A few months ago, we celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary. And last month it dawned on me that I’ve been driving the same vehicle for half of my married life. Twenty Januaries ago I received that phone call every parent dreads: “Mum, I crashed!” Thankfully, my teen was fine. But my minivan was not. It was totaled. We replaced it with a brand new Toyota Sienna. And 200K miles later, it still gets me where I want to go.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s dinged, scratched, and sporting a fairly new patch of rust. There are a couple of cracks in the dashboard, the driver’s door creaks, the steering wheel squeaks, and the radio display screen looks like hieroglyphics most days. The molding around the inside of one of the sliding doors keeps coming unglued. It scared the #@%*! out of me one day when I opened the slider and thought a black racer snake had stowed away in the back seat. My Sienna is getting older. But aren’t we all?

There’s much more to love about it, though. The driver’s seat fits me like a glove. It’s got a lumbar support and controls to adjust the seat, tipping it slightly forward so I can reach the pedals. I’m shorter than the average person, but I can adjust the seat to reach those pedals while still maintaining a bit of distance between my face and the steering wheel. The sloping front end and large windows afford me an uncompromising view of my surroundings.

The seats are cloth-covered, so they don’t reflect the extreme temperature swings that vinyl and leather seats do. The cargo space is ideal. The second row of seats is removable and the third row stows nicely into the floor. It’s been more than a little handy for college dorm, apartment, and whole house moves, as well as for those necessary trips to Home Depot and IKEA.

But my absolute favorite feature is the fold-down table between the front seats. With the squeeze of a small lever, the tabletop swings down flush with the side of the driver’s seat. This leaves a good amount of floor space for walking between the front seats to get to the back. It also makes keeping a purse or a small cooler within reach while driving possible. I’m so not ready to give up this convenience. I hate driving cars where I need to throw my purse onto the passenger seat where it can’t be reached, and where it will slide off upside-down in the event of sudden braking.

But, as I said, my Sienna is getting older. And one of these days the decision to move on will probably be made for me. So, I thought I’d check out the new minivans out there. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening. I actually test-drove a Chrysler Pacifica, a Kia Carnival, and a Honda Odyssey. And I sat in a new Sienna. Some of them don’t have removable seats. Most of them don’t have cloth seats. The seats themselves are shaped for hunching over while driving, similar to most airplane seats, with headrests that force themselves into my personal space. Ugh! And the seat adjustments: why would someone who needs to tilt forward in order to reach the gas pedal want to be elevated just before reaching their target? But that’s what happened when I tried to adjust the driver’s seat enough to reach the pedals and also see over the steering wheel. In the new Sienna I literally had to pull myself up using the steering wheel in order to see over it. Who are they designing these vehicles for? And the front end on most of them (the Pacifica being the exception) is so big and boxy that I don’t know how anyone can see the road in front of them.

But worst of all, all the new minivans have consoles between the two front seats. No option to remove them, either. So disappointing! Just sitting in the driver’s seat brings out the full manifestation of my claustrophobia. Unfortunately, the same is true for every new car out there. I’ll have to bite the bullet someday. But not today. I’ll keep my trusty Sienna going as long as I can and appreciate every mile.