[ParatrooperWife]

Hello, all!! Well, we've had our CT for almost a month now. We have a 5 and 7 year old and it's been a bit change for us from our 2005 Odyssey. I wanted to downsize because we rarely used the rear bench seat. I was tired of cleaning the thing! My kids were notorious for tossing things behind their heads (just being plain ol' pigs or fighting and things flying). Plus with my hubby's Ridgeline and the Odyssey, our garage was tight! Well, we got the CT and our daughter, especially, was so sad! Our Odyssey was black with Navi/Ent. We called it Night Rider. She just bawled when we traded him in! I told her that the CT was lonely without a family and nobody to take care of her. She is Glacier Blue so I had the kids name her. We call her "Belle" in honor of the Disney character from Beauty and The Beast. Belle wore a blue dress in the beginning. Man, I'm so going to mess my kids up, I know!!
Well, we LOVE the way she drives. I hear of people on certain sites complain of how heavy the CT's are, but coming from an Odyssey, I feel right at home!! I love the weight of it!! The handling is to die for! Much better than any of the cars I've had in the past! Like butta!! We don't have the navi, and I was terrified of the blind spot issue. But with time, I've become accustom to it. My kids are closer to each other...which is usually a bad thing. But the good thing about that issue...I'm closer to them, too!!! They missed the DVD in the beginning, but they're enjoying the view now!!! In Night Rider, they would ask me to turn on the DVD the minute we got in. Then it was arguing about it everywhere we went because I wanted them to listen to music. No choice now!! heehee I thought the space in the back would be an issue. It's not! All the "car things" like jumper cables, emergency kit, etc, that I had...well, basically everywhere in the Odyssey, I have in the hidden compartment in the trunk area. Love it! And grocery shopping is great! A nice height to load and unload and plenty of room for a full load of shopping. I enjoy the audio system, too. I don't feel like such a "mom" like I did in the Odyssey.
I have to say I SO miss the sliding doors of the van, though!! I have to be so vigilant with the kids not to hit the doors on just about everything!!! I thought there would be more room in our garage...which there is...but now that there are doors that swing out, Daddy's truck is getting tagged. Don't know what to do about that one!!!
Well, thanks for reading my first newbie post!! I promise this is the longest post I'll ever do!!

ParatrooperWife
BOOMER SOONER (even though we suck this year)

2010 Honda Crosstour EX-L (no navi) Glacier Blue Metallic
History:
2005 Honda Odyssey EX-L w/Navi & Ent System Nighthawk Black Pearl
2003 Honda Odyssey EX-L w/Navi & Ent System Havasu Blue Metallic
1995 Nissan Altima GXE Silver
1991 Honda Prelude Red
Late 80's Ford Escort Hatchback Cream

 

[CCT]

Welcome, PW, and congrats on the new CT.

You need some door trim that runs the length of the door to protect Dad's truck.....or some side moulding placed strategicly on the truck's body.
Neither are very aesthetic but will save the paint and can be removed later on.

Enjoy the new CT...."Belle" is a beauty

C.

 

[chefmark]

Welcome, I agree the ride on the CT is great.

 

[justfitme]

What a coincidence. I drove Honda Odyssey 2005 for 4 years before it became strictly family-on-weekend-go-to-home-depot car.
Nobody wanted to drive it on daily basis. But we decided to keep it since it is paid off and has only 60K on it.
I switched to Mazda5 for a year, which was adopted from my husband (he purchased a 2009 Fit himself).
CT is the first car I have without keeping Family needs in mind (although it is still great family hauler). I had Mitsu Outlander, Odyssey, Mazda5 and all of them were purchased as family oriented.


I started to think about the new car with Infinity EX35 and the number $26-29K (before all unpleasant additional charges) in mind. I used Truecar.com to search for the hot deals in the end of the year.

But, since I was not able to find the right EX35 in 200 miles radius (rigth price-right package) I decided to go for Nissan Maxima, since they are very close in nature.

I testdrove and while the car itself was great I was not able to find comfortable position (I'm 5'3") The armrest was far behind, the seat position was low to the road and since I did not have in mind any other sedan I decided to go with crossover.

Tried Toyota Venza V6 first. Not bad at all , but the cabin looked a little bit on budget - the materials were on the Corolla level. Other than this it is a great car - roomy, comfortable, drives solid. Although I was not a big fan of SUV look. The only V6 2010 in lot was with 700 miles on it and they did not give me the attractive number for it.

Then I crossed the street to Nissan again and tried Murano. The CVT is a very good thing. Everything else was good too - drive, sitting position, room, materials aroung and the package but that was because I tried SL trim - black leather, rearview camera. It was way up to 33 before taxes.
The S trim was in my price range, but a stripped-down version - no power seats, no sunroof, boring grey interior. Why would I go for it.

The Next was Mazda CX-7 with turbo 4. It is a good little Crossover, but did not click with me. I do not even know why. Probably because I already drove Mazda5 and it felt very close to it, but just with a little more power.

Then I tired.

Next evening my hubby came home with my 6 years old dauhter and she started to scream - "We bought you a new car! Please take it !..please..please..please"...
I came out and there she was - Tango Red Honda CT. I did not even thought about it, probably because my friend just purchased Acura TL and she said she looked at CT and it was the same price as Acura TL and i did not want over my number.

My husband brought the car home to show me with all numbers on paper and everything looked great.
Next morning we signed the papers and got a gift from Honda - brand new and very decent 15" laptop.

Paratrooperwife, sorry for using your topic to introduce myself.
Another sorry to everybody for a long post.

 

[ParatrooperWife]

Wow! That is a coincidence! I was thinking about the Infiniti EX35, as well. I really like the look. I kept reading the cargo room in the back is nothing, though. I was thinking about the Venza, too!! With the less than stellar interior, I passed on that one, too. My kiddos love "Belle", too. It took them a few weeks to get used to actually closing the doors when they hopped out to go to school, though. They were so used to me pressing a button and the doors closing on their own!! heehee

 

[justfitme]

The thing is the cargo room was not my first priority. Even 13cu.ft of maxima trunk would work for me.

But anyway it was a little bit of surprise, when we tried to put a folded jogging stroller and it did not fit easily into CT's looking huge trunk (because of this sloppy door).
We had either remove rear wheels or face tires the back of the seat (I have beige cloth interior and it left marks on it).
As a comparison the same strollers fits just perfect behind second row of Honda Fit.

It is not a big deal, but just as a remark.

Other thing - the beige interior I mentioned. I'm not a fan of leather and was very happy to find near luxury car with very good quality cloth in it (Nissan Maxima and CT both have it).
1. We have very happy all the time Boston Terrier and 2. live in Florida, where to sit in mini-skirt on hot leather in 100+F can be a not a good idea.

I choose beige over black because I liked the exterior color (comes w/beige only) and besides IMHO beige looks more expensive.

But it also look like very easy to ger dirty. I already ordered door sills just to try to protect from kids stepping on it.
And if they would not ask 200 for rear seat cover I would think about it too..

Sliding doors are good thing (especially with button like on Odi), but 90% of the time my husband takes our only one yet scholer to school in his Fit.

If we ever decide to use CT for long trips, probably we will add roof rack and a basket.