Best minivan?

For those of you who have minivans and are happy or unhappy with them, could you please tell me what you think? We are going to start looking for one and I have no idea which are the best and why. TIA,

Sheila

 

I have a Dodge Grand Caravan and I love it, but if I had my choice I'd have a Chrysler Town and Country!!! I do suggest whatever you get, get captains chairs for the middle row seats as opposed to a bench seat. its way more convenient to me.

 

We recently got our minivan and I narrowed it down to the Hyundai Entourage, Toyota Sienna, and Honda Odyssey. We went with the Odyssey for a few reasons including the dual power doors that opened and closed with the remote. You can imagine how wonderful those are! I also like the removable middle seat in the middle row. It gives us the option of seating 8 people if we have more kids but we don't have to keep it in there right now as it stores right in the floor storage area. The van also has tons of storage room and we easily carried everything we needed for 4 year old twins and a 4 month old baby with room to spare.

 

We have a Toyota Sienna and are very happy with it - I was an anti minivan person for a long time (told my husband the only way we'd ever buy one was if we had twins - ). It drives very easily, has a tight turn radius, the 2006 and above have side curtain airbags. The big seller for us was the 60/40 fold into the floor rear seat as it was one of the few that had that and could fit 3 kids, a 75 lb dog and the double stroller.

 

QUOTE(SharonH @ Sep 15 2007, 07:06 AM) [snapback]408858[/snapback]
We have a Toyota Sienna and are very happy with it - I was an anti minivan person for a long time (told my husband the only way we'd ever buy one was if we had twins - ). It drives very easily, has a tight turn radius, the 2006 and above have side curtain airbags. The big seller for us was the 60/40 fold into the floor rear seat as it was one of the few that had that and could fit 3 kids, a 75 lb dog and the double stroller.


Ditto!! Except we don't have a dog I do have a 14 year old stepson so everyone fits comfortably and then some. The other thing I absolutely love is that the 60/40 seats fold down flat into the floor so that when you have a big package there is just sooooooooo much room for anything. When the seats are up it perfectly fits my big jogging stroller. I love this car and would buy it again.

 

We just bought a Toyota Sienna three weeks ago. We've had two Dodge Grand Caravan for over six years, which has taken us to the shop for so many recalls and problems that we just got fed up with Dodge. It was nickel and diming us. Our last one was only 3 years old when we traded it in at the end of Aug. We are SO happy with the Sienna, which has the same features as the Grand Caravan we'd been driving, plus more.

Having driven both the Toyota Sienna and the Dodge Caravan, the Caravan had a smaller "trunk", is much noisier on the highway, has a bumpier ride, and had much less comfortable seats and headrests. The Dodge only offers curtain airbags in the high end models, where the Sienna we bought (middle of the line at $29,000) has 9 airbags! Three up front, and 3 curtains on each side. It also has power doors, power front and middle row windows, dual a/c control for front and back, etc. The only thing we gave up is that the Sienna doesn't fold the middle row seats into the floor, but we never folded ours down in the caravan we drove anyway since the twins' carseats are always in the chairs, so we don't miss that.

 

I also have the Toyota Sienna and love it. We just bought ours this year and I don't know how I managed so long without it (had a Hyundai Sante Fe, with all three next to each other and it was tight). We have our son in the middle row and our girls in the back and have a lot of space to spare. I do wish I had double automatic doors and not just one but other than that I love my car and have no complaints. I just wonder why I need 16 cup holders (or something like that). I like that it has the stow and go seating in the back room (I was looking for something like that) so the trunk part is really big and fits a lot and I also like that the middle row I can move around my captain seats. I have one near the door and moved the other one right next to it so it's easier for my girls to get in and out but if I wanted to I can move the one next to the other door so there is an aisle between the seats. I also have the option of buying a seat to go inbetween the two captain seats so I can have one more passenger.

 

We have the Honda Odyssey, and love it. I love the dual power doors, and we have the captains chairs in the middle row. I also like the way the back seat can split to fold down, and I am loving the little drawer under the passenger side front seat to stach my purse these days. I liked the pick up and control on the Honda better than the SIenna, although it was close, and the visibilty while driving on the Town and Country didn't do it for me. We looked at the Hyundai as well, but it was before they were redesigned, and I didn't really like them.

