Dan and and I are thinking about what to replace our van with. While we are fully aware that the Odyssey and Sienna are head and shoulders above the rest, they are also significantly more expensive. We thought about all that before we purchased our current Mazda MPV. And let me mention how much I LOVE our van. It drives like a car (minus good get-up-and-go), has a lot of fun perks, and it has just been a great van for us. Some of my favorite features are these:
1. The second row captains chairs. They slide forward and backwards to give more legroom. Also, one of them slides sideways as well! This is nice because I can have both seats right next to each other, or I can have space between them. They both come out easily as well. I love the middle seats.
2. The back bench seat folds flat. I cannot tell you how convenient this has been for us. It makes life nice and easy sometimes.
3. The roof rack is fabulous. I'm so glad the van came with one, because we have used it a lot. Long and lengthy road trips have been made easier because we could toss all our stuff on the roof and keep the interior of the van a little less cluttered.
4. There are lovely pockets and nooks and crannies everywhere. I have a great sunglasses compartment in front, and there is a wonderful little hidey hole in the back- that's where I tuck the spare clothes for those unexpected accidents. Oh, and the passenger in front gets a little drawer under their seat. How cool is that?!
Anyway, I love this van. Still, I am going to have to get a new(er) one soon. We're coming up on 100,00 miles, and considering we've never done any maintenance other than oil changes, I think things are going to fall apart fast. What I want from you, my friends, is your opinion. If you have a van, what kind? What do you love about it and why? I admit I am leaning towards the Kia Sedona (after 2007 they get better). What features do you like? What can you not live without? Is there anything you hate? I need some advice here! I need to be ready in case the van has something catastrophically wrong before we are planning to buy something else. And no, we do not intend to buy new! Oh, and we are open to the option of an SUV, since we will be a family of 7 soon.
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8 comments:
We have the Kia Sedona and we love it. It runs like a dream. The middle "row" is captian's chairs, they don't move around the way you describe, but they do fold down. The back row folds flat in two sections, so you can decide if you need the entire back or just part of it. I really like that feature. There are a lot of hidey holes, I don't know if there are as many as in your Mazda. Anyway, we really like it. It's taken us from Las Vegas to Idaho FAlls many times and we have never had to do more than oil changes and tire rotations.
we'll I have to say I'm a honda person all the way. But are you getting a new van because it's getting to 100,000 or because you need a bigger one? We are over a 100,000 on our odyssey and just had the belts all replace. It's in really good condition Our van drives like a car. Our middle chairs are captain as well, the newer ones have an optional middle seat so you actually have more sitting. Actually the new ones are my dream van. They are really cool. But I cannot live without the back seat feature which is like your's. It fold flat too. It makes such a huge difference in the fact that you have cargo space. Ok, as for SUV I dont' have a lot of expertise there but I love my dad's tahoe (I think that is a chevy). It drives so smooth, it's an 7 or 8 passenger car and the back seat folds down too fairly easy. It's so comfy of course he has leather seats, but it's a few years old he has had it for a while now. But I love it. It has so many neat compartments and stuff too. I do have to say the Honda Pilots are fairly nice for suv not much cargo space though in the back. It will be hard to stick to a van with 7 kids. But a lot of vans are bigger these days. So who knows. Good luck. How fun! Keep us posted!
Hey Rebecca,
We have a 2006 Nissan Quest and we love it. We looked into the Sienna and the Odyssey also but found that they were way out of our price range. According to all the safety reports at the time, the Quest was right up there with the other two though and it was about $10,000 cheaper. Our van has lots of storage compartments and it is extremely roomy inside. It does feel sort of like you are in a space ship, but hey, the kids don't have to touch one another and everyone has their own space.We have captain chairs in the middle that do all sorts of things and the back seat folds down. There is also a neat storage area in the trunk space. It goes way down and then has a lid on it so you can stack and fit tons of stuff in the back. We have a roof rack and also got running boards installed so we could easily access the rack. We have a DVD player which I think is almost standard. And some vans have the skylights over the whole roof, ours doesn't, but it is a cool feature. The only thing that is hard to get used to is the dash console in the front. It is in the middle of the dash so you do not have your speedometer and things like that in front of you. I am used to it now and like it, however, I think that there were alot of complaints about it being unhandy, so the newer vans (07 and up) have the center console moved back in front of the driver. If you are looking for a very comparable van to the Sienna and Odyssey, you might do a little research on the Nissan. Hope this helps.
Adam and I are both ANTI- minivan, but if we had to get one, it would be a Honda Odyssey. If you don't want to spend the money on a new one, you can totally get a certified pre-owned. They hold their value really well. I miss my Honda car :(
We have a Sienna 98, which is currently in the shop for a new engine. I actually love this van. Our next car will be a newer Sienna. I love how the side doors open automatically and the seats fold into the floor. Our doesnt do that because it is older. My friend has a 2008 and it is awesome. It is very comfortable to drive. Expecially on long road trips. My first choice is the Sienna.
I am all for the Honda Odyssey if I was a mini van driver. CONGRATS ON THE NEW ADDITION!!
We out grew our mini-van and had to go with the full-size van. Many people told us that mini-vans have 8 seats, but these people don't have to travel across the US with 6 kids practically on top of each other. We absolutely love our Chevy Express 15 passenger van! I would totally recommend looking for one with the benches removed and replaced with 2 rows of captains chairs. We got ours in CA, I think it was used for carpooling. The kids all have their own seats and don't have to touch. Now, I don't drive this every day, I have a little Camry for the running around I do with only a few kids at a time. I think if I were looking at minivans I'd look at the Kia's as well. They rate well, and have amazing warranties (I think I've heard that about the Kia or maybe the Hyundai, maybe you should look at those as well) Good luck.
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