etc.
5 - another med duffel bag for the baby's clothes (they're small, but they go through 3-4 outfits a day)
6 - Baby toys
7 - 1 large blanket for baby to play on

Trust me, folks -- all that don't fit in a Proteg or even a P5, even if you stuff a bunch of it in the back seat. I just tried it a couple of weeks ago. We were miserable on our trip because of all the stuff we had to leave at home. So, we got an MPV to go along with our Proteg.

You guys without kids don't have a clue. Buy one before you slam people like me.

 

[protegeV]

honestly, I wouldnt mind pimpin an MPV with some 20s on it. Its gotta be the coolest lookng minivan on the market...kinda like an oversized 3...

 

[JOS3]

the mpv does look cool for a minivan, but we're talking about the tribute (aka, the black sheep of the mazda lineup)