If you’ve known us since the beginning of last year, you may have seen our car accident that happened in March of 2017. We were heading down a dark country road, it was raining, and a girl ran a stop sign plummeting into an SUV, we were hit by both of their cars and it was incredibly awful. I remember KNOWING it was about to happen, tensing up, hearing the girl scream in the other car and I couldn’t help her, and worst of all – having the biggest fear of my life thinking of how terrified I was to turn around and see if my girls had made it. The longest, THE LONGEST, absolute longest millisecond of my life. That fear can still paralyze me to this day if I think about it long enough – but I learned a lot about the van we chose that day and as of yesterday, we are THREE TIME Toyota Sienna owners.
Some links from related blogs:
Four lessons from our car accident
Celebrating that we lived
Post accident video update
So why did just yesterday we purchase our THIRD Toyota Sienna? Just barely over a week ago… Hurricane Michael (the one that unfortunately destroyed the pan handle in Florida :() brought double the wind speed we anticipated and all of a sudden, much of the Outer Banks including our neighborhood became flooded and we lost BOTH of our cars. My first thought was NO – WE NEED a Sienna! And this is coming from a girl who doesn’t really care about material things, being luxurious, or having THE most expensive. I don’t care what people think regarding those things either, but one thing I DO like to do is attain/invest a product I believe in because it works and it works WELL.
And the Sienna? It works WELL. The best of any car I have ever driven in my life! Here’s why we LOVE the Sienna:
1. SIENNAS ARE BUILT INCREDIBLY STRONG. As much as I want to get to lighter things, I have to discuss the safety aspect first. When we were in our accident, we were told so many times “thank GOSH you were in a Toyota!” – and I have to agree! I mean the way we were hit and the severe impact that we experienced could have gone much worse, but the framing and build of this car is amazing and SO solid. We feel so grateful that our girls were protected and although I took a huge beating, it was because of the airbag hitting my face and because of the way I curled up in the seat up front. If you want a solid, strong vehicle to transport your family in… this is it.
2. SO MUCH SPACE IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. LOL! No really, if you look at the outside of the car, you don’t think it has the space it does on the inside but that is another reason we LOVE Toyotas. They don’t have a lot of chunky plastic taking up space inside the car. This is the only van Mike hasn’t hit his head inside of, lol, because after the accident we had a few rental vans and we can attest that they totally didn’t compare at all. The way these Toyotas are made is just so smart and so family friendly. The trunk is DEEP and spacious, the back seats are not completely crammed the way others that we have ridden in were and if you have kids, you know that having a little extra space during transport makes all the difference in comfort, convenience and the things you have to haul along with you!
3. USER FRIENDLY AND EASY TO GET USED TO. Simply put, the buttons all make sense. Where things are makes sense, it’s SO easy to navigate after just a few drives and as far as we’ve experienced, Toyota doesn’t overcomplicate things at all when it comes to your general dials and controls. This is important to me because once I borrowed my friends fancy car and I felt like I was in a spaceship and it totally overwhelmed me, LOL! Then again – you know I love simple and simple for me is best.
4. THEY FEEL LIKE A SECOND HOME. And this is important to me. We travel frequently for work and bring the kids often times to be dropped off with their Nana and Pops and I need comfort and ease on these drives. It’s so easy to make a Sienna your own, to customize it on the inside how you like and need. With the user friendliness, it feels welcoming. With the space, it’s easy to find a place for a basket with diapers, wipes and other baby things. With the big trunk, it’s so easy to put your bags in the back and have room for your feet and other things you’ll need more readily available. Siennas are fun and they just make SENSE for families. We will always be grateful for our first one that saved our lives and for every Sienna we ever own afterward 🙂
Thank you Michael Jones at the Virginia Beach CARMAX for your help yesterday! We appreciate you SO much!
xoxo,
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