Looking to get one at some point. Not necessarily urgent, though if a great deal presents itself I wouldn't mind moving quick. Otherwise generally, at some point within the next 1.5 years or so am looking to move up from a 5 seater SUV to a minivan.
Looking for this to be a long, long term car. Have 2 kids now, will probably aim for a third at some point. But even with two, a lot of cousins, extended family, grandparents that tag along, so the seating capacity is important regardless. So not looking to buy a used one with a shorter lifespan on it. I'd be open to used, but would have to be on the younger end of that spectrum anyway.
I definitely value fuel economy, especially with an eventual move back to LA seeming like an inevitability (probably at least 4-5 years out, but still). The only hybrid options out there are the Toyota Sienna, Chrysler Pacifica (which has a nifty plug-in feature as well, qualifying it for the EV rebate), and as of recently the Kia Carnival.
My intuition tells me to avoid Chrysler at all costs, even if I can sneak a cheaper OTD price with the tax rebate. Toyotas are always a safe bet (and its why even the used ones aint cheap). Kia's have had up and downs as far as perceived reliability... used to be ter, then seen as up and comer, now somewhere in between. But they have the most generous warranty.
Any of you drive any of these newer minis? Appreciate any feedback. 7 seater vs 8 seater, etc. Still just researching more than hunting at this piont.
We had a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan back in the day that was sold back during the pandemic. Got it brand new and never had any serious problems with it, went well over 200k miles.
There's a joke to be made here about "ask blake about how many riders fit on the train his ex wife pulled"...
I'd totally be on board with newer station wagons that adhere to classic wagon design like two bench seats in the back facing each other. That was peak family vehicle design; mini-conference room station wagons.
Only if it's a Nova II.
by pure aesthetics the kia carnival has by far the best look. has SUV personality to it
The Honda Odyssey s hard
Out of curiosity why not just upgrade to an SUV with a third row? I recently upgraded to a VW Atlas and am pretty happy with it
you just get more car with a van. third rows of most SUV's are so cramped that they're barely usable for adults, particularly if you go on a longer trip (we drive back and forth between LA and LV quite a bit). right now my mother in law stays with us to help watch our youngest. so we usually travel with 5 on those trips, and asking someone to sit in between 2 large modern car seats kinda sucks. my wife puts up with it for now... but its not cool. so she'd be the one in the third row. and if we ever travel with larger family (my sister, her kids)... we'd need adults occupying the back row.
and while the third row is up, most SUV's have pretty limited cargo space. my current forester (5 seater) has about 34 cubic feet, and i feel like we use quite a bit of that (bulky stroller parts). the atlas gets you about 20 cubic feet behind the third row. a minivan will get you somewhere between 33 and 40 cubic feet behind the third row. you basically need to get a supersized SUV like a suburban to compete with the space of a minivan.
and then those huge SUVs preform pretty poorly from a fuel economy standpoint. meanwhile you can get a hybrid sienna that gets you 36/36. with regular road trips, and eventual plan to move back to LA which requires a stupid amount of driving, seems like an investment i'd like to make. its the only reason im even considering a pacifica because of the plug-in aspect. 30 miles of electric range is more than enough to deal with the every day pick up, drop off, grocery shopping, etc
also sliding doors are a godsend with kids, in addition to the lower entry height. right now my 3yo has to climb into our forester and it takes him a minute unless i carry him. he can walk into a minivan no problem. he'd need a stepstool to get into a larger SUV
i grew up in a Pontiac Montata, loved it as a kid. then my cousins' parents got an Odyssey and it was clearly a much nicer interior. and as a Honda, it lasted quite a bit longer than our Pontiac. if Honda offered a hybrid odyssey it would be a contender probably alongside the Sienna
Ah yeah you definitely need a van then. The gas usage in the larger SUVs are definitely a but since I work from home that mitigates it for me. Honestly kinda selling me on one though. That Kia van does look pretty nice for a minivan. Wife and I only have 1 kid though so I couldn't justify ityou just get more car with a van. third rows of most SUV's are so cramped that they're barely usable for adults, particularly if you go on a longer trip (we drive back and forth between LA and LV quite a bit). right now my mother in law stays with us to help watch our youngest. so we usually travel with 5 on those trips, and asking someone to sit in between 2 large modern car seats kinda sucks. my wife puts up with it for now... but its not cool. so she'd be the one in the third row. and if we ever travel with larger family (my sister, her kids)... we'd need adults occupying the back row.
and while the third row is up, most SUV's have pretty limited cargo space. my current forester (5 seater) has about 34 cubic feet, and i feel like we use quite a bit of that (bulky stroller parts). the atlas gets you about 20 cubic feet behind the third row. a minivan will get you somewhere between 33 and 40 cubic feet behind the third row. you basically need to get a supersized SUV like a suburban to compete with the space of a minivan.
