Minivan Shopping -DOH!

[cygnusx1]

Yes folks, there comes a time in your life when you need more vehicle. My wife and 9 month old son are tired of hitting their heads in the roof of our Subaru Legacy Wagon while loading the car. It's an '01 Wagon 5 speed AWD with only 54K miles. We need more space. We went looking for AWD Minivans and came across the Toyot Sienna line. We went to the dealer and checked out an 07 Limited AWD, it has Navigation, backup camera, adaptive cruise control, power everything, DVD player, four zone A/C, 10 speakers, and enough room to fit my livingroom. I was amazed at the thing. It also can tow 3500lbs. It just might even tow a 280Z to Limerock Park or The Glen.

 

The problem is that the sticker was $40K That pretty much ended all the fun. NO WAY can I spend nearly that much on any vehicle, nevermind a minivan.

 

Then I see that I can get an 04-05 version of the SAME vehicle with like 25K miles on it for about $23-$25K. It seems to me that the 04 and 05 have little or no difference from the 07 other than the slightly larger motor. The 07 can use regular gas, whereas all earlier models required premium. My wife would use it as a DD but only drives about 20 miles/day.

 

Any thoughts or recommendations in the world of minivans? We really like the bells and whistles of the Limited Toyo Sienna's but are they reliable? SUV is out of the question. They just don't make any sense to me as we don't offroad. We need AWD for our driveway, hilly local roads in the winter, and ski season.

 

I bet I can fit the Z inside the Sienna!

 

Hold the minivan=oldguy jokes

[Sparky]

Save yourself some money and buy them helmets or hard hats.

[EvilC]

I will make no old guys jokes on HBZ.....only in person!

[qwik240z]

Yes folks, there comes a time in your life when you need more vehicle. My wife and 9 month old son are tired of hitting their heads in the roof of our Subaru Legacy Wagon while loading the car. It's an '01 Wagon 5 speed AWD with only 54K miles. We need more space. We went looking for AWD Minivans and came across the Toyot Sienna line. We went to the dealer and checked out an 07 Limited AWD, it has Navigation, backup camera, adaptive cruise control, power everything, DVD player, four zone A/C, 10 speakers, and enough room to fit my livingroom. I was amazed at the thing. It also can tow 3500lbs. It just might even tow a 280Z to Limerock Park or The Glen.

 

The problem is that the sticker was $40K That pretty much ended all the fun. NO WAY can I spend nearly that much on any vehicle, nevermind a minivan.

 

Then I see that I can get an 04-05 version of the SAME vehicle with like 25K miles on it for about $23-$25K. It seems to me that the 04 and 05 have little or no difference from the 07 other than the slightly larger motor. The 07 can use regular gas, whereas all earlier models required premium. My wife would use it as a DD but only drives about 20 miles/day.

 

Any thoughts or recommendations in the world of minivans? We really like the bells and whistles of the Limited Toyo Sienna's but are they reliable? SUV is out of the question. They just don't make any sense to me as we don't offroad. We need AWD for our driveway, hilly local roads in the winter, and ski season.

 

I bet I can fit the Z inside the Sienna!

 

Hold the minivan=oldguy jokes

 

My wife's DD is a 2005 Honda Odyssey Touring Edition. Although it is not an AWD, it does great in the snow. I have an 06 G35x with AWD and the Honda can go anywhere I can go.

 

The Honda is a great Family Van. We test drove the Honda, Toyota and the Chrysler minivans and the Honda was by far the better of them all. More space, the best ergonomics, most power, best fuel mileage, regular gas, etc. etc. etc. There must be a reason that Car and Driver continues to name it the best minivan year after year.

 

As for reliability, we have 30,000 miles on ours and it has never had a problem.

 

I have towed with it too and it doesn't even feel like there is a car back there.

 

Before you get hung up on the "I must have an AWD", think about how much you time your wife will really spend driving it in the snow.

 

 

I can't say enough good things about the Honda. It is just a great Minivan.

 

Drive a Honda, then Decide! D'oh!

[mark]

Anything I buy is used. I let some other sucker eat the first year or two of depreciation. Some remaining factory warrenty is a must for any car that will see daily driver use.

[ZDrifter]

Is there a reason your set on minivans?? Why not a SUV such as the highlander? Heard good things about them, they drive like a camry, but have the room of a minivan...maybe a little less. Im sure the towing might be a little better aswell. If you think about it....minivans are going out....suv's are in...I would look at depreciation value aswell.

