Malcolm52 said:

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• Main problem is my wife says they are too big and doesn't want to drive one around town.

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My wife said the same thing before we bought our first one. We went through two Suburbans and a Yukon XL raising our four kids

ghollow said:

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Malcolm52 said:

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• Main problem is my wife says they are too big and doesn't want to drive one around town.

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My wife said the same thing before we bought our first one. We went through two Suburbans and a Yukon XL raising our four kids

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Never heard a woman say anything was too big but I'm not judging.

Seriously, my wife's 2011 minivan has a shorter turn radius (~18.5') than anything I've ever owned. This is slightly longer than a 2 door Jeep Wrangler but shorter than the 4 door jeep. It's great in parking lots.

wife has had a X5, GX460, RX350, Suburban and now a Yukon. Yukon has ridiculously small turning radius for its size. Gx and rx were most reliable.. Yukon has best ride and have not had any problems yet. I know a lot of folks with expys and they love them.

All I will say is get what you want. Try'em all.

If you're going to try the three-row SUV instead of the minivan and some of your kids are in front facing seats, look at the Diona Radian carseat. They are narrower and fit more flush to the seat (they protrude into the open space less). You can fit three across in medium sedans. Plus, they have a really large range of kids they can hold so once they are forward facing it'll be their seat for a long time. Since its so flush to the seat, its really easy for kids to climb over. If you have a seat that tilts and slides, its the perfect carseat for that. And if two of the kids can reliably buckle themselves, throw them in the back and it wont eat up a ton of the space back in the third row.

Minivan until the youngest is 4 or 5. Then switch back to a suburban. That's what we did.

I don't think it makes them think they're cool, but I do think their pride gets in the way and it hides their insecurities. I have a cousin that totes her 6 kids around in an Expedition XL. She should have had a minivan before #6 and a full size Transit van now, but she insists on driving a SUV, regardless of how cramped they all are. For some reason, a van of any sort is beneath her, regardless of how much better life would be.

Fair enough.

So what makes it beneath them to drive a minivan?? Driving a minivan certainly doesn't project one to look "poor" or low class.

My opinion: These are people who grew up in an era when their mom drove a minivan. Therefore, they will drive Fred Flintstone's car before they drive a minivan. Sort of a teenage rebellion thing.

My parent's generation smoked and had tattoos (from WWII), I would never do either.

1agswitchin4lanes said:

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We drive expedition max. Four kids. A minivan is super practical but neither of us wants to drive one as a daily.

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But minivan is easier with car seats!

We rented a Pacifica through Enterprise over the holidays to keep our kids from fighting (long story), but we enjoyed it greatly. This one had second-row captain chairs, and it was nice.

dubi said:

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1agswitchin4lanes said:

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We drive expedition max. Four kids. A minivan is super practical but neither of us wants to drive one as a daily.

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But minivan is easier with car seats!

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We don't need car seats anymore

OP - you only need one minivan. Draw straws between you and the wife, and be done with it. The second car can be whatever you want for "cool" reasons. But resisting a minivan at this stage of parenting with lots of young kids is just dumb.

Yes, it's dumb. But so very common.

We're a Kia Carnival house too with our three.

A feature we really like on the Carnival (we have an EX) is all three middle row seats are independent of each other. You can stagger them a bit which makes it harder for the kids to reach into each others seats if you've got three car seats across it, or you can remove a seat to make it easier to get into the back.

I think the Carnival has some big advantages over the Odyssey, especially when it comes to the AC which is obviously a huge deal in the summer time.

The Siennas are really nice too but we flat out couldn't find one when we were looking in '22, but we preferred the Carnival anyway.

Our only complaint into our third year of owning it is that the sensors are a bit hot. It'll return some false positives when sitting in traffic near other cars that also have sensors. Doesn't engage the brakes or anything but it's mildly annoying when you're sitting at a light and it starts beeping.

I was always dead-set against minivans, mostly because my best friend's dad had the aerostar and...yeah. Spent many a days in the van going to scout events, but never wanted to drive it.

