Minivan Mamas Only

theultimatesak

because I haven't posted enough NCDR stuff today...

we are in need of a new (to us) vehicle and have been checking out minivans.  we currently have a Kia Sedona, and it's fine, but it wouldn't be my first choice of vehicle to buy again for reasons specific to our family, not the van itself.  

annnnnnyway, the three vans that we have been eyeballing most are the Dodge Grand Caravan, Chrysler Town & Country, and Toyota Sienna.  Does anyone own one of these and looooooooove it?  Hate it?  These are the three most available to me, but I'm not definitely set on them.  Does anyone own something else that they want to try to sell me on?  I've test driven those three and haven't noticed anything that stands out significantly from one make to the next.  The only MUSTS for this vehicle are 7-8 passenger seating and power rear doors.  Everything else I'm willing to be flexible about.

TJ1979

Not a minivan mama, but TJ was here!

mrshudson618

We have a grand caravan, and I do really like it but I am not sure the reasons exclude the others. Power sliding side doors, power rear door, and especially stow-away seating are all awesome. But maybe all three have these.

stoneycakes

I didn't obey your title either, SAK.  I'm not a minivan mama.  

flummadiddle85

We just bought the Kia Sedona, but looked a lot at all the minivans. Ididn't feel like the Toyota had any special selling point, the Dodge and Chrysler both have the stow n go, which I really like, but don't have great reliability ratings. Plus, if you use the stow n go seats, you still need to uninstall carseats... Just sayin, but you get the extra storage. I actually liked the Routan a lot. Since it's not made anymore, I think you get anbit more for your money, and if you buy certified, then you get more of a warranty, comparable to Kia or Honda (if you buy certified). The seats aren't stow n go, but the storage space is there. Also, if you're looking at the Dodge and Chrysler, the Routan is pretty much that, only with the VW name and warranties. But we have a 2012 Kia, and it has power doors. Just throwing that out there too. And a DVD system.... Not like DS can see it though RF....

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flummadiddle85

SecretAgentKate said:

mrshudson618 said:

We have a grand caravan, and I do really like it but I am not sure the reasons exclude the others. Power sliding side doors, power rear door, and especially stow-away seating are all awesome. But maybe all three have these.

It depends on the model, but most of the ones we're looking at have these.  The stow and go is the other part that my husband says is important--but I say when we have 4 kids in the back we won't be able to stow anything anyway.

Glad to hear you like it though.

I have a horrible fear of getting something and then afterwards realizing it has a ton of blindspots I never noticed or that there's some dumb design feature that you don't notice until you actually start using it.  

But you can still open the empty storage compartments with the kids in the back, right? At least that's what I remember...

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stoneycakes

LLOL, SAK.  I'm more jealous that you can post a video.

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PipSqueak0313

I am jealous of those that have minivans. I have to cram a 15 month old in his car seat, a 130 pound almost 6 foot tall 17year old and a 300+ pound adult in the back seat of my Ford Focus OR have said adult drive herself whenever we all are going somewhere. And I miss being able to climb in and shut the door to buckle the child in the car seat when it's pouring rain or snowing.

zaraceligon

What can I said, I don't know anything about cars. All the I know is the I really love my Honda oddysey, I like it better than Toyota.

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zaraceligon

I can said is the power, and the fuel economy. It really safe gas, I also like the style.

zaraceligon

Something the I really love,is the you can unlock and lock it without locking for the keys. The is a big plus for me.

TJ1979

SecretAgentKate said:

stoneycakes said:

LLOL, SAK.  I'm more jealous that you can post a video.

i'm a girl of many talents.

TWSS.

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flummadiddle85

Just curious why the Kia isn't your "first choice" since we just bought one. 

flummadiddle85

piffle42 said:

We have a 2012 Sienna LE and love it. We looked at Odysseys too but I know a couple people personally that had a lot of problems with the engines so that swayed us. The in car vacuum seems nice, but you can buy one that plugs into a cigarette lighter for a lot cheaper! We have the 8th seat and it's very easy to install. Ours is certified pre owned, so it has the extra warrenty. We got lucky and it only had 6000 miles on it when we got it 5 months ago so it's practically brand new. It was much cheaper though! The reliability is better historically plus DH has a Toyota that we've had minimal problems with. The only downside is our garage is barely big enough. I have to back in so I can open the trunk. We have a smallish garage though.

