Wednesday, August 19, 2015

The Dadmobile: Babe Lincoln

Well, the time came for Lieutenant Lovemuffin to sell his beloved Susan, his 1998 Dodge Ram. She was amazing while we had her... but it was time to move on to a vehicle that can safely hold a car seat for Baby Cookie.

Dan searched and searched for months (no, really - he did) in all of his spare time. We narrowed it down to a few select SUVs, and we went and test drove several.

The winner was the Ford Expedition - because the third row seats fold completely flat without having to take them out. That's a win in our book since we will be traveling a lot with a baby, a big dog, two cats, and all of our luggage. We need space.

The only problem with the Expedition was that we couldn't find one for a price we were willing to pay in our area. Since we wanted used (but new-ish), nice SUVs are hard to come buy. People buy them and then drive them forever. 

Then, Dan found a 2013 certified pre-owned Lincoln Navigator... which is the same as the Expedition. Lincoln is part of Ford, and we totally lucked out! 

The selling point for this pregnant lady? The air conditioned seats. Yeah, you heard that right. I knew some newer vehicles had heated seats, but I am always hot (even when not pregnant) and definitely not interested in that. But air conditioned seats? You guys - it's amazing. I turn that feature on every single time... even when it's not super hot outside. I just love it.

The Navigator drives just like my Ford Escape, so that's convenient for me. And being up a little higher is more fun... parking is a little tougher, but I'm getting used to it. This is Dan's daily driver, though, so I don't drive it TOO often. 

Oh, and we named her Babe... short for Baberaham... like Babe Lincoln. #nerds



Do you like SUVs? 
Did you upgrade your car when you had a baby?


    

9 comments:

  1. Yay for a new car! :) We are waiting another year or two to get Kyle a new one. I am enjoying having paid off vehicles more lol.

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  2. YAY! I'm totally a sucker for my grand caravan, the automatic doors, and everything- total mom-mobile I know, but I love it :)

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  3. Yay!!!! I love my Ford Focus, and hate the thought of saying goodbye to her someday when I need a mom van. I'm just used to driving low to the ground and making tight turns and squeezing into tiny parking spaces.

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  4. I've never owned a car!! I think the last time I drove was 10 years ago. HA! Air conditioned seats? Goodness, need those over here in Singers!

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  5. Love new vehicles!! I love my Ford F250 and can't imagine ever driving anything other than a truck, even if I have to back into parking spots all the time and can't just easily whip around in it. Air conditioned seats sound awesome.

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  6. I learned to drive when I was 15 on my moms navigator. The turn radius on those things are amazing!

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  7. Yay! Baby mobile!!!! Haha
    When we got married, we had one car, a Honda Accord. It was my choice car. Nick bought a street bike and since I wasn't working much that first year, this worked for us. When we PCSed and I got a full-time job, we needed a new car. Nick really wanted HIS car (he's a car buff) but we knew we needed a car that could safely accommodate a baby. Like you, we travel a lot and needed something safe for the baby, but with a large back end for our two large dogs. Nick did all the research....for months as well!! He settled on the Pathfinder because it's 3 rows and the back row, like yours, lays down flat. Perfect for the pups!! I'm always cold so heated seats (and heated steering wheel) were on my list where air conditioned seats were on Nick's list and the Pathfinder had all three. WIN! Haha Nick loooooooves his cooling seats so he gets you ;) He drove this for a year and I kept my beloved Accord. But once the baby came, the SUV became mind because it's safer for a baby. And Nick got his beloved baby, an M3 :/ lol
    I also saw you got the car seat installed :) :) All that's missing now is a BABY!!!!!!

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  8. Nice!

    I prefer small cars so I love to Honda Insight. But we only have 2 kids so it works out.

    My husband, meanwhile, has a massive truck.

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  9. Having third row seats that fold down is seriously the best thing. Honestly, we haven't even used those seats yet, but I am sure as G gets older and makes friends that we have to cart around that may change. We got our new car the day after we found out about G. We had already planned on getting a new car though before we found out we were pregnant. It was just a happy coincidence!

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