Reputable info on minivans??

Status
Not open for further replies.

JHZR2

Staff member
Joined
Dec 14, 2002
Messages
52,483
Location
New Jersey
Regardless of how unstylish or not trendy they may be, minivans are far superior when it comes to family vehicles. Besides the fact that CUVs lack total volume and the bigger crossovers have next to no cargo space with the third row in use (let alone legroom in that third row), the main benefit is the simple two words "sliding doors". It might be one thing if the big crossovers had cargo space like a suburban; they don't. And access with sliding doors that are wide and tall are really great, even if uncool.

We may be in the market any time between next summer and the summer or two in the future. The sienna, caravan and odessey are all seemingly long in the tooth, but have gotten some recent updates. I'd like to know what is coming next. Most sites are questionable, or at best, have JDM info.

Any good sources on the pipeline for US minivans?

Thanks!
 
The upcoming minivans,at least from KIA and Chrysler are due to be far more radical,with angled pillars/window openings and aggressive grilles/front ends.For me,the 01-07 Chrysler minivans are as good as a compromise between sporty looks/classic minivan shape as it gets.The 08-up Chrysler twins went back to a boxy look that the original 84-95 models featured...in other words...dull.
 
My brother-in-law got good service from his kia sedona. Since he only wanted it for children, he did not want to spend a premium on a kid transport vehicle. Drove it 100k and he does not take care of his vehicles. No transmission trouble either.
 
Welcome to one of the secret places of the automotive world.
There is no more useful vehicle for a family than a minivan.
We've had two (Maybe 2.5 if you count our '96 Ody) and both were simply so useful and convenient that I never regretted either purchase and I'm looking for something decent used and cheap simply because they're so handy to have around and reasonably cheap to drive even when you don't need the space.
The Ody has always been the sport minivan, while the Sienna is the Camry of minivans.
The current Chrysler crop is really nice (I've done some miles in a '13 Dodge) and they can be bought new for very reasonable money.
Any of these vehicles would serve your needs and I don't expect any breakthroughs in minivan design and dynamics with a new generation.
 
If it matters to you, the 2014 Kia Sedona is not DI, its MPFI. That would be an important point for me! I would avoid DI for a few years, they will get better, but mpfi works without much issue.
 
Yes, minivans are a better performing vehicle, more efficient, fuel economy, etc. compared to SUVs. However, people are people, you know what I'm saying, they want to be cool.

All minivans out there now are very good. I would just get the one with the best fuel economy.
 
What better resource than BITOG.

Took the 2014 WRX on a roadtrip. Thought it would be torture, frankly it was not. Thought my back would be dead, etc....while a bit noisy, not so bad and fun. The following weekend we took the 2006 Ody on a roadtrip. Just too easy to just pitch stuff in the back of the thing and it drives like a car....and can hold like 600 midgets.

Winner? Ody.

That's it. WRX gets full bars, etc.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Welcome to one of the secret places of the automotive world.
There is no more useful vehicle for a family than a minivan.
We've had two (Maybe 2.5 if you count our '96 Ody) and both were simply so useful and convenient that I never regretted either purchase and I'm looking for something decent used and cheap simply because they're so handy to have around and reasonably cheap to drive even when you don't need the space.
The Ody has always been the sport minivan, while the Sienna is the Camry of minivans.
The current Chrysler crop is really nice (I've done some miles in a '13 Dodge) and they can be bought new for very reasonable money.
Any of these vehicles would serve your needs and I don't expect any breakthroughs in minivan design and dynamics with a new generation.


Shhhhhh! please keep it quiet, if everybody find out what they are missing all of them will want to buy one and the prices will go up, you know how fantastic are as transportation, let's try to keep them cheap, so shhhhh.
 
It's hard to go wrong with a minivan other than the Sedona. You're going to have to have more kids soon though or people will equate this to using synthetic oil for 3k intervals.

Tip: Once you buy the minivan you're going to feel a need to back into other vehicles, poles, and buildings. Resist the urge.
 