When we were looking at cars a month ago, I don't remember the Toyota certification program being that great in regards to extending the warranty. Wasn't it just extending the powertrain, and not the bumper to bumper? Kia comes with a pretty length warranty, and the certification keeps that warranty. Honda extends their B2B and powertrain quite a bit. Chrysler and Dodge did pretty much nothing, and VW certification warranties were pretty decent. 

flummadiddle85

Chickypoo2468 said:

They have a 12 month bumper to bumper. It also includes roadside assistance and it seemed like one other thing...

Oh yea... I remember now. But if it has something decent left on the original warrany, it doesn't get added on top of that. The sienna we looked at had about a year ofit's warranty left, so the certification wouldn't add a year to make it two like Honda and VW. Plus Honda and VW added more than a year. When we bought the Kia they offered a extended warranty on top of what it came with, to make the bumper to bumper 100k miles. We have time to decide on that tho.

flummadiddle85

piffle42 said:

Also, I believe the Grand Caravan and Town & Country are actually the exact same van, just sold under a different name.

The T and C is more luxury. The salesman said leather seats are standard in that one...

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flummadiddle85

SecretAgentKate said:

NVandGZ said:

Just curious why the Kia isn't your "first choice" since we just bought one. 

because of this. 

SecretAgentKate said:

NVandGZ said:

We just bought the Kia Sedona, but looked a lot at all the minivans. Ididn't feel like the Toyota had any special selling point, the Dodge and Chrysler both have the stow n go, which I really like, but don't have great reliability ratings. Plus, if you use the stow n go seats, you still need to uninstall carseats... Just sayin, but you get the extra storage. I actually liked the Routan a lot. Since it's not made anymore, I think you get anbit more for your money, and if you buy certified, then you get more of a warranty, comparable to Kia or Honda (if you buy certified). The seats aren't stow n go, but the storage space is there. Also, if you're looking at the Dodge and Chrysler, the Routan is pretty much that, only with the VW name and warranties. But we have a 2012 Kia, and it has power doors. Just throwing that out there too. And a DVD system.... Not like DS can see it though RF....

A 2008 Kia Sedona is what we currently have, and I like it as a minivan.  There are just some things specific to our family situation that make me less inclined to buy another one.  Like the fact that there are NO Kia dealerships around here and apparently they're a lot different inside than their minivan counterparts.  So getting parts to fix it and someone with enough knowledge about them is a pain (speaking from the experience of having my air conditioner attempted to be fixed 5 different times and still having it broken )  So if I want stuff fixed on it then I have to drive 3 hours and leave my van there for someone to work on.  That's just not realistic.  Even things like oil changes are a bigger deal because they don't keep the right filters around so you just kinda have to use whatever is close enough to work.  You can order stuff in but it ends up being more expensive because of that.  I do like it as a van though, and wouldn't be opposed to another one.  Even though we're not getting rid of the first one, so we'd have two in our driveway-lol

It really has nothing to do with the vehicle itself and more just because of how rural we are.

Sorry, I guess I missed that post. And I guess I didn't realize that about Kia's, but we've only had the van for a month... And are far from rural.

NavyMom77

We're planning to buy out first minivan next month and decided to go with a new-to-us Odyssey. Several family members have had them and had zero problems. Also the stow and go is important to me - I don't want to be out and about, have plans change and then realize extra seats I might need are at home in my garage! We went to our local CarMax and told the sales rep we were only researching, then looked are a Quest, Sienna and Odyssey side by side to compare and decide. Looking online I couldn't keep features straight and this way we did it all in one afternoon.

Angela814

I didn't get a chance to read all the other replies. We have a VW Routan, and I really like it.

The issue I'm finding is that the 3rd row isn't set up well for booster seats. The shoulder belt on the outboard sides is so far out that it doesn't contact the child's shoulder in a NBB. Some HBBs do fit there okay though. The middle seat is too narrow for any booster. Also, there's only one tether for ffing harnessed seats. These are things I didn't notice until we had our 3rd child two years into owning the van. Since you likely have more car seats than I do, I'd just suggest you make sure they all will fit okay in whichever van you decide on. Oh, and the T&C and Caravan are essentially the same van as the Routan.

ufsandra85

didnt read the posts but i have a toyota sienna limited. it was between that and the honda odyssey touring elite. i love it. it has recliner seats, i love the foot rests that come up. i love the dual dvd system so you can watch 2 different dvds at once. the blind spot sensor is amazing. i wish it had an ac seat option and i liked the nav of the touring elite better but i really love it. highly recommend the toyota sienna