Seeking Advice on a New Car

I was so much against mini-vans, but now that i am an owner, i have to agree, best decision ever made. When test driving, we liked Toyota better than Honda, but ended up getting a Dodge Grand Caravan - basic model does not have as many bells and whistles as the previous 2, but we got it at a much better deal that we could not pass up. In this economy, you can really negotiate some pretty hefty savings.

Hello, I as well vote for a minivan...its more a family vehicle we own an toyota sienna which I trully recommend.

Add me to the list of moms who would be LOST without her Odyssey. It's the best! We were back and forth between the Sienna and the Odyssey (the Town & Country is smaller and has less third-row room) and decided the Odyssey drove better and looked nicer (Subjective. YMMV.). I'd be lost without it - I have two toddlers and family who lives close by and love that we can all pile in. I love that I don't have to bend to get the kids in. I love that I don't have to flip seats to get people in. I love so much about it that I'd be echoing everyone else if I went on. Don't be afraid of the minivan - they're fantastic and people who don't have them and hate them are actually jealous of mine. They're efficient and drive amazing.

Part of my wedding vows were NO MINIVANS!!!-LOL

I drive a SATURN OUTLOOK and I LOVE IT!! I have 3 kids plus I am always driving a friend or two somewhere with us!! We have captain's chairs in the middle so I don't have to worry about moving my son's carseat back and forth-he's in a BRITAX still. The center aisle would be fine for the dogs to get in on their own and the backseats fold down to give you a lot of trunk space!
We had negative thoughts about SATURN at first, but they have come a long way and are great!!

Hubby and I have been discussing the same, our daughters are 7 years old and 2 months old. We also have 2 dogs, which we transport in their kennels (one gets carsick really bad, the other one would try to slobber everybody and climb on the drivers seat)
I was always not wanting a van, always a truck, but now we decided on a Ford Sport Trac. the other vehicle we thought about was a grand caravan, with the fold and stow feature.
Right now I am driving a Ford Escape which is really small and not good for transporting all and everyting! I took my olde daughter and the 2 dogs last christmas to my sisters (hubby is deployed and I was 5 months pregnant) and my husbands wagon (Dodge Magnum) was loaded all the way up the top... so neither one of them is good for 2 kids, 2 dogs, stroller and luggage!

I had a similar issue i now have two kids and anywhere from 1 to 3 dogs ( my mom's two come to visit often)and my double stroller did fit in chevy equinox. So I searched everywhere and tried every car suv and minivan with a third seat and crossing fingers a big enough space for a double stroller and some shopping bags. Minivan's didn't provide storage space when using the thirdrow as well as most other suv's that have the third row. Until I found my prefect suv. A caladillac escalade esv! It has your captains chairs in the second row, full bench in the third row and TONS of storage space in the way back. And if you need even more space you can flip the thirdrow with ease! Plus there is actually plenty of room to climb in the back with the carseats in each of the captains chairs, if i have to feed the baby a bottle while someone else drives. And Im plus sized so what does that tell you. Hope you find the right car truck or mini van!

Hi B.! I have a 2006 Chrysler Town & Country with stow & go storage (all seats fold flat into the floor - captains chairs in 2nd row and back bench also has a 60/40 split option). With dealerships closing due to the economy, you could get a great deal! good luck!!

Have you looked at GMC's Acadia? You can get captain seats as the middle row. Then you get your SUV and he gets the captain seats.

i would recommend a dodge caravan.. it has those 'fold and go seats'. the doors open automatically and it's so much easier to load kids.. the dogs can jump in the back(that door opens by it's self too. good luck.

Your husband makes a great point, and one we just recently realized! We have a honda pilot, and just had baby #2. We can no longer access the third row! It's a pain when we have visitors, and we also plan on having a third baby. (Not to mention the third row is tiny, with very little legroom). I just wish we had gotten a minivan--we're thinking of doing a trade-in. Another thing, my son is now 2 1/2 and I'd rather have sliding doors--I'm always afraid he's going to bang his head on the open door while waiting for help in or out (or when he tries to "help" close the doors).

Also, I know people say you can position the two car seats next to each other, rather than on the ends. First, I think my toddler would wake the baby--my neighbor has this problem--the toddler touches the baby, removes the paci, etc. And putting the two kids next to each other means I'll have to climb in from the other side to strap in the one sitting in the middle. With that set-up, I may as well have stuck with my old sedan!

