Amy Lawson, 35, leads an active life.

She likes to be outdoors, to play sports, surf, bake and has a thriving social life.

Professionally, she was recently promoted to be the Territory Manager for Drydock Footwear Group. Her territory covers British Columbia and Alberta.
Being on the road is a sizeable component of her work.

When it came time to trade in her Nissan Xtrail – which she loved to pieces – she was torn when deciding what vehicle to purchase.

“The Xtrail has been a fabulous car, but I’ve outgrown it and need something that can better accommodate all my equipment,” she says.

In the process, she considered SUVs, hatchbacks and crossovers. The Ford Flex, Ford Escape, Honda Pilot, Mitsubishi Outlander were on her list to look at.
Amy states, “When I started to research vehicles, the No. 1 thing on my priority list was interior space. I needed lots of it.”

She continues, “I didn’t mind if the vehicle wasn’t sexy! I need functional. Good looks were secondary to me.”

Because of her current role, it requires travelling around the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, BC and Alberta with various promotional gear, display units, sample products and more.

Not to mention, if she can pack in her sports equipment like her bicycle, snowboard or surfboard in, too, that would be even better.

Price was also a factor for her.

“I had a budget to work with, and I needed my payments to be around $500 a month,” Amy mentions.

“And since I’d be spending a fair amount of time behind the wheel, I’d need something that was comfortable, too.”

When chatting about potential matches, the idea of a minivan came up.

I saw the excitement in her eyes.

In her personal life, she is not the typical minivan candidate. With no children to drive to hockey or soccer practice, some people might question her enthusiasm.

But to her, it seemed like the perfect fit.

“I was just so excited about it. Minivans make life so much easier and you can just do so much with them,” she explains.

“It made a lot more sense than a pickup and much more sense than an SUV.”

A few minivans/minivan-esque vehicles she looked into were the Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna and Mazda5.

Though the Honda and Toyota appealed to her, it was the Dodge Grand Caravan that had exactly what she was looking for. It was in her price range and had some handy features that would allow easy loading and unloading of her gear.

She even really likes its look.

Amy tells me, “I can fit two mountain bikes inside with people and still have room for more.”

The Dodge Grand Caravan that she selected is the Crewe trim, which also came with some extras. She has a towing package, a rear DVD entertainment system (perfect for passing time on ferry rides!), Stow ‘n Go seats, remote keyless entry to the doors and liftgate and more.

While she can’t be happier with her purchase, the signing on the dotted line did make her heart beat quite a bit faster.

“There’s a lot of anxiety to buying a car. It’s a big purchase and you want to make sure you make the best choice you can.”

And speaking of choices, the biggest question when selecting her chariot of choice?

“Should I get the white one or the black one?!” she jokingly asked.

She went with black.

When looking back on the experience and looking at her Grand Caravan, she happily says, “What I didn’t think would be very sexy vehicle ended up being the sexiest to me. And there’s so much space!”

Ladies, if you’re looking at buying a new vehicle and would like some suggestions/assistance, email the Car Girl’s Garage and you could potentially be featured in Driveway.

Include your name, email address where best to be reached, a little bit about yourself, what you’re looking for and what price range you need to work with.

Contact:

thecargirlsgarage [at] gmail [dot] com

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