The Million Miler Club
I am talking about cars.
And…how a major influencer in our community lost cool points because he changed cars.
What did the most well known person in our community of 3,000+ do to lose his cool points? He unloaded his minivan and bought a new larger, sexier SUV.
For space? That is what they all say. But there is no way any other vehicle on the planet has more space than a Honda Odyssey…with the well in the back. Maybe, but I don’t believe it.
Yes, I used to be the person who wanted a cool car to drive around. The first car I bought with my own money was a Nissan 240SX hatchback.
Later, I drove the #1 CAR IN THE UNIVERSE. A Company car.
Once I changed jobs and industries, my company car became an allowance and I bought a Mercedes instead of what my husband suggested, see below.
My husband offered me a Ford Taurus he bought for peanuts after using it as his company car. Nope, nada, not gonna do it. I said no way.
He drove it to upstate NY to give to his sister who she gave to a family friend. What is wrong with us?
Boy, have I come a long way. Thanks to my husband.
Back to the influencer who lost cool points. Please understand, while I don’t typically judge, I felt connected to this community influencer because of his minivan. Like me, I felt like he owned it and I loved that about him. Then he upgraded to a big Suburban or Denali and lost his cool points in my book. No connection to me anymore, he moved on. I was disappointed.
A second man and another influencer dude in my community, literally a rock star because he is the lead singer in a band, also drives a minivan, exactly like mine and he is still cool.
I have driven a Honda Odyssey for 19 years and I am having a tough time giving it up. Our kids are all old enough to drive so you would think I would be ready to upgrade. I can’t let it go. There is a BMW sitting in our garage waiting for one of our other cars to die. Man, does that BMW handle nicely, but not practical.
By the way, the 6 cars we own that sit in our driveway, the mileage all adds up to over 1,000,000 miles. I thought that was cool until I saw a post with Brian Kemp’s Green Machine that had 500,000 miles on it. Brian Kemp is cool.
Both of those stories are a Clark Howard dream…I am married to Clark Howard Jr.
The Honda Odyssey in a nutshell.
#1…The Honda Odyssey saved my life.
#2…There is no better vacation vehicle in my opinion.
#3…With the exception of the sliding doors causing headaches in carpool lines, it is the greatest kid car in the solar system.
As I age but don’t get older, only more wise, I just hope I can influence people to be practical and be proud.
It’s my way of thinking I’m cool and not caring what other people think.
Other people call us The Griswolds. Okay, maybe I’m not cool.
Update.
Since I first penned this blog, our cars are not as reliable as they used to be. We still have the 6 cars in the driveway. The Honda Odyssey now has 243,000 miles on it, leaked oil out the wazoo but recently fixed it just to keep it going. The Sequoia has 305,000 miles, and our oldest daughter's car has 200,000 miles and is still going. Our youngest daughter has the nicest car, with 70,000 miles and unfortunately we are about to do a car shuffle so she will be getting the 200,000 miler. We haven't told her this yet, yikes. There is the 1998 BMW with 98,000 miles and of course a pick up truck with over 150,000 miles…use this as our trash, dump and recycling vessel. Classy, huh?
Even though we have six cars and only four drivers who live in our household, the reliability factor is true with only one of our cars. The one car we are giving to our oldest daughter who is moving to Texas.
Hoping to get 20,000 more miles out of the Honda Odyssey before we have to upgrade. We only buy used cars and 2022 is not exactly the year to buy a new used car…if we could find one.