The Venza

I still can't believe that I bought YET another Toyota.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying Toyota is a lousy car....far from it.

I have owned two Toyotas in the past and both were very smooth, reliable, fuel efficient, and user friendly cars. Yet something else was missing, like a little character or attitude.

I had my eyes on the Acura TL for a while. While some people are not huge fans of its redesigned sporty looks, I for one like its unique sharpness and adequate power under the hood. I was SO going to get one......

....but there is one problem -- Caitey.

With 4 people and a car without open cargo space, where in the world that we are going to put her?

Actually a minivan would be the most practical choice, but I had one when the girls were little and I am DYING not to get into something that unsexy for a change. So very reluctantly, I started to search for a wagon or a crossover type of car.

After crossing out Audi, Volvo and Subaru for reasons from low ground clearance to unappealing design, we got stuck with our last candidate -- the Toyota Venza.

As much as I don't like another Toyota, its right mix of a sedan, a wagon, a lower SUV and a mini minivan does serve the right purpose for us....well at least it is not another Camry.

The Venza reminds me of Peter David's Deer which Chinese name is 四不像 because it looks like a deer, a horse, a cow and a donkey in certain ways but is not exactly any one of them. The Venza has a car kind of head, a wagon/minivan's cargo space, and an SUV's height and wheels. It is a brand new breed from Toyota and just came out in 09. I heard Toyota has been paying people $50 just to get them to test drive this model so it can get more exposure in the market.

In general, I have to say that if you like roomy interior, sporty exterior, elevated seats with good visibility on the road, high ground clearance (especially for our kind of winter), and typical Toyota's driver friendly details ... you should go no wrong with this one. Also if you are like me who can drive without gas but can't remember which pedal is gas without music on, your might like its JBL 13-speaker premium sound system.

The few drawbacks that I can come up with are perhaps its typical Toyota's lack of power (even for our V6), the unToyotaish jittery ride (in part because of its monstrous 20" wheels), and a chubby body that is way too wide for a wagon -- trust me, unless the driver is well over 6' or 250 lbs, he will have a tough time resting his left arm on the door.

In the end, we decided to go for the fully loaded model with all the bells and whistles pre-installed, simply because I will need them. I am sure you have heard about such things like "women are bad drivers" or "the Chinese are terrible on the road", well I happen to be a lousy combination of both! Hopefully the technology package will save me from cruising in your neighbourhood exterminating deers as well as people with sirens chasing me from behind. Of course the fancy packages come with a pretty hefty price tag that totals as much as an Acura TL, if not more.

They say a dog will cost its owner $25k in its lifetime, so adding on the Venza Caitey has become a very expensive dog.

I hope you will give me lots and lots of your therapeutic licks as payback Caitey -- your mommy is human so she demands mundane returns.