Jen's New Butt Hauler......

Our Element has been a great car. When we bought it, we only had one kid. Removing the extra seat and filling it with stuff for camping and trips was not a big deal. Now, with both back seats filled, we had less and less space. So, we wanted something bigger.


With gas so expensive, this might not seem like the best option. But, in order to get more room than we had, we looked at several vehicles. Saturn Outlook, Honda Pilot, Honda Ridgeline, Chevy Trailblazer......I even looked at the specs of a couple mini-vans. The end result was estimated EPA mileage ratings all within 1MPG of each other. However, with the Active Fuel Management System on the Silverado, it could put it quite a bit ahead of the average estimates. Actually, Jen was cruising down the expressway today, watching the instant gas mileage gage, and was getting mileage in the upper 20s, to mid-30 MPG, for an a period of time (not just a few seconds). But, we will see how it works out in the long run.



Brendan likes to pimp big in the front seat : )

Little Maddie in her back seat:

We also considered used vehicle too. But, Jen's Element was only 4 years old. My GM discount is equivalent to about two years of vehicle depreciation. The savings we got with 0% financing is huge, and not available on used cars. So this was it......

We want to get a color matched cab high topper, so we can just throw our camping gear in and go. Other than that, the truck is a 4x4, with Z71 off road package, 4 door (obviously), has the 5.3L V8 Vortec (315hp), trailer package, remote entry, remote start (Jen loves that), CD Player, dual zone climate control, Auto-dimming mirror with compass and temperature, heated outside mirrors, fog lights, and I am sure I am missing a couple things. The front and back seats are pretty cool too. Both have a console for storage and cups, etc. But they can still be flipped up to seat 3 people front, and 3 people in the back.