I think im going to buy a minivan. Discuss.
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So, I was a “never” answer on the minivan. When we had one kid my wife snookered me into renting one for a road trip. Three kids and a decade later we are at the end of life of our second Toyota Sienna. Honestly, it is the best vehicle, by far for a family.
We love ours. Do not go by this idea of minivans are not cool. Do what you like and not care about others. Fuel economy wise it is roughly as good as the big suvs so not a big deal.
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Yes! We like the Pacifica for the stow and go seating and the plug in hybrid. I am surprised at how expensive they are actually.
While YMMV with Chrysler quality, the Pacifica plug-in hybrid has been godsend to us. Low maintenance needs (regular tire rotations + servicing every 10k miles) plus a real-life all-electric range of around 25-30 miles (coupled with solar at our home) means that the PacHy (as plug-in hybrid owners commonly refer to it) is a decent choice despite the high initial outlay. Add to this the federal 7.5k hybrid tax credit, and numerous state, local, and utility incentives, and the initial costs start to be reasonable. The final kicker is that with free or low-cost public charging or subsidized electric charging from work, you can get by without having to refuel on gas for a long time as long as you're easy on the accelerator; I've done as much as 6 months on one tank, but I've also had the flexibility to do long road trips with better mileage that a traditional minivan, AND charge for free at my hotel/POI destinations. With the upcoming Sienna hybrid to give you another option, a hybrid minivan is a no-brainer.
Do it!!
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Ha. Tomorrow is the day. Got a hot tip on a Pacifica
3 row SUV ftw
Congratulations!! I am still thinking if I need it with two kids 😃
Do test ride Honda Odyssey.. personally I liked it better than the rest in terms of comfort
Yes we found the same. Sienna makes it easy to get into the third row seats
I’m curious to learn more about minivan ownership and quality of sex life, hypothesis is there’s a strong correlation between ownership and deterioration but pls validate
So many moons ago, I was a new salesperson at a Kia dealership in a college town. As the new guy I got last pick of demo cars, and I ended up with a Kia Sedona.
I tailgated out of it every weekend in the fall: had a grill that went into the tow hitch, took the seats out and sat on them like couches, filled the tub the seats came out of with ice and stuck beers in it.
Quality of my sex life that fall was quite good. Was sad when they sold that car out from under me, but ended up in an Eclipse convertible so it wasn’t a terrible swap.
OP, how many kids and how old? I think the van outlives it’s usefulness once they get into their tweens.
How about snow/ice conditions? Camping, fishing, or other off-road activities?
Do you do any home projects or similar work that requires space? For example, a selling point for the odyssey for me was that it can hold 4x8 sheets of plywood and drywall laying flat with the seats out.
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Well I did a full inventory of all our our friends, neighbors, and others around the area here. We would be the first minivan. I am losing confidence.
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Great questions. Currently our suv is fine. We pretty much stopped putting anyone in the third row. So it’s always all 3 in the second row if we are together. But I’d say 90% of the time we are not all together. So say it’s just wife and I and the boys. We are fine. Certainly the road trips are really rough. What can be done to solve it? Always take 2 cars when it’s all 5 of us?
How about a 3-row SuV with captain’s chairs in 2nd row
Ok.
My buddy just bought a sienna. So there’s that.
Get rims! Hubs are so 90s.
I love the sienna from a rental. Likely my next car.
#vangang
Have an Odyssey now and loved it when the kids were little. (I’m the guy who posted about getting a new car last week.).
We also looked at the Sienna and at least in 2014, we felt the interior was really bad. But I am told they just redesigned it, and I think it’s also the only one with available AWD, if that matters. We live where it snows and really thought hard about that but with dedicated snow tires, it has been fine.
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3 kids. 1 baby and 2 in boosters
In that case I’d say go van and don’t look back.
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Ha! Yeah my issue is that my boys hate sitting in the 3rd row of our suv so right now we have all 3 in the middle row and it’s crazy. I break my back every time I get the baby in and out of her seat in the middle.
Best decision ever- u will love it