If you are seriously considering Honda, you need to read this entire website first.

http://settlement-claims.com/enginemisfire/Notice.html

After three generations of Mopar minivans, we voted with our dollars in 2012 for Toyota Sienna and haven't regretted it for one second. Burns zero oil on 0W-20 10,000 mile intervals. Drives and runs beautifully. If you are within driving distance of southern Indiana, go tour the plant.
 
If you ignore the silly expensive models laden with nonsense "features", minivans have always been a good value.
If we still had children at home, I'd likely have a Dodge Caravan in my sig rather than a '12 Accord.
For a little less money than the Accord, you'd get a very spacious vehicle that drives much better than you'd think looking at it and offers reasonable acceleration and fuel economy.
You can spend Mercedes money on a full house Ody or Sienna, but I don't know why anyone would.
The base models of either offer 99% of what's good about them with less stuff to break and need repair or replacement over the years and miles.
For that matter, why anyone would pay more money just to drive a CUV or crossover offering less room and inferior fuel economy is beyond my understanding, but then I've never been insecure enough to worry about the impression my daily drivers make on others.
Vehicles are tools.
Choose your tools wisely.
 
Originally Posted By: Indydriver
If you are seriously considering Honda, you need to read this entire website first.

http://settlement-claims.com/enginemisfire/Notice.html

After three generations of Mopar minivans, we voted with our dollars in 2012 for Toyota Sienna and haven't regretted it for one second. Burns zero oil on 0W-20 10,000 mile intervals. Drives and runs beautifully. If you are within driving distance of southern Indiana, go tour the plant.


All vehicles have problems and the Sienna is no exception, http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/toyota-sienna.html, 2012 to 2014 is too little time to judge a car, the newer Chrysler are reported to be far superior to the older ones every new model of every car is almost always called as to be much better than the one it replaces, it should be, I'm positive that a '12 Caravan is as good as any other '12 one and if you want I can find links for bad things about the Mopars or Kia's or....

To the OP find one that cover "your" needs, not mine or others, I trade suspension refinements, fit and finish and a "name" for a simpler vehicle with less electronics to go bad, a lower initial cost of purchase and overall lower cost of ownership under our personal conditions, and I have driven ours for a total of more than 400K miles in work and play conditions.
 
The OP asked for "reputable information". I provided him documentation of a current class action lawsuit that Honda is attempting to settle regarding their VCM engine that is supplied in their minivan. It makes very interesting reading for anyone considering a vehicle with VCM. Too bad you didn't take the time to read it before responding to my post.

I did not tell the OP what he should do but simply related the facts of my experience which is more reputable information. I'm not sure what your post does to inform the OP.
 
The only must option on a minivan is the power sliding doors. I suppose electric trunk would be nice too but we have lived without it for 15 years but I don't think we could have done without the power doors.

One can get a screaming deals on most reasonably equipped minivans. Only when you go crazy with trim level, the prices go to stratosphere. Resist the urge to have sunroof etc and you can get a minivan easily under mid twenties.
 
Originally Posted By: Indydriver
The OP asked for "reputable information". I provided him documentation of a current class action lawsuit that Honda is attempting to settle regarding their VCM engine that is supplied in their minivan. It makes very interesting reading for anyone considering a vehicle with VCM. Too bad you didn't take the time to read it before responding to my post.

I did not tell the OP what he should do but simply related the facts of my experience which is more reputable information. I'm not sure what your post does to inform the OP.


BUT........you wrote "If you are seriously considering Honda" No mention of VCM.
 
Yes, I did. It's a lot to read. If the OP is not seriously considering a Honda minivan, there's no point wading through it. Unless something has changed because of this class action lawsuit, every Honda minivan comes with a VCM engine.
 
Last edited:
You have to realize that if you are buying a minivan due to having children, its to save your other cars( and your back an knees getting them from the car seat). You are buying it to start tearing it up from day one. there will be juice, milk, cheerios throwup all over the seats and carpet, after that it will be muddy shoes, dirty dogs, then soccer, or football shoes, clothes bags etc. I would not buy any more trim level than you absolutely have to have. Have a nicer car for a car, and consider the minivan a utility vehicle. Buy cheap, in fact i would not buy one new for this purpose.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top