[Sparks280zt]

Anything I buy is used. I let some other sucker eat the first year or two of depreciation. Some remaining factory warrenty is a must for any car that will see daily driver use.

 

Agreed here, anyways avoid the Chrysler vans unless you want to put a transmission in them. Honda all the way, nice vans.

[mario_82_ZXT]

How much more room do you need?

 

There's always the Subaru Forestor (especially the XT with the turbo WRX drivetrain).

 

Does the Nissan Quest come in all wheel drive? I've driven one and it was pretty nice.

Mario

[cygnusx1]

We want a larger vehicle to keep all the "crap" in it. Every time we go somewhere we have to shuffle stuff out of the house and rotate what we need and what we dont need for that day. I would like to bring EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE. The Bikes, windsurfer, both strollers, my RC Plane, all the stuff that goes along with kids...and the such. I will also gain room in the house by leaving all the kids travel gear in the van. SUV's generally have higher step up and narrower interiors due to the wheel size and ground clearances. They also suffer a little in gas mileage. Nothing compares to double sliding doors! We also like to camp, so we could take the minivan, pitch a tent, put the seats and stuff in the tent and sleep in the van, watch a DVD. even on a rainy day camping would be fun. LOL.

 

I thought about not needing the AWD but my wife is not convinced that she would make it up our local hills if she had too without it. I think two wheel drive should be fine because of the sheer weight of the van but she would need some convincing. We do get about 4 to 5 days a year around here where you get caught at work during a snow/ice storm and need to make it home. It can be pretty nasty with all the hills and cambered roads in my area.

 

I really like the Honda and I will suggest to my wife that we test one. She is a Honda fan anyhow.

 

Whatever we buy, it will be pre-depreciated! I am not taking that new vehicle slap in the face ever again.

[SteelToad]

Do yourself a favor, and take a look at some conversion vans as well. Look down the road a little when your son is older and has a little bro/sis. The extra room can make those family trips so much more comfortable. I've had a couple minivans and thought they were nice till I got the conversion van.

[1 tuff z]

current issue of c&d named the odyssey once again #1 in their comparo test. i'm confident you won't need the awd and a fwd will be fine. i run studded snows all around on my accord and it will push snow.

 

or you could simply pad the headliner. my wife flat out refuses to even consider a minivan [i love that woman]!

[cygnusx1]

After driving the Sienna last night, my wife felt like she had no control over it. She has only driven stick shift for the past 12 years and the automatic combined with the "bus" made her feel uneasy. We got back into her Legacy and she called it sporty! I suppose she is right when comparing it to a minivan. We could live with the Legacy Wagon and see what it's like when the boy can climb into the car himself.

 

Conversion vans are really nice but I can't see her DD'ing one.

 

David, there is a hill that you need to drive on to get to my house and I gaurantee that studded, front wheel drive cars will NOT climb when it is snow covered. Going down is even worse. It's lined with stone walls and curves about 75 degrees at a 25 degree pitch into a one-lane bridge. Everytime it snows, the road is basically closed unless you have AWD with snows and skills. The road is usually the last road to get plowed and may take a day or two to get cleared after a big storm....all this for $10K/yr in town-school taxes! yay. Although the serenity and privacy of the area makes it all worthwhile.

[1 tuff z]

move to rochester, lower taxes, more snow, fewer hills, larger z club and...me!

 

i slay myself...lol

[qwik240z]

After driving the Sienna last night, my wife felt like she had no control over it. She has only driven stick shift for the past 12 years and the automatic combined with the "bus" made her feel uneasy. We got back into her Legacy and she called it sporty! I suppose she is right when comparing it to a minivan. We could live with the Legacy Wagon and see what it's like when the boy can climb into the car himself.

 

Conversion vans are really nice but I can't see her DD'ing one.

 

David, there is a hill that you need to drive on to get to my house and I gaurantee that studded, front wheel drive cars will NOT climb when it is snow covered. Going down is even worse. It's lined with stone walls and curves about 75 degrees at a 25 degree pitch into a one-lane bridge. Everytime it snows, the road is basically closed unless you have AWD with snows and skills. The road is usually the last road to get plowed and may take a day or two to get cleared after a big storm....all this for $10K/yr in town-school taxes! yay. Although the serenity and privacy of the area makes it all worthwhile.