Hi B.,
I was so anti mini van, but once we looked into new cars, I saw the practicality of the mini van. We have two kids and a big dog and do a lot of traveling. The mini van has so much more room than the suv's. Plus having automatic sliding doors with multiple little ones is so great. Makes getting two kids in and out of the car VERY easy. I vote minivan. :)

My husband and I wanted a SUV but realized that it just was not practical for us. Love how the Honda seats fold down and there is plenty of room for storage. Terry Town Honda ...... Rich Miller...... he is the best. He will find you what you are looking for and the preowned cars look brand new!!!

I see you have many responses, so rather than reading them all...I'll just give you my 2cents....we bought an explorer with baby # 1 and kept it through baby #3...then it became my husbands car and I got the "dreaded" minivan (baby #4and5)....I LOVE my minivan....the automatic doors are a life savor for a women with multipule small kids!!!!! Seriously I miss the huge cargo space(we had no 3rd row) and hate piling the groceries on top of the stroller, but I couldn't have made it w/o those automatic doors :) we got one of those car toppers(I call it the "TURTLE") for traveling when we need more than us to go...now my boys are 10,8,7,5, and almost 3...we're outgrowning the minivan and in a year or two with have to upgrade to a large SUV for their legs....but for the first 5-10yrs a minivan is great!!!!(coming from a woman who vowed never to own one :)

I have a Honda Odyssey, and I love it. Yes, it's a minivan. When we bought our first one ('02), I was pregnant and we had a 100 lb. dog. My inlaws live 3 hours away, and I know we would have been sent home to pick up the dog if we had been able to find someone to stay with him. :-) When DS #2 came along in 2005, I was doubly thankful for a van - especially since I can put the stroller in the back WITHOUT collapsing it. When my '02 Odyssey was totaled last spring (2008), I stopped at the Honda dealer on my way back from emptying my van and looked at a new one. The seats in the middle are separate, but we have a jump seat we can add if necessary (8 passenger), and the way back seat does a 60/40 split (oh yeah - it stows in the cargo area). When the salesman saw my husband (6'2"), and saw my boys (3 and 5 at the time), he said I'd need the leg room in a van instead of the leg room in an SUV. (And we tend to keep our cars for 10 years or 100K miles, so my older son will probably be learning how to drive on this van.)

HTH
L.

I was also against getting a minivan so my husband traded his car in and got one. We got a Chrysler Town and Country. I hate to admit it but I love driving it...even more than my BMW! It's so much easier to get my daughter in and out of and it makes grocery shopping a lot easier. It was such a good price too. We even got the DVD players for long trips. I definitely recommend it!

We have 3 dogs and 2 very young daughters. We have a Hyundai Entourage and love it! It's versatile and fits everyone nicely. It also has a TON of safety features and is nice to drive. And more affordable than some of the other mini vans. Good luck with everything!
S.

Toyota Sienna,

Love it,

so much space. easy to drive, reliable and the side windows go down.

I can fit all 3 of my boys, our dog in his cage.me, my hubby, and a friend ( 13 year old always has a friend who needs a ride) and our DOUBLE stroller.

Did I mention Groceries too.

M

You have to buy the largest SUV category to come close to the space you will have in a minivan. Not the Ford Explorer, you have to go up to the Expedition/Excursion or the Chevy Suburban and others that are similar in size. I am not a fan of minivans, but we rent them for work all the time and they have great storage and much easier access to all the seats than SUVs. I would definitely get one that has "stow and go" seating, they offer the most flexibility and you don't have to find somewhere to store the seats.

My vote would be for a mini-van. We currently have a Chrysler Town & Country, which is very roomy. Love that the seats fold down. Ours has captain chairs in the center row. I think it's better than the bench seat, it keeps the kids separated, when I need to sit in the back, I'm comfortable. In most cases, you'll get better gas milage with a mini-van.

I've never owned a SUV, but have ridden in them. Most of them have a "truck" type feeling, which I don't care for.

I got a minivan when I had my 3rd child and then purchased another when I had #4. The new ones have the seats that drop down into the floor, ours had to be manually removed. What I did like most was a few things, the babies were away from the doors, the back hatch opened up so the dogs could just jump in, it was really roomy, and lastly we bought an extended minivan last time which allowed for extra room especially when we had to transport lumber for a home project (we love doing our own work around the house rather than hire someone). With only 2 boys home now and our van is beyond repair we have an Elantra and really miss our van. We have 2 large dogs and can't take them out with us anymore. My goal is to eventually get another van, so I say go with a minivan.
T.

