Suddenly I need a minivan

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Oh and the cargo area is awesome!! Lots of space between the seats and the back seat can be put down all the way so its flush with the floor. Great for camping and stuff.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Wow thanks for all the replies folks! I guess I will print off some of these recommendations and take to the car lots tomorrow in search for the right price on a used vehicle. I won't be buying yet, just browsing to get a better idea of what we will eventually get. HOPEFULLY in the next few months I can save up a decent ammount, sell my car, and get something to accomodate the growing family

If it all works out our fosters could arrive sometime in the next month or so(still doing paperwork and training at this point), and we can manage with what we have temporarily, but will have to have something pretty soon after their arrival. This is a tremendous help though! I knew I could count on ya'll to help narrow it down some with personal recommendations

I wanna test drive an Odyssey now

 

[ChickenAlgebra]

Oh, Highlander holds 7 max, the Sequoia and Land Cruiser by Toyota both hold 8. With ANY high passenger SUV, prices are high. Minivans are cheaper. We keep the Highlanders because they are hybrids, making up for the miles we wrack up.

 

[stilldeb]

We have driven the wheels off of three Dodge Grand Caravans and now suddenly find ourselves not in need of one anymore - we are on 'the other side'. Gave one of them to first daughter when she got married and another to second daughter when she got married (the first Caravan got traded in) and now hey - I'm drivin' a car just my size! I hear they are not going to be making the Caravan anymore so you can probably get an awesome deal. Most room for the money, all the DVD players, etc. Carted around a lot of kids, dogs, groceries, and...STUFF...to a lot of places in mine!

Best of luck.

 

[Carols Clucks]

Beware chevy products that used dextol.


My venture van blew the tranny cause it ate thru the gaskets, the oil leak was something we just dealt with.

My cousin just sold her Olds version of the Venture cause they were over the same issues and the dealer was done with doing the repairs to the tranny too.

 

[mom'sfolly]

I'm on my second Honda minivan. I drove the first one for 12 years, and we didn't buy it for kiddos, but for the ease of loading a 3/4 size bass violin. It came in very handy when the kiddos came along. I never had any problems with it, until I had been driving it a very long time. In the end, it needed to have the antilock brakes replaced and the airbags repacked, both about $1500 jobs. On a 12 year old car is simply wasn't worth it. I donated it to charity, and it was auctioned for $1500. Mind you this was a 12 year old car, had close to 150,000 miles and had been through two babies and a dog.

I'm three years into my new Odyssey, and all I've done is routine maintenance. I bought the higher end model, knowing that I would be driving it for a long time. It is comfortable, roomy, has a good cargo capacity, and decent mileage.

I looked at the Toyota minivan and the Mazda, but decided against them. The Mazda was too small, especially in the last row, and had little headroom. Toyota's pricing on a new car is ala cart, which means that while you can get exactly what you want, you get nickled and dimed to death. While the base model was cheaper than the Honda, by the time you added the options, it was much more expensive. This isn't much of a concern if you are buying used. The Toyota is significantly quieter than the Honda, and the Honda much quieter than the Mazda. The Honda has technology where it shuts down cylinders when it doesn't need them, the Toyota doesn't. I think the gas mileage is similar. The Mazda is smaller and gets better mileage.

If you are short, a minivan is probably a better option than most big SUVs, especially dealing with car seats. The SUV's are higher and more awkward to get in and out of. The sliding doors on a minivan also allow for easier access to car seats and keep older kids from swinging heavy doors into other cars.

