occupant

There is no reason a center front passenger seat couldn't have a shoulder belt. Look at the trucks with the front seatbelts mounted on the seat. If that's safe enough for the outboard passengers, then there is no reason why they can't put one more on for the inboard passenger.

OK, so my choices for an 8 or 9 passenger vehicle for me, my wife, and our six children and occasional visit from a mother-in-law are dwindling fast. It's hard enough to find an 8-passenger minivan as a used vehicle that isn't a Sienna. The Astros and Safaris in this area are being swallowed up by cab drivers faster than you can say "wholesale market value". And I have yet to see one of the 8-passenger Ventures that were allegedly available from '01 to '04 for sale. I'm left with Expedition XLS/XLT, Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban/Yukon XL, Sienna CE/LE, and of those, only the GM ones offer 9-passeger seating optional. Abandoning those options leaves me with full-size 12/15 passenger church youth group type vans, used gas engined school buses, and restored clamshell wagons. Now what? Maybe I'll get lucky and the two older girls will go to college before my brain explodes.

Let's go down the list of 4-door sedans with 6-passenger seating STANDARD Ford Crown Victoria Lincoln Town Car Mercury Grand Marquis and the list of OPTIONAL 6-passenger seating Buick LaCrosse Buick Lucerne Cadillac DTS Chevrolet Impala So with the Crown Vic possibly going fleet only, a redesign in the mix for the GM and TC, and the fact that GM makes a front split bench optional, who will be left with a true 6-passenger full-size sedan that you don't have to pay extra, special order, or search dealer lots for weeks to find? And why did GM make a split front bench OPTIONAL on full-size cars? Isn't the whole point of buying a full-size car to get 6-passenger seating? And don't get me started on wagons with 3rd seats...

The car had 118,000 miles and a dent in the driver's door when we bought it in February. Since then, we've replaced the heater hoses, put on a set of tires, changed the gas cap, and had a nail in one of the new tires, plugged at no charge. The small star in the windshield has grown from 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch, our oldest son drew on the back seat with a blue Crayola washable marker (it didn't wash out), and about nine crayons melted into the handles in the rear door panels. We pulled the panel under the steering column when one of the screws stripped and have left it alone since then because the check engine light keeps going on and it's a pain to reach with the panel there. For $150 every other week, a $1300 down payment, and the last payment due in March, I think we're doing pretty good. It still gets the EPA rated 29mpg on the highway, and except for the damage between the driver's door and fender, it's a good looking car. Much better looking than the cracked up scratched up faded and oxidized Candy Apple Red '96 Intrepid she had before. She wants OnStar in our next vehicle. Scratch that. HER next vehicle. I'll stick to older cars myself. She can have an Impala or Malibu or whatever, I guess. By the way, the computer limits the top speed to 104mph. Fuel cuts out above that. Too bad, it was a very smooth ride until my wife woke up and punched me in the arm for taking it above 75...

I'm occupant on every board where that name isn't already taken. New here though. You might find me on some boards as occupant272, or windsor, or crazytaxi, but occupant is pretty much it.

I can't give up cars completely. I'm 28 years old, started buying cars in 1994, have owned up to six at one time, and I'm up to 54 as of tomorrow when I pick up an '89 Celebrity. 39 of those 54 were purchased for $500 or less cash. No payments. I don't like car payments. I'd rather buy a $300 car (like this Celebrity) and nurse it back to health over 3-6 months, then sell it for $500-$1000 and buy another $300 car...etc etc... Even if my $300 cars only last a month each, they are still cheaper than a payment on anything new this side of a non-AC Aveo, and I don't have to carry full coverage insurance on it, either. I've never had the opportunity to buy a car back from someone I sold it to, although there have been a few offers, I've never had the cash, or they put too much money into it, or they broke something like the transmission and wanted to unload it fast, or something wasn't right. Of the 54, there's seven I'd buy back... '75 Olds Cutlass Supreme sedan (my first car) '65 Chevy Biscayne post sedan (my fifth car) '75 Ford Gran Torino sedan (my ninth car) '80 Chevy Caprice sedan (my tenth car) '85 Olds Delta 88 Royale Brougham coupe (my twelfth car) '80 Buick Electra Limited sedan (my thirteenth car) '79 Olds Delta 88 Royale coupe (my fifty-second car) Notice a serious presence of GM B/C-body here...I love those 77-90 models. Too bad they remaining ones are being cut up and painted bowling ball colors and plastered with TV screens and 2-foot tall wheels... I've also been through a lot of A-bodys, front-drive. 3 Centurys, a Ciera, and I'm on my 3rd Celebrity. Will keep buying those because I grew up with them. Parents had a Celebrity and 2 Centurys (second given to me as my 3rd Century to that date). I'm trying to convince my wife to forget looking at Suburbans and Expeditions in favor of a nice '90 Custom Cruiser I found in northern Louisiana for $1400. All it needs is a alloy wheel center cap and some fresh paint on the hood and roof. Everything works, dual power seats, cold air, windows, cruise, and the guy is still getting 24-26mph on the freeway. There isn't an 8-passenger SUV that can brag about that kind of mileage on gasoline. All I need is to save up about $20K for fees and licenses and insurance and I can open my own used car lot and go through tens of cars a month. I'll be in heaven!