 

 

 

Have her drive the Odyssey. We thought the Sienna was Bus like too. The Honda drives so nice, she will love it.

 

Keep the Subaru and park it at the bottom of the drive in the winter. then if she can't make it up the hill, she can jump into the scoobie for the run up the hill. It is nice to have an addditional car around too. She may feel the need to drive something a bit more "sporty" once in a while and it will keep her out of your Z car too.

 

We have 6 cars here that all run great and I can get in any of them, and go anywhere.

 

Well 3 of them are Datsuns (240z and 2 510s) but I have a G35x as the DD and the wife has the Honda Odyessy as the DD and we have and a Mercury Mountaineer AWD as the workhorse.

[cygnusx1]

Thanks to you guys, I have been able to convince here that AWD in a minivan is probably overkill. We are going to test drive an Odyssey tonight.

 

I can't believe how many "flood cars" I've run into from Katrina, and the local flooding this Spring, while doing my minivan searches.

 

I love when one salesman said, "It was totalled due to flooding but we fixed it and it's still under factory warranty until the manufacturer finds out it was totalled!"

 

WTF are you kidding me!

[qwik240z]

Thanks to you guys, I have been able to convince here that AWD in a minivan is probably overkill. We are going to test drive an Odyssey tonight.

 

I can't believe how many "flood cars" I've run into from Katrina, and the local flooding this Spring, while doing my minivan searches.

 

I love when one salesman said, "It was totalled due to flooding but we fixed it and it's still under factory warranty until the manufacturer finds out it was totalled!"

 

WTF are you kidding me!

 

I want to point out the only negative thing I have found about the Honda. The center row seats do not stow away so if you want to pull them out, you need to store them somewhere. They are a bit heavy too. Not a big problem for me as I have a trailer so I can pick up large items with that but it can be a pain if you like to buy antique furniture at the spur of the moment.

 

Let us know what you both think of the Odyssey.

 

The touring model only seats 7 instead of eight but it has heated seats, 360 watt sound system, run flat tires, parking sensors, backup camera, adjustable pedals, and a few more things I can't remember now. When we finally decided to get a Minivan we knew we would keep it for 10+ years so we bought it new and purchased the 7yr 100K warranty too. It was the 3rd new car we had ever purchased. We mostly buy used too but in 05 the new bodystyle had just been released and we didn't want the old body style.

[mannyvig]

Stay in the family and check out the AWD Murano. Less room than the van but then its sporty and doesnt feel like a bus.

[Pop N Wood]

We have a 2001 Toyota Sienna with 85K miles. No real problems. Once drove across the state of Ohio with the cruise control set at 94 mph and kids watching videos in the back. They are very nice and very comfortable vehicles. The thing does well in the snow, but winters here are fairly mild. They do have soft suspension and an unbelievable amount of rubber between the chassis and the body. Definitely no sports car.

 

Will probably buy a new minivan next year. The Toyota and Honda are on the top of the list. Don't see much difference between the two of them. They both have the same size motor, same gas mileage, same transmissions, many of the same options and about the same reputation. Guess I will buy whichever gives me the better deal.

 

SUV's make no real sense to me when you have kids. Sliding doors are a godsend to avoid having to scream at your kids about door dings. It is really nice to be able to lean down to strap in a kid rather than reach up to the car seat like you do with an SUV. Especially if your wife is not very tall. And unlike an SUV the third row seat is accessible even to adults without anyone having to get up. This is even true with a kid seat strapped in. I think most SUV's need to remove the kids seat to slide the middle row forward for third row access.

 

I have known several people who traded in SUV's for the reasons above.

 

Plus the death rates in minivans are markedly better than the average SUV or body on frame van.

 

And never buy the factory DVD or navigation systems. Check out Best Buy and save yourself several thousand dollars.

[qwik240z]

Stay in the family and check out the AWD Murano. Less room than the van but then its sporty and doesnt feel like a bus.

 

The murano probably has less interior space then the Subaru they have now.

[dsommer]

We bought an 07 Odyssey Labor Day weekend, traded in an 03 Pilot love the extra room. You think you have a lot of stuff with a 9 month old I've got 22 month old TWINS!!!

 

Getting the boys in and out is a breeze compared to the pilot or any SUV for that matter. You don't have to lift them UP to get them in. The Odyssey rides like a car, I can't wait to take it on a trip.