The minivan seems to be a right of passage into parenthood. Many parents dread the day that they have to trade in their fancy little coupe or maybe even convertible sports car. Giving up that luxury in return for comfortable space for your kids and all of their activity equipment can be tough. I’ve known so many people to squeeze tightly into that car for as long as they can. They purchase skinny car seats and they are really careful not to outgrow it by having more than three kids! While I do love a good luxurious mini car, with all of the right features, you can find a minivan that you will love like part of the family! That’s where cars.com comes in.

First of all, if you can manage to part with it, you can sell your old car on cars.com. Get offers from dealers to sell it quickly, sell it yourself and wait for an interested party, or just find out what it’s worth before you decide whether or not you want to keep it around. Even if it’s a piece of junk, cars.com has a “Junk Car” center to help you out. We have one SUV that we keep around as a back-up, even though it can’t fit all of our kids in it.

When it comes to the search for your new family vehicle, cars.com allows you to search by make or body style, including preferences such as price, location, mileage, color, etc. One of the most important things in your search should be the gas mileage. If your new vehicle is a gas guzzler, it’s going to cost you astronomically and most of the time, it’s not worth it when you have the family to take on all of those nice vacations and camping trips.

Consider how much space you’ll need, for the kids and also for your essentials and the aforementioned vacations. Do you want more leg room, more trunk space, or maybe both?

Comfort is obviously of huge importance. Use the search engine at cars.com to discover minivans with seats made of the material you prefer and special features, like heated seats! Parents deserve to have warm and comfy tushies after they spend hours bundling up the kids just to get in and out of the car, right?!

Speaking of special features, they’re my favorite. Bluetooth capability allows me to play all of our favorite songs on our satellite playlists. I can search for “Bluetooth” in the cars.com keyword search and receive results for cars within my preferences that also have this feature. Doors that close simply with the push of a button are a blessing to any parent, as we have our hands full of groceries and toddlers all at once!

So moms and dads, know that you don’t have to give up your luxuries to drive a minivan, the perks are just a little different! Don’t let the kids cramp your style, get out there and find yourself a sexy minivan because you deserve it!