Any minivan drivers?

BrileyLou

I'm not sure where to ask this, but thought some of you ladies might drive a van? We are looking at them and wondering what gas mileage they REALLY get. Primarily the Honda van and Chrysler. Any help?

neverblushed

I have owned two 2006 Toyota Siennas.  The first one was totaled in an accident, and we loved that van so much we went out and looked for the exact same one.  We even got the same color!

So, I can't help you with Honda or Chrysler specifically, but our van has a little digital gizmo that tracks the current mileage you're getting and the overall average miles per gal that you've gotten in the vehicle's lifetime.

We get about 21 mpg in our van, but this is probably slightly lower than average because I drive through urban traffic to work each day.  I travel 20 miles in 50 minutes on my drive, so a lot of time is spent sitting at lights with the engine running but not moving.  

The Sienna's tank holds a bit over 16 gallons.  I fill up about once every 6 days, and it costs between $50 and $75, depending on how high gas prices are at the time.

HTH! 

BrileyLou

Thanks for the info! I primarily drive on major highways 65-75 mph so I bet I would get better mileage than that. But, my DH and I would never drive a Toyota after everything that happened with the company last year. Not going to chance it!

pinitbaby

I drive a dodge grand caravan..this is my 2nd caravan. and I owned a plymouth (chrysler) grand voyaguer as well that made it through 2 transmissions and 500,000kms LOL I live in ontario canada btw so we go by kilometres here. Our gas is bought by the litre and right now its around $1.30/L..it costs me around $80 to fill my tank which might convert to around $60 in the states and I probably get around 600 kms per tank. Idk if that helps you but I thought I'd pitch in lol

gimmietimmies

I have a Dodge Grand Caravan, its fine (I just need more space, nothing wrong with my van). It does about 550 to 600 km (340 to 375 miles) depending on city or highway, mostly highway for me. Gas here is $1.15/L (4.35/g), so about $65-70 to fill, and we're almost trading on par for the dollar so it wouldn't be much different in price to fill (it converts to about $66 US - PP it's not that big of a difference).

I like a lot of things about my van, it's AWD, leather, entertainment system, automatic doors, etc. I'm not happy with the back storage, but I find it just as small as all minivans.

I like the Honda too. It does have an advantage to the Caravan. It has top tether anchors in all 2nd and 3rd row seating positions, and the Caravan does not. Mine has top anchors in the 2nd row, and only in the middle position in the 3rd. Had I known when I bought it that you can't retrofit the top tether anchor, I wouldn't have bought it. Top tethers are required by law here for all harnessed forward facing seats (booster/harness combo and convertibles). And at the time, I couldn't do all of our seating positions correctly. Thanks Chrysler.

Kaisa07

We bought a new Kia Sedona a few weeks after getting KU this time .. We have 3 kids (13, 11, and 4) and I was driving an SUV .. so for the sake of having a place to put this LO when she arrives, we sort of had to upgrade.  The Kia came with the best warranty and claimed to have the best mileage, but it is horrible!  I'm lucky if I get 14 mpg really ..  I really wish we had known beforehand ..

You might try looking on www.edmunds.com for the exact make/model/year you're looking to buy .. they usually have decent information.  Including safety ratings, as some airbags in mini-vans do not protect the 3rd row at all, which was something that was important to me. 

2brides

I have a 2008 Town and Country and do almost exclusive city driving (lots of traffic and stop and go) and get 14-15mpg. When we go on road trips, it is 17-18mpg.

Before this, I had an Odyssey which was closer to 19. Stupidly, I didn't investigate gas mileage in this van since I figured it was safe to assume that it would be similar to the Odyssey. You know what they say about assuming...

 

fmb2011

Hi! I'm new over here but I have the Honda Odyssey and I absolutely LOVE it! I got it when my DD was born and she's 7 now so it's an older model (2005) but even with almost 200k miles, it does great! There's the 4 of us now and we're expecting so there will be plenty of room for us and the 3 kids to fit comfortably. As for gas, I fill up about once/twice a week and I have a good hour long commute that includes highway and traffic driving. When this one dies, I will definitely be looking for another Odyssey.

Angela814

We have the VW Routan, which is basically the same exact mini-van as the Chrysler Town and Country. We love ours. I think we average 18-20 mpg depending on where we drive.