and then those huge SUVs preform pretty poorly from a fuel economy standpoint. meanwhile you can get a hybrid sienna that gets you 36/36. with regular road trips, and eventual plan to move back to LA which requires a stupid amount of driving, seems like an investment i'd like to make. its the only reason im even considering a pacifica because of the plug-in aspect. 30 miles of electric range is more than enough to deal with the every day pick up, drop off, grocery shopping, etc
also sliding doors are a godsend with kids, in addition to the lower entry height. right now my 3yo has to climb into our forester and it takes him a minute unless i carry him
no need a van with 1 kid at all. even with 2, a compact suv like the RAV4, CRV, Forester (we wanted the forester for its strong AWD system back when we were in the east coast and got some snow), or comparable stuff is plenty. tbh a sedan would even be fine if it werent for these gigantic modern rear facing car seats
its just different for us since we right now have a household with 3 adults, 2 small kids, and regularly go on 4+ hour drives.
its preference of course, and with a van you arent going to get a powerful drive (some of the big SUVs are pretty fiesty), and you dont have the tow capacity of SUV's if you have a boat, camper, or intend to engage in any kind of rough terrain/offroad type stuff. theres also plenty of hybrid SUV options out there if fuel economy was a huge deal. and theres the rivian EVs but i wouldnt touch those, also way more expensive than id care for
ive just always told myself that if i ever felt i needed a 3rd row at all id just go straight to minivan instead of a 3 row SUV. my sister has 2 kids and they have the Model Y which has the third row. they never really use the third row unless its some occasion where they're dragging extra family around. but when they put the 3rd row up, the cargo space is laughable and the 3rd row seats are egregiously small. Atlas is much better at the third row stuff than the Y, thats for sure.
we grew up as 2 kids and had a minivan, but we also regularly hauled family/cousins around
Kia does have great designs but I'm not sure I'd take one as a gift. But I'm also never going to get anything but Toyota ever again.by pure aesthetics the kia carnival has by far the best look. has SUV personality to it
As for Honda, there are 2 CRVs and a Pilot in our family/ extended family and all have had problems with the A/C. Turns out this has been an issue for Hondas now for a couple decades now.
If I was to ever get a minivan my choice would be the Sienna
tbh it feels very hard to up a toyota purchase
i had an 08 civic that i drove for 16 years with nary a problem. cant speak to more modern ones
Expedition
Straight to the gallows
as appealing as the concept of the plug-in would be for day to day usage, i cant in good conscience buy a pacifica. worst rated car overall for reliability. just so many horror stories of brand new ones giving out and needing transmission replacements. evidently was such a big problem that to avoid lawsuits they ended up giving out 10 year unlimited mile warranties on the transmissions of the affected models. doesnt seem like the problem was actually addressed, as the 2024's seem to run into the same problem at an alarming rate.
warranty is fine and all, but every time im driving the kids between Vegas and LA im going to be sweating bullets that its going to give out without warning. just cant pull the trigger on a big purchase with that kind of stress
gonna go check out the Carnival and Sienna. Sienna definitely feels safer (evidenced by the absurd resale values)... just gotta see if the feel and price of the carnival is sufficiently better to justify it
kind of a bummer though. the pacifica is the only one ive been in and driven and man it feels and drives great. love the concept of the vehicle, and there are deals to be had with the EV credit applying to it
I say get a camper. Especially if you're out west
Get the Sienna
I agree here. My sister has had two of them and she has loved both of them. She has four kids all 2 years apart
Trump won't do to lower gas prices. He's the king of empty promises.
picked up the Carnival Hybrid
wound up a coinflip between that and the Sienna. was just a much more comfortable interior and a quieter, smoother drive. if we were just doing a lot of short range city driving i wouldnt care much, but we drive back and forth between Vegas and LA usually about 1-2x a month and will be doing so for the next few years, so the comfort factor was a big deal.
yeah the resale value wont be nearly as good as the Sienna, but this is meant to be our tank for the next decade plus, not planning on trading/upgrading or anything like that, so that was less of a factor. a bit of a gamble compared to the sure thing of the Toyota, but warranty is strong and the same hybrid powertrain has already been used on the Sorento for several years and their track record was fine.
ive put in just over 3200 miles in about 1.5 months since buying it. so far i have no real complaints about the car... but obviously still in the honeymoon phase. couldnt really make any recommendations until about 50-60k to see if any issues really flare up
main thing i dislike about it is needing to toggle between climate and infotainment controls instead of just having dials or separate controls. gotta tap that button near the middle-left and the touch icons all swap back and forth between them. think thats just a matter of getting used to, be imo just seems unnecessary. with that said, the big touch monitor above it works quite well and is intuitive/responsive
the drive quality is nice, as is the interior. ive been beating the rated MPG when driving city or local highways, though as expected, on longer road trips going 75+, getting lower than the rated highway MPG. between LV and LA am getting about 27-28 on those trips which is still nice for a vehicle of this size (last couple of times with 6 people in the car and very loaded trunk), but lower than the rated 31. but those ratings usually contemplate going 60-65, not 75+, so thats fair. took it up to the cold in mammoth mountain. while there wasnt much snow on the road, didnt see any issues with the cold weather.
interior comfort has been really good, even with people having to sit next to or in between car seats.
so far so good, though for the first few years before i get to high miles, im going to be constantly wondering if i should have just gotten a toyota and if im going to inevitably run into some issue because its a kia and not a toyota. hope not.
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