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So tell me about mini vans... My SUV has like 90,000 miles on it and it seriously has never worked right. I've been stranded too many times to count and my back hatch has never worked properly - I put groceries in my back seat. Stupid GM car. Anyway, my husband mentioned getting a mini van, specifically a Toyota Sienna :eek: Reasons why it might be OK: -My husband is very tall, and he doesn't fit in many SUV's. We like Toyota but they are too narrow for him or still lack head room. The only sedan he fits in is the Camry Solara Convertible with the top down. :rolleyes: Even the Avalon was uncomfortable for him. -I think we need the 3rd row and it's difficult to get to the 3rd row in most SUV's. I have 2 dog carseats and potentially a baby seat one of these days. My SUV has only 1 back seat and lots of cargo space and it works well with the dogs and their stuff, but I can't see reaching over dog seats to get to a baby seat. -When we travel (which isn't often) we drive. -Those automatic doors are kinda cool Reasons I'm not OK with it: -It's a mini van!!! -It's a mini van!!! -I do love having an SUV. I would like a Rav-4 but my husband says he would need "one for each foot". His other idea is a Tundra (truck)... that would not be fun with car seats since I would need a ladder! So people with kids+dogs, I would love your opinion! We are probably a year away from making a decision but I like to plan ahead. We have no idea when our SUV will break for good (and we only have the one SUV, we share a car!) so that's why I'm asking now :) |
I guess that sounded weird - we share the SUV as our only vehicle. We will eventually have to get a 2nd car but for now we just have the one. If it breaks, we always are forced to get it fixed (last time for $3000! again stupid GM) because it's our only car. It's not even worth that any more so as much as I am dreading a car payment, it's probably a better choice to get something newer that doesn't constantly break! |
I drove Chrylser Mini Vans for years. In fact I smack dab wore out 3 of them while I was in "driving the kids all of the the place" mode. The last one was a Town-N-Country LE. It was a spectatular minivan. I used it for hauling kids, dogs, groceries, the wrestling team, the tennis team, Quincy the Miniature horse, hay, you name it, if it fit in the van it went with us :) When it needed a new engine at just under 200,000 miles, we sold it and I purchased my Mini Cooper. |
I would like to add that the T&C Mini Van is VERY comfortable for long trips. We drove from Michigan to Maine, from New Mexico to Michigan, and from New Mexico to Georgia several times. :D |
Stick with the Toyota! 1 Attachment(s) I am only 20 and we recently purchased this 1993 Toyota Previa mini van to take on long road trips and save the mileage from our new car! (It's the old Sienna)! I think the Sienna's are great! Let me just tell you about our van! We purchased it in October, it has absolutely no problems, it runs wonderful..automatic transmission, great engine sound, rear diff is great. Everything is wonderful on it! We took it to Chicago at the end of October for one weekend. If only you knew how far it is to Gurnee, Chicago from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Well if you don't, it's 21 hours! We drove straight there, slept, went to fright fest at the six flags there and drove straight home! In one weekend. The van is a work of art I tell you, it's amazing! Not a problem still.. soo.. In December, we drove it to Los Angeles, 27 hour drive. We drove straight there, stayed for 10 days, and drove straight home. Still, no problems at all. Get this - It has 400,000KM FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND. I hope this convinces you to stick with a Toyota because they are truly amazing! If you don't like Toyota, try Honda, they are great as well. Japanese made cars are supposed to be A LOT better than domestic vehicles. I have attached a photo of our beautiful van. It is definitely not the prettiest vehicle (the sienna is a HUGE improvement), but it's amazing! I couldn't be happier with it. Sometimes I would rather drive it than my new Lancer! By the way, our next new vehicle will, without a doubt, be a Toyota! :D PS - If you like SUVs, how about the Toyota Highlander? I love it, it's gorgeous, and still big! The new ones seat 7! |
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We have a mini van and have had it for 12 years. Personally, I have gotten to where I hate to drive it because it feels to big. lol I know, I'm weird. You are use to an SUV so I doubt that would be an issue. But honestly, a mini van is the most practical vehicle that you can have. Especially with kids and carseats--and dogs with carseats ;) I could never understand people's adversion to driving one but to each his own. We still have our mini van and now my kids are almost 13 and 16. We don't have carseats to deal with anymore but we do have friends and aging inlaws. Very practical. The automatic doors are cool-----we don't have them :( My husband has a pickup truck and I finally convinced him almost 2 years ago that I needed a smaller car. We still have the van too. He likes driving it and we use it when we all 4 go anywhere. |
We bought a mini-van in December 05 (Dodge Grand Caravan)...never thought I would be a mini-van mom but once I saw how much room it had and how good it drove, I couldn't think of a reason not to get it...especially since we were taking frequent 13 hour trips to New Orleans to see my hubby's family. Our sons are 12 and 8 and we have plenty of room for them, a couple of friends and all of our stuff when we go on trips. About a year ago hubby's car died so he is now driving our fun-times van and I, my Trooper. :D |
