I drive an old car. Like, a really old car. I drive a 2005 Toyota 4Runner and it’s my mom car! I drive it to school drop-off and pick-up every day, to get groceries, we take it to church on Sundays, and it serves as transport for my small business. We even took it on an eight hour trip to the beach last summer.
Unless you also drive a 4Runner, you might be asking why? Why would someone choose to put herself and her kids in a 20 year-old car every day? And I get it! You’re not alone. In fact, my husband often asks me the same question!
Back when my husband and I graduated college and got married, we couldn’t wait to get rid of our “college cars” and into something we felt like adults should be driving. He got a truck, and I got a cute little orange Prius C. But once we had our first kid, it didn’t take long to realize that between the car seat, stroller, diaper bag, and all the other accoutrements that come with parenthood, there wasn’t even room to lay down our growing baby for diaper changes while out and about.
It was time for…a mom car!
I’m a pretty die-hard Toyota fan. My first car was a Camry, then the Prius, and I knew I wanted to stick with the reliability and cost-effective upkeep of that brand. I could have gone with a Sienna, but I’m not much of a van person. I looked at the Highlander, but the body style was a little lacking. When I was a kid, we carpooled with a mom who drove what I thought was the coolest car ever: a white 3rd generation 4Runner called “Wheelie,” so I looked and looked, and finally after many months of searching, I found my 2005 dream car at a small family car lot in Powell. 4Runners are kind of a cult classic vehicle. They’re hard to find because they last forever, and people tend to keep them in the family. They also keep their resale value even with a good amount of years and miles on them. So when you’re buying a 4Runner, you pick which generation/body style you like, and for me that was a 4th gen (2004-2009). And then you look for the best deal and mileage you can find! My goal is to drive mine until it hits 300,000 miles AT LEAST…and plenty of Toyotas/4Runners go longer than that!
So besides the appeal of finding my dream car, here’s what I like about my “mom car” being an older car:
- Less technology? Less to go wrong!
- Minor scratches on the exterior paint? Who cares!
- Somebody spills a drink inside? Yeah, I’m annoyed, but not panicked. I just bring out the little Bissell green machine and take care of business!
- Kids track mud in with their cleats? My off-brand Amazon rubber floor mats have it handled.
- Something small goes wrong? It’s pretty easy to fix yourself and save hundreds of dollars (although I still take it to my local Toyota dealer to get the oil changed and let them check it out every six months!). It still costs me much less in maintenance than several newer cars on the market!
- This generation of 4Runner has several special features that make it extra mom-friendly: extra cup holders, a special “burger tray” up front that folds out of the center console, a slide out tray in the back seat, a roll down rear window that makes it easy to throw stuff in the back, and more!
- No car payment!
