Question for Minivan Owners

[ladymoreta]

So pretty!

[v-girl]

Love it!


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[bokelley]

Yay!!

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Reviving this thread...

My dad just offered to give us a short-term loan to get a mini-van before #2 is born. He can be a real asshole but this type of thing is his love language...

He's going to buy it at auction with a friend of ours who does that for a living. Obviously there's not warranty, etc. but it's also fast/saves a ton of money. We're comfortable with that but of course it means I have to pick a year/make/any must have features and then they buy it for us.

We're currently thinking a 2010/2011 Toyota Sienna. We've always driven foreign cars in my family but I'm also open to a T&C/Odyssey. I've heard some rumblings about the Odyssey not being great on driver leg room which would be a problem for us. We're hoping to go test drive some cars tonight (with the kid in tow...should be interesting) so I'll report back.

I only have a few "must have" features: LATCH car seat system, stow and go seats, auto doors/liftgate.

What else are must-haves? Can anyone speak to the leg room in any of these cars (with a baby seat behind it)?

My car is 14 years old. What comes in a 3-4 year old minivan? Do these things have nav systems? DVD players? I'm so behind on the features...off to look at the interwebs but chime in with any "must haves" I should look for.

[v-girl]

The T&C has plenty of leg room. I had ST's baby rear-facing in it and you could still get the seat moved back. The seats in my middle row can move back. Mine has a DVD player, but no screens. I don't like DVD players in cars. I'm mean. LOL

[SoonerTexan]

I only have a few "must have" features: LATCH car seat system, stow and go seats, auto doors/liftgate.

All of them will have the LATCH system--I think it is required for all cars after 2001. The Routan doesn't have stow-and-go captains chairs, but the back seat folds down. The T&C does. The VW dude said VW made this decision for safety reasons, but I truly have no idea. It's not a big deal to us. I cant remember if my MIL's Odyssey is the same way. I know the back seat folds down, but she has a bench 2nd row instead of captains chairs. I think you will probably get auto doors/liftgate on any unless you get the lowest economy model possible.

I've never driven a Sienna so I have no idea. Personally, I still like my MIL's Odyssey better than our Routan/T&C, but it's not a huge difference. Odysseys and Siennas were just more expensive. I don't remember the leg room being particularly cramped in hers, but I'd still test drive because your DH is so tall.

Other features we have that I do or don't care for:

Navigation system: It sucks and the yearly updates are $$$$. Ours is just 2 years old and useless with all the construction going on around here. Google maps on my phone is better.

Backup camera: I like it, but don't trust it yet. I don't really use it to back out, but it is nice to know there are no kids, bikes behind me.

DVD Player: It's really really great for trips, but now that she knows it is there, we have a lot of battles. YMMV. Make sure it has headphones. Ours does, but I'm still figuring it out. I'm so tired of listening to Dora.

Heated seats: Cool, but I swear, the high setting gets way too uncomfortable really quick and the low doesn't do much. It is the same in my mom's Chevy Traverse too.

Bluetooth: This is my favorite by far. The voice commands can be a little annoying (given there is a Jay, Fay, and Kay with the same last name in my phone!), but all in all I feel much safer taking calls with it. It works pretty well.

Hard Drive: We have one, but I haven't tried using it yet. I'm not really sure what we can do with it.

Homelink: (built in garage door opener) haven't set it up yet

Satellite Radio: Not my thing, might be yours

Roll down windows in the back/sunguards: Apparently the Routan is the only one that allows you to have 2nd row windows that roll down. I have no idea if this is useful. We haven't used the built in sunshades yet, but I'm excited about them.

Things we don't have you might like:

Automatically adjusting drivers seat: There is an option you can get that allows you to set the seat up the way you like it and "remember" it for 2 different drivers. DH and I are actually pretty close in settings, but I can see this being a big issue for you and your husband! You just click 1 or 2 and it automatically adjusts to the saved settings.

Cool Box: My MIL has this in the Odyssey and I think it is so cool. It's like a little cooler. I think you can use it to keep things warm too.

Blind spot detector: Not a deal breaker for me, but cool. It's a little icon that will light up if someone is in your blind spot.

Thermostat: I actually had one in my 14 year old Taurus and miss it. The controls on this aren't bad, but I loved being able to set a temp and let the car handle it instead of constantly readjusting the settings.

So exciting!

[MrsK]

We looked at the Sierra. It's a lot higher off the ground than the other kinds. I practically needed a rope ladder to get into the driver seat and I didn't like standing on the running boards to buckle in the kids. Also, the kids couldn't climb in or out without my help.

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[v-girl]

Backup camera: I like it.

Bluetooth: I haven't figured out how to use this. Maybe ST needs to set it up for me.

Hard Drive: We load our music in it -- you can always hear your fav songs.

Homelink: (built in garage door opener) haven't set it up yet

Satellite Radio: love it!

Roll down windows in the back: lock your windows so the kid can't roll her window down with her foot. Kenny does this at the darnedest times (like when driving down the highway in a storm).

Thermostat: I love this so the driver and passenger can select their own temps!

[SoonerTexan]

Bluetooth: I haven't figured out how to use this. Maybe ST needs to set it up for me.

Heck yes! Is it the UConnect system? It wasn't too hard. I can send you the directions. It's really nice not to have to ever find or dial your phone to make or receive a call.

You can also stream music from the iPhone to the speakers through bluetooth, but mine gets messed up if there is anything going on with the phone (text coming in, Google maps on) and the quality isn't great.

[v-girl]

Yep! It's uconnect.


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[SoonerTexan]

http://chrysler.servigistics.com/get...uest_locale=en

Try that. And if it doesn't work, I'll send you the doc I used (in the owners manual). Make sure the cars volume is up high when you go to connect it or you may have trouble hearing the prompts. It was really easy. Then you just press the phone button on the steering wheel whenever you want to make a call. You can say "Dial" and then the number or "Call" and the name of the person from your phonebook.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Hmm...so I didn't realize how pricey minivans were. I was thinking you could get something pretty new/low mileage for <$20k and that just doesn't seem true. Only if you get the ultra-base models will the T&C, Sienna, and Odyssey be that low...

[SoonerTexan]

^^ And that's part of the reason I jumped on the Routan. I did find the T&C to be a little cheaper than the Hondas & Toyotas though. Honestly, I searched Craigslist, Autotrader, Cars.com, and a couple other dealer sites to find most of the options available in the DFW area. Then we went after what I thought was the best deal (still 43k miles) and drove to kingdom come (Fort Worth) to look at it.

The Routan was a 2011 and priced at 24K initially. They dropped it to ~18k the weekend before we went to look. I checked trade in values, etc. and I think we got as low of a price as we were going to get.

[Pollyanna]

We had a Sienna and I never considered it to be tall. But I don't find a Suburban overly tall either so maybe I'm not a good judge (I'm only 5'5"). Our little ones could easily get in and out by themselves (the youngest were 2 and 4 at the time). The Sienna is a dream to drive, far more solid feeling than the American counterparts. The issue with our Sienna is that the upkeep was expensive but it was a 2004 and the brand new design. As I understand the issues we had have been resolved.

So exciting!!!! Enjoy!!!

[spotty_dog]

We had $17k to spend when we were minivan shopping. That's why we ended up with a 2-year-old Kia. It's not the fanciest thing in the world but it has everything we needed in a vehicle, so no complaints.