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I personally like fast cars, and any cars that discourage passangers (less weight more speed). Please consider I am only 23 and have no attachments to hubby's or kids or anyone. Have fun car shopping! Don't settle and pre-negotiate online, you usually get a better deal that way. HAVE FUN!!! |
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On the other hand, when gas was getting so ridiculously priced, I was thinking of downsizing to a car (mostly because I drive at least 100 miles a day commuting to work) but I was having SUCH a hard time thinking about giving up my SUV. Then I found a car that I really loved and finally convinced myself that it would be okay until I realized how upside down we would be on the loan and that the car payment would be about $700 (yeah, right!!) with the remainder of my Tahoe tacked on. So I guess I'll live with my Tahoe a while longer..... it's got over 100,000 miles now on it and that's usually about when I trade them in. We're gonna try to hold on to this one a little longer though. Have you tried a Suburban? You could do the bucket seats for the 2nd row - that makes it easier to get to the 3rd row back seats. Just a thought. |
I had a mazda tribute....I wouldnt buy another. I did get trapped in high water and flooded it. I almost got trapped in the vehicle and had trouble getting the drivers side window down because the vehicle just died and the drivers side got wetter first and the window wouldnt budge. I crawled out a passenger window. Things got wet that shouldnt have and I only got about 60k miles before I decided to trade it in. Everything was making noise. I have a toyota now-After owning one for a few years now, I will always put my $ into a toyota. Toyotas run forever! |
i have a ford mini van w/200,000+ miles. it is not my only car , but it is great for shopping. i just bought 9 x 12 area rugs and popped them in the back. i can transport anything. especially dirty garden stuff like flowers and mulch bags. plus.. if you are an outdoors girl you can camp with a mini van and an inflatable mattress fits right inside. i used to have the "mini van fear". i don't have kids , but the darn thing is so practical and handy! plus .. you don't have to pay extra for suv/truck insurance. |
We just recently got a Toyota Sienna. My dh was DEFINITELY not a mini van person. He rode in a friends van and he was so impressed with it, we went and looked at them together and ended up going on home with one. I personally had been lusting after the GMC Acadia. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Sienna. Now, keep in mind, I was coming out of a Nissan Altima that had many miles on it, riding around three growing kids and a grandma. We always had to take two vehicles to church. Now we can all ride together and carry Maximus with us! :) |
I have a had a mini van since my 4th child was born and we had outgrown the traditional car. lol. I was not happy. :(. But I do have to say I Love them now and wouldnt own another kind of vehicle. My first one was a dogde and it was old when we bought it and it lasted us another 5 years. It had well over 200,000 miles on it. We travel to PA, canada, and Va frequenlty and it never let us down. Had tons of room, built in car seats and it was comfortable. 2 years ago we bought a new one, a brand new ford and it's even nicer than the first one. The options that they all have now are amazing. We have a dvd player for the kids, set up to play games systems on, awesome stero system etc. Has enough room for all 6 of us and my 2 little dogs that we take with us everywhere, it hauls my pop camper, the back seat folds down compelety flat (like the bed of a truck) so you can haul just about everything. I couldnt ask for a better vehicle. :) Good luck!! |
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My mom had a Pontiac mini van that she took great care of, and it lasted 10 years and nearly 200,000 miles but nothing worked on it and it barely made it to the dealer's lot to trade for something new. It looked new but it was falling apart. I know of people (like carmengamble) who get double that with Toyotas. I can't afford to spend another $30,000 on a crappy car to be patriotic. I already did that and look what I got! 5 years later my car is worth $4000. Talk about disposable :rolleyes: So yeah, we really want to make the right decision this time! Plus I think we will look for one about 2 years old so I don't want it to break the second it gets out of a 3 year warranty :) I looked at the Highlander and all of the Toyota SUVs but my husband doesn't like them (too narrow) and the back seats are inaccessible IMO. Fine for small kids in a car pool situation, but I wouldn't want to climb back there to put dogs in car seats. I love the idea of the fold flat back seat. My Aztek is actually on a mini van chassis but it has SUV doors and no 3rd seat, so I have a HUGE cargo space. (when I can open the hatch!) I can fit 6 of those HUGE plastic bins back there and 3 more in the back seat. I can fit my dog stroller, big crate, and multiple suitcases back there and a cooler. I might need the cargo space more than I need the 3rd seat, but it would also be nice to leave the dog seats in the way back so that I don't have to remove then when people ride with us. We do have the camping option too but we've only ever used it at the Drive-in Movie Theater to avoid mosquitoes (The Aztek has a tent that attaches to the back of it - yes I bought a car for a $200 tent package. And I don't camp. It was also the car in Dark Angel! Yes I'm doing my research first this time! :D ) |