If you go with the Honda - check online for an internet dealer in your area. They have this thing where some dealers will quote you over the internet, and all you do it take it or leave it, and go pick up your vehicle if you want it. There was on that did this in our area. This feature saved us $2300 over the best deal we got in person. Way to go internet!

 

I love my Honda Oddysesy!! It has more interior room than the Sienna and it drives like a dream! Can't say one bad thing about it!

We actually bought ours on ebay.

 

Another Toyota Sienna driver here and I love it. I love the remote power sliding doors and there is a nice deep well in the back. The captain's chairs come out easily and the third row folds down (and I can even fold it down ). The DVD player is a must. It fits our family great and it is a really smooth ride. We've had it for 3.5 years.

 

Thanks everyone!! I love this board, you are always so helpful

Sheila

 

When we researched, both the Sienna and the Oddysey are the top rated. I don't think you can go wrong with either one! Good luck with your choice!

 

I have a Sienna, and love it too for all of the previously mentioned reasons!

 

Sienna. Odyssey is great too. But we got a fantastic deal on the Sienna.

 

Another Sienna owner and lover here

 

We have a Chrysler Town and Country. The only thing I would do different next time is I would get stow n go.
Otherwise I LOVE IT!!!!!

Tiffaney

 

At the time for us it was between the Honda and Toyota - both are frankly similar enough that it came down to which dealer was willing to bargain. We ended up with the Odyssey and it's been fantastic for us. The Dodge's were ok, tho' some of it's strengths (fold down middle row, etc) weren't really what we were shopping for, so the Honda came out ahead.

I have heard good things about the recent model Kia Sedona / Hyundai Entourage, too.

Good luck!

--> Andy

 

Oh, one other tip for car shopping. I invested in the pricing reports for the vans I was interested at fightingchance.com. It was well worth it and his negotiations tactics saved us lots of money. I got the van for $2100 under invoice and none of the other 8 dealers I was talking to could touch that price. Good luck!

 

I really like our odyssey

 

We have a 2006 Toyota Sienna. It is awesome because the back row folds right into the floor, which is great when you have to pack the double stroller. Also with the 3rd row you can bring Gramma along for the ride.

 

I have the Chrysler Town and country and love it. I told DH that if I was ever going to get a van, this was the one. I love that both side doors are power and the liftgate too. All my seats are stow n go. I have lots of babystuff that just stays in the car in the storage for the middle row of seats. I agree with other posters, captians chairs in the middle row are great. I can easily fit my jogger in when the rear seats are up. Also as a previous poster I can fit the kids and when I bought it my 2 75lb dogs and a stroller. I also love the saftey of the airbags inthe front and side curtian too. One of my favorite things is the Rear PArk assist. There are lights that I can see in the back while looking in my rearview mirror and as I get closer to somthing they start lighting up and beeping to let me know how close I am getting. This is great for getting out of a tight spot.

 

We have a 1998 Sienna that we love! In fact, we kept it when we bought the Suburban (our Sienna is only a 7 seater and when the twins came on board we needed an 8 seater). We thought seriously about simply moving up to an 8 seater Sienna, but we deicied that with 6 children we also needed more room in the back for all the stuff that inevitably accompanies us (we travel a lot).

I use the Sienna when it's just the 6 children and me and we've never had any trouble with it.

 

QUOTE(seamusnicholas @ Sep 16 2007, 03:51 AM) [snapback]409747[/snapback]
I really like our odyssey

Ditto, LOVE MINE!!! I can't live without it

 

We bought the Hyundai Entourage and there's a lot to love about it. We mostly did our research and based on the price difference and our own great experience with a Hyundai could justify the extra money for the Toyota or Honda -- we spend $27,000 with all the bells and whistles (remote power doors, entertainment system, GPS, leather, etc.) We hope we don't regret it but so far so good. It would probably be nice to have the middle row seats fold into the floor, but they don't on the Hyundai -- just the back row folds in. But I do like that the the middle windows roll down.

 

I love my Honda Odyssey so much it's unnatural. It has all the room and the features (power doors, removeable middle seat, etc.) previously mentioned, and it drives really nicely. It feels like driving a car, not a van. I love love love mine.