I hafta give Nutsy credit; he really does drive this ng. We (Yes, I'm
obviously guilty, too.) are responding to a thread about his Kia
minivan!

Oy vey!

In the interest of full disclosure, I love minivans. I've been a
minivan guy since the 60's when I bought a VW microbus. [Side note: The
paperwork on that sucker labelled it a "station wagon." Interesting.] I
kept that as my utility vehicle into the 90s. Over its long lifespan,
it carried me and all my belongings from New Orleans to Seattle. Made
many long distance camping trips. Carried several of the 1984 Ultima
Thule Everest expedition members up into the mountains for practice
climbs. Numberless ski trips. (Yeah, that pathetic heater made those
kinda chilly!) Hauled tons of crap back and forth from the house to the
boat in an endless procession of trips. Etc.

In '96 we sent Ol' Paint to that big VW graveyard in the sky and bought
a pickup. (RIP, big fella!) Pickups are great vehicles. Really useful.
But they ain't microbuses, err, I mean, minivans. So in 2000, we sold
the pickup and bought a Honda Odyssey. It's the VW bus of the third
millennium. I love it. We've just turned 100K miles and it's ready for
its first tuneup. It's on its third set of tires and is ready for a
second brake job. Aside from that, we had to have 'em degunk one of
those emission control valves recently; but that's it. Half those 100K
miles were spent towing; so we haven't exactly been gentle with it.
Minivans rule! But Kia... ?

Welcome to the world of minivans, Rob! You *are* now officially a
soccer parent. Even if you do get Xzibit to pimp that ride, it's still
a minivan.

Frank