I have a Honda Odyssey mini van AND LOVE IT!!!!!! The fold down back seat makes it convient to move things (toddler bed fully assembled) and the 3 rows are wonderful. I have 2 children and due with # 3 in 2 weeks. Last year when we went to the beach I had a carry on size suitcase for each person (3 and hubbys duffle bag), a large suitcase for all the misc. stuff, beach toys, beach umbrella, pack-n-play, boogy board, stroller (unbrella size) anad a bag of toys ALL in the back behind the thirs row of seats AND I could still see over the back seat. The only "extras" in the rest of the van was my purse, diaper bag, camera, cooler, pillows and the dvd player! It is so awesome! This year I will have a little more stuff so it will be a little more crowded but you can't beat the room. Happy hunting! A.

Add one more mom to the list of minivan converts. I have #2 on the way, and want more down the line. We looked at the SUVs and ended up getting an Odyssey. The SUVs were more expensive and had much less room on the inside. I love how the minivan drives. Once I was able to suck it up and say, "I drive a minivan" I loved it!!!

I always thought I would rather die than be one of those moms with a minivan. That was until I had a son with special needs and a lot of medical equipment. We were also planning on having more kids and needed room. We leased a Toyota Sienna and I LOVE it! It has so much room and drives like a car instead of a big van. I love it so much that we will be getting another one (with an upgrade) in a year. I highly reccommend the automatic sliding doors. If you can afford it, get it on both sides.

We bought the 2008 Toyota Sienna & LOVE it - I was an SUV person as well - but Sienna has the option of AWD which sold me, no other minivan has that option. My mom has the Odessey, which is also nice but has ALOT more road noise than the Sienna. Both the Toyota & the Honda were the top rated Minivans

I have 3 children (twins and a singleton). They are all in car seats and we LOVE LOVE LOVE our Toyota Sienna minivan. It is so easy to fit all three kids in there, plus there is still room for our nanny (and another adult) to sit in the back. Plus, now it is coming in handy b/c we carpool to after school activities for my daughter (who is in kindergarten). This way, we don't have to take out our twins' car seats, but my daughter and 2 of her friends can fit in a car seat and 2 booster seats in the back row. The trunk space is amazing. We did a 5 hour drive with 3 kids, 3 adults, our luggage for a week-long trip and we were all comfortable.
The DVD player is also a huge plus for those long rides.

Also, the best feature is that I can open the sliding doors from the front of the car. That way, when we get to school and my daughter has to hop out of the car, I can open and shut the door for her without getting out myself. Sliding doors should be mandatory on all cars for kids. They are GREAT!
I never thought I'd be a fan of minivans, but I am so thrilled with our minivan. It's got a leather interior and truthfully, is the nicest of our three cars!

sorry to say, i vote for the minivan!

We love our 2007 Honda Pilot. If you position the two carseats correctly, the middle row has a 40/60 split bench and the seats fold down easily. We have often needed to fold down the one side so we could transport long stuff like molding from Lowes. I really don't think it would be a big deal with two kids. We are having our second in September and the infant will be in the middle while the 2 year old is placed in an "outer" position. We will make sure it is set up the same way so that we can fold the 40 split side down.

Make sure you both sit in the back seat together to see what the space is like. We liked the CR-V but the vehicle width in the back was NOT good for two adults, let alone two carseats!

Looking back, I wish we had looked more closely at the Odyssey too. We did not think we wanted to go that way and while I am happy with the Pilot, I think the family might have been more comfortable in the Van.

Take lots of test drives. Ask about LATCH. Sit in the backseat together to get a feel for the car widths and spacing/feet room in the back. And LOTS OF LUCK!!
~C.

PS. We currently are (1) 2-yr old, (1) on the way and (1) boxer-lab mix!

HI we have a Chevy Traverse. It is an SUV on the outside and a minivan on the inside. Seats 7 or 8 - if you get the 2nd row captains chairs it seats 7 - the back row folds down 60/40 which is so helpful. The storage is amazing and from the outside it doesn't look as big as it is. Good luck.