 

[ChickenAlgebra]

I'm 5' even and have no problems bouncing in and out of the Highlanders. The Sequoia is slightly too big for that to be easy, thus we stay with the 7 passengers for yet another reason

However, we do have (currently) 4 people who have driver's licenses at home, plus our 18 y/o comes home for holidays. So we have 2 7 pass SUVs, 1 5 pass SUV and 2 5 pass cars, of which 1 does easily carry 3 kids in the backseat without any fighting. So we just split up and drive a few cars to a place. If you don't have that ability, I'd look at an 8 or 9 passenger SUV/mini van because the extra seat belts come in handy when you have an extra kid or two. The infants are just in the 2nd row so someone can buckle them in, the other kids can buckle their own seatbelts/harnesses. Yes, even my 3 y/o who is RFing can do her own just fine. They have to ride where I buckle them in until they learn to NEVER unbuckle their harness unless told to. It's the RFing seats that take up a LOT of room between the seat and the tethers. Plus I'm way too cheap to buy the smaller seats that only go to 35 or 40 lbs because my boys outgrow those in no time flat, so I get the freaking huge seats to start with.

 

[WingingIt]

This is probably older than you're looking for, but I have a 2000 Dodge Durango that I bought used from a car rental place years ago. It seats 7 as long as one of those is fairly small framed (SIL can fit there, I can't). I currently have a 5 point harness car seat and a booster seat in there and we can still fit 7 (and do on a regular basis). The back row is raised a bit, so don't put your tallest adults back there, save that for the kids, lol. I can fit in that last row, I just don't like to because I feel like if we were to hit a big bump, I'd hit my head. There is still room in the back for stuff and if you don't have everyone in there, both sets of seats fold down (or just one if you only need the back row down) and you can haul all kinds of stuff - groceries, dressers, tile, boxes, whatever. Mine is a 4wd and I've been so thankful for that on many occasions (living in different states).

 

[Southernbelle]

My minivan seats 7 (pretty typical for minivans, I think)- 2 bucket seats up front, 2 bucket seats in the middle and a bench seat across the back with 3 seatbelts. We have 4 kids and it fits our family of 6 very comfortably. It's a bit of a tight fit when we're using all 7 seatbelts, but 6 is very comfortable, even on long trips.

Some minivans have a longer body than others, so do your homework and make sure to get the longer bodied van. There's more cargo space and more foot room between seats. My van is 10+ years old, so the gas milage isn't great, but I'm sure the newer models are better. My parents have a Toyota van with a short body and it's so cramped! Mine's a Ford and it's longer and so much nicer.

I like minivans better than SUV's because the floor is lower, so easier for me and the kids to get in and out of (especially infant seats that you carry around). I LOVE that the rear doors slide back and forth, so you never have to worry about the kids swinging the door open and denting the car next to you. Ours also has leather seats - a MUST with kids - so easy to clean and ours has a video player which is great on long trips.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Chicken Algebra, both our vehicles are 5 seaters

We have a Ext cab Chevy, and a Buick Century, both large vehicles, but both one seat inadequate. I would just drive two vehicles, but it will eat us up in fuel considering everywhere we go is at least 10 miles away one way. I wonder how DD would feel if I asked her to ride in the trunk?

actually I prolly better not, I think she's ready to kill me already

Honda has technology that shuts down cylinders? That sounds like a big repair bill waiting for a place to happen actually. I don't like new technology

I don't need all the bells and whistles, we aren't gonna live in the thing! I am seriously looking for a simple thing, that will hold 6 folks, not even 6 folks and groceries, because I AM NOT dumb enough to take 4 kids and a husband to the store to shop

I need something that's used enough that it is reasonable enough to pay cash for it. I don't go into debt for vehicles. I'm thinking probably between an 02 model to as late as an 05, but not willing to shell out for anything newer. I don't know how long I will have these kids either, and may outgrow the need for such a large vehicle. I know I'll have them at least 6 months, but beyond that is uncertain. Who knows though, I may foster others eventually, so it'd be good to have in case. I basically want something we can pile into to go to church, ballgames, day trips etc. without the need to take two vehicles. I take the neighbor kids to church sometimes too.....darn it...maybe a 15 passenger van isn't a horrible idea..because that's a minimum need of 8 seats there, with 3 booster seats, and a long legged teen

Oh, and I'm tall, so don't have to worry about climbing into anything. The truck sits rather high, and I just step into it...my little mom almost has to have a boost though so I know what ya'll mean. She's 5'2.