My daughter just broke down and bought a mini-van, the Honda Oddessy which is basically the same as the Toyota Sienna. She's 31 and said, only a couple of years ago, she would never drive a mini-van. She has a 12 year old daughter, which means she always has an extra girl with her, and a two year old in a carseat. She had an Expidition which she loved, but getting a growing two year old into and out of the carseat (because the Exp sits up so high) is what pushed her over the edge. And also getting to the 3rd row seats was a pain for whomever had to ride back there. My mom also lives with my daughter, and she is 86 years old and it was getting harder for her to get in and out of the Expidition since it is so high. The mini-van has all the bells and whistles, dvd, navigation system, backup cameras, sunroof, i-pod jack, heck, she can use her cellphone through the car for hands free calling. It even has a pronged plug-in like a house plug in so hubby can plug in and use his laptop while she is driving and not run the laptop battery down. The second row is bucket seats and the console between them is removeable so to get to the 3rd row of seats, you just walk between the bucket seats, a breeze! The 12 year old and her friends who ride back there love it!!! Also, there's plenty of room for things behind the 3rd row. The same thing happened to my daughter, she rode with a friend of hers who had a Honda Oddessy and she loved it. So, she got one too and even though it is a mini-van, she absolutely adores it! It was not all that expensive either, especially for all the options it has. |
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I sold it in Feb 2008 and got $7,000 for it. I paid $15,000. I will NEVER in my life purchase a GM vehicle again. I don't know why more people don't realize the crap this company puts out. Sure you may not have problems with your brand new 2009 Acadia or whatever you choose, but when you go to sell it..you will be lucky if you get even half of what you paid for! My parents learned this as well when they purchased a brand new Grand Prix (in 2003..so a while back) They sold it in 2 years with only 50,000 KM on it (30,000miles) and got less than half of what they paid for it originally. I really miss my Aztek still, a lot of people think it's one of the ugliest vehilces but I think it's so cool! My fiance and I used it to go camping a lot in the summers and the inside of it was just gorgeous! I had the loaded, leather bucket seats..sunroof. I miss the space a lot since now I just have a small '08 Mitusbushi Lancer :(. But I guess that is why we use the Toyota van when we need the space! I would definitely go for a Toyota Sienna, when I have children that is what I will be getting! My fiance will always have a sporty car, so we will use that when we want to be "cool" haha! I think practicality rules over being cool most times anyway...at least it should! ;) |
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I'm looking at the Siennas now. I'm sure that's what we will get but they are expensive!. I just have 2 problems. My husband also wants a Camry Solara and I'm trying to convince him you can't put a baby in the back. He says they don't roll, but I meant the WIND! And so if you keep the top up then what, you have a 2 door sedan? Heehee. It's OK, we can't afford it anyway so I'll let him keep dreaming :D The other problem is that he wants the loaded Sienna with all the tech toys and they are like $40K. I checked CarMax but the used ones don't have the toys. I assume if people buy all the extras they keep the car for a while.... Oh well. I'm sure we will find something! Thanks for all of your help! I will still feel like a dork driving it (I'm only 27!), but I suppose it's the most practical thing. And those power doors would be a welcome change from my stupid broken hatch. PS - carmengamble you had a 2001 - in 2003ish they added the spoiler on the back. It added weight to the hatch and they didn't increase the power. So in the winter I have to work against the frozen hydrolics to open it (which I ended up seriously hurting my arm doing, so I don't even try) and in the summer they don't have enough power to hold it up so it just falls back on my head. It's like they didn't even test it! We've had problems from the first winter we owned the stupid thing. |
I drove a mini van for too many years to count. We have a Dodge Caravan that I bought when my son was in Kindergarten. He is now 24 and we still own it. It's great for picking up the crap that you could never fit in a sedan. As the mother of 4 grown children I vowed never to buy a mini van again. My kids always said that they would never own a mini van and my 35 year old daughter just bought a Chrysler Town & Country for her growing family. Never say never. |
I have a Kia Sedona and I have had had a Toyota Sienna. I like them both. I have had the Kia for 3 years with almost no maint. I did the brakes once and oil changes. I love having a mini van for the kids, stuff, the dogs, more stuff, the friends, more stuff and the family members! |
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I know.... I was just kidding. If I had to switch from my SUV, I probably could but it's hard once you have that mindset. |
If I ever bought a Mini Van, it would be a Toyota. My son has one and he sits in it with room to spare and he's 6' 2". Theyve had it for a few years with no problems at all. We use to buy only Honda's now we buy Toyota's, untill we got the Lexus, but I think it's the same. |
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Plus the whole "car thing" is like the "yorkie thing." Some people don't understand why someone would dress up and fuss over a dog so much, same with the car some people just don't understand. It's their thing and it's hard to give up, so it isn't just the cool factor. You'd have to be a car fanatic to understand... like me, I live in both the yorkie and car world. Don't think I'd be able to part with either!!!! :D If I had to go with a mini van, then I'd definitely look into Toyota or Honda. I've had both kinds of vehicles and they're extremely reliable. |
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