[MommieMin]

DH is thinking of trading in his car. I really want to convice him to take my 4Runner & get a new van. Which van do you have? What do you like/dislike about it?

Thanks for your help,

Mindy

[Dmitry'smom]

I don't have a minivan..but I am thinking of trading in my Trailblazer for one.

All (seriously ALL) my friends have the Honda Odyssey and every single one of them LOVE it. One has an old version (about 6 yrs old) and some have brand new ones but all of them really like them. I like them too so I figure if I can swing it that is the direction I am heading in.

[robandjulie]

we have the mazda 5 which is a mini-mini van. It seats 4 beautifully with a TON of space in the back or 6 comfortably with enough space for 3-4 bags of groceries. It has the dual sliding doors which are so fantastic in parking lots or our garage, great safety features, decent gas mileage (25-30mpg on our trip this weekend--we had about 1200 miles total with a mix of highway/construction/city/hilly and averaged about 28 mpg) and while it feels like a minivan inside, it's actually smaller (shorter) than my Honda Accord, making it super easy to get into parking spaces or fit into our garage. Love love love this car. We're planning to trade in the Accord for another one!

[jennsult]

I don't have a van either. I have one of those crossover vehicles, Subaru Tribeca 7 passenger. I love it. The seats fold down so you have a lot of space. I am not really a van type person so this is the next best thing.

[iuando]

I am a stay at home dad for the past 4 years and other than the total shame of driving a van....LOVE IT!

Drives nice, parks easily...DVD is a HUGE deal driving on long trips.

Kids are 5 & 3 both adorable little Guatemalan/Hoosiers and they can climb in and get buckled etc. with almost no help.

[hopin4ababy]

It has almost 100,000 miles on it and I will not part with it!! My dh keeps asking me if I want to get a new car and I keep telling him, "No way"!! I love everything about it and hope to keep it for another 5 years atleast....guess that says something, huh! Ali

[T&T]

We have owned two vans, the first was a Chrysler and now we own a Toyota.

There were a number of things that we hated about the Chrysler. Couldn't put the sliding door windows down, so when that thing got hot it stayed hot for a while. Also hated the turning radius, felt like I was driving a big ole' bus. Last but not least I hated the engine, no get up and go. We use to call it the Yabba-dabba-do van cause much like Fred Flintstone, we felt like if we used our legs, we could have gone faster.

Two years ago we went van shopping again and I test drove everyone out there. Liked the Honda, but didn't like the attitude of the dealership. They weren't going to come down off the sticker price and their attitude was IMO a bit snobbish. The Toyota Sienna was just as nice and we actually liked a few things better. One thing to take note of is how easy is it to get into the third row seat. When we looked at Honda's, their second row seats did not fold up and flip up like the Sienna's did. That made it much harder to get into the very back seat. You may not think that you will use that seat much, but if you have company you might. Perhaps they changed the design, but you should take note of how easy it is to get into that third row because it could vary greatly.

Things we love about out Sienna. Great engine with lots of get up and go. Fred eat your heart out! Love the tight turning radius no more bus, yeah! Love, love, LOVE the fact that we can put down the sliding door windows. It's a great van, and we have not regretted buying it.

We also own an mid-size SUV. Here's some thoughts about a van versus and SUV. When you have little kids here are two advantages of owning a van. First, in a parking lot it is much easy to get your little one up into their car seat and properly buckled in when you load them into a van with a sliding door. You don't have a big door stuck open, so you aren't in any body's way. If somene needs to get into their car next to you, no problem. Plus you don't have to worry about someone swinging into the empty space next to you and hitting your open door. Second there were times when I had to load my daughter into my SUV in pouring rainstorms and I got soaked. With a van it's great because you can get right into the back with your child, and get them all properly buckeld in with out getting soaked. Then the best part is if you are limber enough you can then just climb up into the front seat and you continue to stay dry.

I am not a big fan of vans, I would rather have my SUV. Still when DD comes home DH and I will swapping and I will take the van back. The easy that they allow when dealing with a little one cannot be beat. Plus, I wouldn't be able to load my stroller in the back of my SUV and then be able to put anything else back there. With the van, stoller and packages, plenty of room and then some.

Good luck with your decision!
T.

[RuthC]

Hi. I went with the Maxda CX-9. It seats 7, has fold down seats, lots of room and drives like a car. It doesn't have the floatie feeling that vans seem to have and it's tight. When you shut the doors, all noises stop. Too bad it doesn't have a silence barrier for when the girls wind up.

Ruth

[CaddoRose]

We have a 99 Toyota Sienna Van that has almost 200,000 miles on it. Never had one major problem with it at all. We just recently started having plastic items break and one window motor went out. We had a complete tune-up, timing belt change and anything else we could do to make sure it keeps running as well as it does now. I don't want a car payment and we already own the van, so no payments.

If I did buy a new car, it would be another Sienna van. In our model the back seats can actually come out of the van or they can be folded down flat, like a bed, or folded over on themselves or tumbled so they are right up next tot he back of the front bench seat. It makes for a lot of room in the back any way you do it. It is a great car to drive and so comfortable on long trips.

[Jaime Christine]

We went from a our Mazda6 to the Odyssey. I NEVER thought I'd drive a minivan, but I LOVE this vehicle.

It is sooo smooth, turns on a dime. It will last our family for many years to come.

It has a rear view camera- which I love, having so many children in our neighborhood, navigation system is great, the kid's love the dvd player w/ headphones. It has storage in between the front seats and middle seats w/ a lazy susan (put our dvd's and extra diapers outfits for emergencies!), stow and go seating, Has a ton of cupholders (17 I think- because I thought it would be fun to look at owners manual- they are everywhere!)

I listened to all the input from the board back in March of 07 and ended up buying our Odyssey!