Fast forward my late FiL only owned minivans as he did train shows and other stuff, selling things. That's where i learned he could carry more in his van than I could in my old-school explorer. When he passed away, I was able to stow all the seats and pack the car 7-10 times to throw away stuff. The amount you can carry was amazing. Plus, since he lived in upstate NY, being able to park, put a kid in the car with bad weather and not hit cars made my ideas change.

When it was time to get me a new car, ended up with the Pacifica. Tried Odyssey, Sienna and the Carnival. I was looking at 2016; bought the 2017 Pacifica. The Sienna was the same as Pacifica, but like $8-$10k more. The carnival I didn't like the bucket seat feel of the front seats (no transfer space between driver/passenger). Odyssey was too dated and in need of a refresh (I think they did in 2018/2019).

I did order my van, so I got all the fun stuff from my MiL's dealership in Austin.

I have 117k miles now on it. Driven to upstate NY (2 week roadtrip), FL (1 week trip) and several other long road trips to LA. Planning on going to AR as well this year.

Get a minivan. They are super nice and easy to carry loads of stuff.

~egon

SteveA said:

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If you aren't pulling anything, get a minivan. Especially since it will be at 2/3 the price

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and 2/3rd the gas price, 2/3rds insurance, 2/3rd maintenance.....actually gas will be about 1/2 the price.

Not to mention your kids can get in by themselves b/c of the lower step in height, you can fit lots of crap in the back, lot of room between the middle row seats, can still haul stuff in the back with the seats down/out for that occasional need for a 4x8 sheet of plywood.

aTm2004 said:

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We road trip each July to the family farm in Iowa, have road tripped to Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida in it for vacations and softball tournaments, and there is zero obstructions of the rear window with all of our luggage, beach gear, softball gear, and cooler. I chuckle when I see Tahoes/Suburbans/Expeditions/etc on these same road trips loaded to the brim and having a luggage box on the top of the vehicle or a luggage rack on the tow hitch.

All of that and 30mpg on a road trip.

You can get a fully loaded Odyssey or Sienna for ~$50k. You're not touching a similarly equipped Suburban or Expedition for that. My pride gets me in a lot of trouble, but $15-20k+ will make me swallow it quite quickly. Honestly, the hardest part of buying a minivan is overcoming the stigma of a minivan. If you're fine with wearing clothes from Target and not giving a f*** about what others think, a minivan would be wonderful. If you need to wear name brand anything so you can impress others, may I suggest the a Suburban/Yukon XL. Outside of needing to tow something while hauling the whole family, most anti-minivan people can't give you a good reason outside of being too insecure to drive one.

As far as your wife's pride...after 4 kids, she probably pees a bit if she laughs too hard or sneezes. Pride left her after that first push.

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We bought our 2000 Odyssey in October 1999. I've only met ONE person in 25 years who made a comment about driving a mini-van. It was in a group setting and the other guys present just laughed at him b/c it was such an idiotic comment. NO ONE CARES if you drive a mini-van.

The minivan "sigma" has got to be one of the most overblow talking points in automotive history.

CanyonAg77 said:

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My opinion: These are people who grew up in an era when their mom drove a minivan. Therefore, they will drive Fred Flintstone's car before they drive a minivan. Sort of a teenage rebellion thing.

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This is my wife. Her entire childhood was spent in a minivan. When she got her license, she had to drive the minivan. When she went off to college she got an economy car, but then she was back into the minivan when our second kid arrived. We are about to have 4 kids under the age of 6, but she still loathes/resents the practical minivan and would ditch it tomorrow if it was only up to her. I think a lot of it is envy of other moms in her social circle that have a full size SUV. But for whatever reason, she is able to overlook the hassle those parents deal with daily.

Just here to say it also depends where you live and what kind of roads you're driving. If you live in the city/suburbs minivans could work great, but for us they wouldn't last for the amount of driving my wife and I do down dirt roads.

