The Dodge Grand Caravan Dilemma

One of the benefits of being a mommy blogger is that companies send you stuff. They hope you'll post a review on your blog or maybe mention it in passing to friends or via your Facebook page. I'm not surprised since moms are considered a major target market and powerful buying marketing segment.

Must be the reason Dodge decided to give me (and 50 other Denver mommy bloggers) a chance to try out the new, fully loaded Dodge Grand Caravan for a week. Yes it's the minivan with the table in the back, and the commercial that gives the impression that the Caravan promotes family togetherness.

I'm not a minivan type of gal, but having a shiny, new vehicle with lots of buttons was cool. Loved those butt seat warmers - nice on a cold morning. I was ecstatic that the Dodge Grand Caravan had multiple plugs so I could recharge my phone, plug in my BodyShop aromatherapy car diffuser, and play my iPod all at the same time.

It was fun pressing a button to open both side doors and the trunk, which I could do even if I was inside our home. I could even start the car to warm up the interior before we got in. For someone who drives an old 1991 Honda Accord beater, having a high tech car was a treat.

I also had fun showing my (temporary) shiny new toys to my friends. I drove three gals from my mom's club to dinner one night. Also, my mom as visiting from San Diego, so we had fun trying out all the features, driving to and from the airport, and going into the city to see the Artisans and Kings exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. Even dropping off the kids at school was exciting.

The kids loved it because they could watch Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network via the Sirius satellite TV. As soon as they got into the car, even before they buckled themselves in, they had their wireless on waiting to watch their favorite shows.

I was swayed by Sirius too - radio that is. The Martha Stewart station was kind of boring, but I enjoyed listening to the NPR stations and the 80s music channel. But my favorite was the 24/7 ALL BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN channel - E Street Radio. Oh. My. God. For a Jersey Girl who adores Bruce, it was heaven. What's the big whoop, you ask? Rare tracks and live concert recordings, plus interviews with the man I consider my Rock 'n' Roll Jesus. It was hard to leave the minivan in the middle of a live concert set.

Of course, I could get Sirius installed in my beater-mobile, but what's the point? My noisy, screaming "Moooooom, he's bugging me" children would be in the back ruining it. This points to the best feature of the Dodge Caravan - SILENCE. While the kids were plugged into their video heroin, there was no yelling, and no teasing. No singing about mom's underwear or bad knock knock jokes. Just Q-U-I-E-T.

After a long day with the kids, quiet is nice. In fact, quiet is a requirement for my sanity. So I understand why so many American parents love having a DVD player in their vehicle. Being able to listen to what I want while the kids are content watching SpongeBob is very attractive. But having each family member plugged into our own thing certainly doesn't promote family togetherness like the commercials say the Caravan does. In fact, it does the opposite - we're all in our own worlds ignoring each other and not "enjoying" each other's company.

It's a dilemma for me. I love the quiet. And I loved that the kids were having fun, laughing, singing to the cartoons, and not fighting. But we weren't TOGETHER. Then again, what's the point of quality family time if all you're doing is telling the kids to stop fighting and be quiet?