Grocery getter

tugskenyonkel+1

In the next month or so I'll be trading my little mom car (altima) for a mini van. *sigh* I never thought it'd come to this. Anyways where are all the good ol soccer moms with recommendations on which make, model, and features are essential for my new grocery getter?

MoRay05

My friend (who has twins) has the Honda odyssey and loves it! She said the new models have a built in hand held vacuum cleaner. She also has the DVD players. It's like having a livingroom on wheels haha.

tugskenyonkel+1

@Mshrader05 That seems to be the one most of the moms from my church own. I don't have any experience with Hondas though so I am a little unsure.

rachrobertson

I have a 2005 Honda civic. Bought is used at 57,000 miles, up to 144,000. Only had to replace one thing on it, crank shaft or cam shaft, which happened to go out on Christmas day this past year. I love my Honda and with baby #2 on the way, we will want a bigger car and I am looking mainly at Honda. Even my DH who is a car man/ford man says Honda makes a good car. He refuses to consider some companies but will buy a Honda.

soberrysweet

Two of my friends have the Odyssey and the Sienna. They look the same to me. And they both seem happy with those. I'm all, eff that. No minivan for me. I got an suv.

2octobermama

Love my Honda Pilot! Comfortable and plenty of room for 2 kids and large dog. Family all lives out of town so we need plenty of room to pack up and haul everything. I couldn't bring myself to do the whole minivan thing

tugskenyonkel+1

soberrysweet said:

Two of my friends have the Odyssey and the Sienna. They look the same to me. And they both seem happy with those. I'm all, eff that. No minivan for me. I got an suv.

This is baby number four. Two of them will be in full sized car seats. I've had third row suvs before. I loved my Tahoe and hated my navigator. I just can't go back to 9mpg (navi ) or 13 mpg with most large suvs as I drive at least 60 miles a day on work days and over 120 to visit family. I also found the suvs leave little leg room for third row passengers and have a seven year old Well past 4 ft tall and all legs.

Finnley713 said:

Love my Honda Pilot! Comfortable and plenty of room for 2 kids and large dog. Family all lives out of town so we need plenty of room to pack up and haul everything. I couldn't bring myself to do the whole minivan thing

oliviaann91

I had a Honda Accord for 8 years, bought it used and it still ran great when I sold it, even with 250,000 miles on it. I have a Honda CRV now and love it, although I'm a bit disappointed with cargo space in the back. My mom has had a Honda Pilot for 10 years and it's been a great vehicle. As long as you keep up the regular maintenance, I have no bad things to say about Honda. I wish I had bought the odyssey though, simply for the built in vacuum OCD mama's dream lol

Pearlvirus

This is only #2 for me and we just got a Toyota Sienna. I used to be all like, no way mini vans are so ugly! But now I almost brag about how awesome it is. Yeah it may not be the sexiest transport on the planet, but the utility can't be beat!! We picked sienna because it is the only van that offers AWD and I did one winter on our long steap gravel driveway without AWD, never again. But it has loads of other great features too. The third row folds totally flat to the floor, so I can change in seconds if I need seating or cargo (we also have 2 giant dogs). We got 2 caption chairs for the second row and it is sooo nice to have the space to get prepared befor leaving the vehicle. Trying to get a bebe into an ergo while half in the car in rain and snow sucks. Now all the on and off, on and off of jackets and shoes is so much better inside the car. So much more pleasant to nurse back there than in my cramped little sedan. And it doesn't even feel big while driving, I forget it's not small. Parking can definitely be more challenging, but I'd guess the same is true with giant SUVs.

tugskenyonkel+1

oliviaann91 said:

I had a Honda Accord for 8 years, bought it used and it still ran great when I sold it, even with 250,000 miles on it. I have a Honda CRV now and love it, although I'm a bit disappointed with cargo space in the back. My mom has had a Honda Pilot for 10 years and it's been a great vehicle. As long as you keep up the regular maintenance, I have no bad things to say about Honda. I wish I had bought the odyssey though, simply for the built in vacuum OCD mama's dream lol

That sounds like a feature I need. I'm always needing to vacuum my car. I can't understand how granola bar gets under a carseat so bad.

soberrysweet

tugskenyonkel+1 said:

oliviaann91 said:

I had a Honda Accord for 8 years, bought it used and it still ran great when I sold it, even with 250,000 miles on it. I have a Honda CRV now and love it, although I'm a bit disappointed with cargo space in the back. My mom has had a Honda Pilot for 10 years and it's been a great vehicle. As long as you keep up the regular maintenance, I have no bad things to say about Honda. I wish I had bought the odyssey though, simply for the built in vacuum OCD mama's dream lol

That sounds like a feature I need. I'm always needing to vacuum my car. I can't understand how granola bar gets under a carseat so bad.

tugskenyonkel+1

soberrysweet said:

tugskenyonkel+1 said:

oliviaann91 said:

I had a Honda Accord for 8 years, bought it used and it still ran great when I sold it, even with 250,000 miles on it. I have a Honda CRV now and love it, although I'm a bit disappointed with cargo space in the back. My mom has had a Honda Pilot for 10 years and it's been a great vehicle. As long as you keep up the regular maintenance, I have no bad things to say about Honda. I wish I had bought the odyssey though, simply for the built in vacuum OCD mama's dream lol

That sounds like a feature I need. I'm always needing to vacuum my car. I can't understand how granola bar gets under a carseat so bad.

Those exact ones! Love them but good grief they get everywhere

dogsombrero

DH and I own an auto repair shop- lowest cost of maintenance cars tend to be japanese (toyota, honda, lexus, acura). The suspension stuff (struts etc) are more expensive on toyotas than hondas. Prepare for $1200 struts when you need them. Other than that they use less oil per their respective motor size and parts are readily available and inexpensive aftermarket. Please for the love of god no kia products they tend to be "throw away" type cars and fairly problematic. If you want to stick with the domestics the Chevy 6 cyl motors all tend to have lower intake manifold gasket leaks between 50-100k miles and it could be a $900 fix on the newer models.

Jame414

I had a sienna had had severe problems with water leaks. Traded for the odyssey. We got the sienna bc of the awd and is logistically roomier than the odyssey. However with all the problems we had and ended up with a car that smelled like moldy wet towels we figured the odyssey would be better. So far it is! A little less leg room and we figure it will be heavy enough to get through the snow. The other bad thing about the sienna awd is you have to choose between using run flat tires (come with) which get you about 15000 miles or not having a spare or keeping one in the trunk space. We also got the touring edition so we'd have leather seats and DVD player for dd. She loves it! We did not get brand new so no vacuum.

elbou

We just bought a Dodge Grand Caravan before Christmas, and I love it! My hubby was in the minivan haters club, until we rented one for a wedding out of town. He relented when he realized it handles like a car. (His words) The back seats stow completely flat, and if you get the captain's chairs, they do as well. We just got the base model, and that option didn't come with ours. DVD players are a great addition as well.

Availability may be limited though, as 2015 is the last year they are making them (at least here in Canada, it is.)