Digital Dad wheels

I recently mentioned turning in my Mini Cooper at lease-end. That left me with an opportunity to take a look out there for a new vehicle.

There's no shortage of choices. As DadTalk mentions, Consumer Reports has recently listed the reliability of many new vehicles. I was a bit surpised to see my Nissan Quest up there for poor reliability numbers. We had a few initial issues but all in all the RoadShip has been excellent.

But now I wanted a car for me. Sure, it would need to accomodate my wife and three small kids in a pinch, and yes it needed to have some storage room in the back for Home Depot/Costco runs, but I wanted a car that had some cool to it.

I think Dads can get into a bit of a functional rut. Everything has to be so practical, so multi-use, so sanitary. Dads need to keep their style, their fun, and they need to inspire these things in their kids.

I took a look at the following vehicles that had some style, some storage and some value:

Pontiac Vibe - hatchback, interesting layout, but maybe too small this time
Honda Element - funkier, cool storage capabilties, but it can't seat three in the back
LandRover Freelander -  liked the two-door, but very small inside and pricey for what you get
Subaru Forrester 2.5TX - small-SUV, great engine, high ratings . . . but it bored me.

I was getting a bit down on the whole search when my brother, a long time GM guy, suggested something different - a Saturn Vue Redline.

A Saturn? How lame. Don't they make dorky plastic cars? I drove to the dealer to check them out anyway. The Redline is an all-wheel drive, V6, 250 hp, ground effects, souped up version of the Vue. They had a 2004 Electric Lime one on the floor, loaded. 18" wheels, sun roof, OnStar, leather seats. The rear seats fold down 60/40 and even the front seat folds flat.

Since it was a 2004 there was a heavy discount off the already low price (Saturns don't cost much). The Redline uses the same engine and transmission as the Honda Pilot and Acura MDX, although the Saturn is lighter.

This was the first thing I'd seen that I really liked. That weekend I did more research on-line and took my three year old daughter on a test drive. She loved it. Sold.

After a few days I drove it into my local car stereo shop and had them rip out the stock audio system and install an upgrade. I put an Alpine 9847 head unit in place with the iPod adapter. This allows me to completely control the iPod (plugged in and charging in the glove box) from the head unit - playlists, artist, song, album, etc. That was routed into a 4x100 amp under the passenger seat and then wired into four 6" JL Audio speakers. I also added a Bazooka powered sub in the way back.

I'll use the OnStar system for navigation. They give you turn by turn directions. I may augment that with a Tom Tom or some handheld I can pop into a cradle on the dash.

The Big Green Machine is ready.

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