Quote:

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We bought our 2000 Odyssey in October 1999. I've only met ONE person in 25 years who made a comment about driving a mini-van. It was in a group setting and the other guys present just laughed at him b/c it was such an idiotic comment. NO ONE CARES if you drive a mini-van.

The minivan "sigma" has got to be one of the most overblow talking points in automotive history.

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You're right that nobody cares, but the stigma is real with people. The stigma isn't what others are saying but their (those not wanting one for <insert reason here>) inability to admit that others don't care. They can't let go of that fear. They're probably the same people who post things on social media for affirmation.

AustinCountyAg said:

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Just here to say it also depends where you live and what kind of roads you're driving. If you live in the city/suburbs minivans could work great, but for us they wouldn't last for the amount of driving my wife and I do down dirt roads.

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Talk to my kids about that. I was famous (infamous?) for taking our Oddy across mountain and dirt roads.

Came down the east road off Spanish Peaks in Colorado, passed a jacked up 4WD pickup headed up the mountain, they just stared at us in amazement

AggieDruggist89 said:

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Serious question.

Do people really think driving a big SUV makes you "cool?"

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I wouldn't drive a minivan. We raised two kids and somehow survived without one.

My wife's quote was "If you bring home a minivan, you can drive it".

We had many cars and SUVs over the years. A suburban is great for pulling a skiboat, and the Lexus GX is much more capable than one would think at pulling trailers as well.

I am still not very cool though. Pretty sure that my mode of transportation will not solve the issue at this point.

CanyonAg77 said:

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AustinCountyAg said:

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Just here to say it also depends where you live and what kind of roads you're driving. If you live in the city/suburbs minivans could work great, but for us they wouldn't last for the amount of driving my wife and I do down dirt roads.

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Talk to my kids about that. I was famous (infamous?) for taking our Oddy across mountain and dirt roads.

Came down the east road off Spanish Peaks in Colorado, passed a jacked up 4WD pickup headed up the mountain, they just stared at us in amazement

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Once or twice a year is one thing. Daily down a dirt road is different.

Depends on the dirt road. When I was growing up, we lived 2.5 miles from the pavement. Our roads were a clay loam, so pretty smooth when graded. But they would rut 4 inches deep when it rained, which it did more in the 60s and 70s

We never had a 4wd vehicle, and we drove regular sedans up and down them, including chevys and caddies, even if it had rained and we were dragging mud the whole way

Drive like crap
Sit low to the ground
Seats are too close to the floor
Can't tow anything
Front wheel drive sucks
Look like crap
Can't tow anything

Only redeeming quality about our minivan is my wife loves it. But she also understands why I hate it and it was her idea to get the excursion when we had our 4th kid. I was going to replace my Tundra with an F250 with a front bench seat for when we camped and she told me if I got the excursion I would never have to ride in the minivan. And I haven't been in the minivan since. It's fantastic.

Plus I got to keep my Tundra to daily drive. No car seats and no mess. For the first time in 8 years I have a vehicle that stays clean.

coolerguy12 said:

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Drive like crap
Sit low to the ground
Seats are too close to the floor
Can't tow anything
Front wheel drive sucks
Look like crap
Can't tow anything

Only redeeming quality about our minivan is my wife loves it. But she also understands why I hate it and it was her idea to get the excursion when we had our 4th kid. I was going to replace my Tundra with an F250 with a front bench seat for when we camped and she told me if I got the excursion I would never have to ride in the minivan. And I haven't been in the minivan since. It's fantastic.

Plus I got to keep my Tundra to daily drive. No car seats and no mess. For the first time in 8 years I have a vehicle that stays clean.

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You need a 4wd Astro van or Aerostar

Now this I could get behind.

Take a look at the wagoneer. We have one and love it. Plus jeep is pumping these suckers out and you can find deals on them.

Ridiculous turning radius and doesn't drive like a big truck. Regular wagoneer has more 3rd row space than a Yukon. You can put a church congregation behind the third row in the wagoneer-L.

2nd row bench option allows all 3 seats to slide independently.

We have the 5.7 hemi in it. Plenty of power. 3rd can fit full-size adults.