Recommendations for a mini van

bearmtnmartin wrote: We have an 06 Toyota Sienna. I am actually surprised how junky it is. It has 140000 kilometers and so far.... Power antenna has not worked for years sliding door arbitrarily will not open or close. We once had to hold it shut for a 30 minute drive rear wiper fell off mid wipe one day plastic body panels have warped and no longer meet the steel panels there is other stuff, but the capper is that the drivers door hinges are broken inside the door. Toyota gave us a service bulletin that says it is a known problem and that we may need a new door. At the bottom it said in legalese "good luck with that"

Sounds like you got a bad one. Ours was a rental car before we got it as a certified pre-owned car. 17k miles on it, is a lot for a one year old rental car if you ask me, but it has been trouble free. Ours doesn't have a power antenna, and I have never seen one on that vintage Sienna, but maybe the higher grade models got them. We did have a problem or so we thought with the passengers side sliding door ( the only powered one we have) in that it wouldn't open from the interior handle or button, but would from the outside handle, and would close with the interior button. Turns out someone flipped the child safety switch on the door. It was at the dealer for a recall on the spare tire carrier, and I asked them to figure that out(under warranty), and they found it real quick. I felt stupid after they described why it wasn't working.

The Chrysler transaxle issue has been gone for a decade now. I had a 99 and the trans was good, until it had seen a 1-Lap of America and many autocrosses with a hopped up engine and suspension. I can't expect a stock minivan trans to handle that abuse for long. Still, the stock trans went almost 100K. My current one is a 2005. Some of the '05's had an engine oiling issue on the 3.8's only. If it had the issue, the engine has been replaced looooong ago. Our current van has 125K on it and it's been very reliable. The stow n go is simply the best feature to be added to a minivan since the left-rear door.
My only gripe is the economy. We average 20 or so.

Thanks for all the input. Before I had posted, I had considered the Sienna to be first choice and Honda second. She would not be caught dead in a Previa, but I would rock one in a heartbeat. Honda definitely has a yuppie tax. Several coworkers have them. Some have had transmission issues, but they have put a lot of miles on them. The Mazda MPVs is interesting, but I rarely ever see one. We may check them out.

Astro!

I'll put in another vote for the Kia Sedona. We have an '06, the current generation. We've had it since new. It now has just under 80,000 miles. It's spent it's life hauling around 3 little ones, and has been used to tow a landscape trailer numerous time, as well as several cars on a dolly. We've always done proper maintenance on it, but we use it hard. The interior has the requisite stale french fries and gummy bears on the floor to prove it. It's been very reliable and is a really good van. It gets 5 star crash ratings, comes standard with a ton of features like 3 zone a/c, airbags galore, stability control, etc... I've been thrilled with it for the nearly 6 years we've had it.

Would I say it's the best minivan on the market? No. But when we were shopping, we couldn't touch a base Odessey or Sienna for under $25k, loaded ones were $40k. We got our Sedona for $17k. They're far and away the best minivan value on the market.

In reply to spitfirebill: I have 130,000 miles on a 2002 Caravan SE and I love it. There are millions of Chrysler minivans out there, so you will hear about some problems like transmission failures and A/C failures, but if you search the on-line ads you will also find many examples that have given 150K, 200K, or 300K miles of service with very little care. I hear young mothers today say, "I am not a minivan person". I don't know why no one wants to be seen in a minivan, but everyone is cool with a lumbering SUV. But if that is an issue, you can always dark-tint the windows! Caravan Dan the Minivan Man

icondriver wrote: I hear young mothers today say, "I am not a minivan person". I don't know why no one wants to be seen in a minivan, but everyone is cool with a lumbering SUV.

I hear ya! My wife's friend says she'll NEVER buy a minivan, but drive an Expedition.....she has two kids!! You could drive a Focus if you only have two kids. Anyway, I never thought I'd be ok with a minivan, but they are VERY versatile. I towed a 944 home (on a dolley) and had a Kawasaki crotch-rocket IN the nimivan and through the mountains of VA I averaged 21 mpg. That's pretty stinkin' good if you ask me.

DrBoost wrote:

icondriver wrote: I hear young mothers today say, "I am not a minivan person". I don't know why no one wants to be seen in a minivan, but everyone is cool with a lumbering SUV.

I hear ya! My wife's friend says she'll NEVER buy a minivan, but drive an Expedition.....she has two kids!! You could drive a Focus if you only have two kids. Anyway, I never thought I'd be ok with a minivan, but they are VERY versatile. I towed a 944 home (on a dolley) and had a Kawasaki crotch-rocket IN the nimivan and through the mountains of VA I averaged 21 mpg. That's pretty stinkin' good if you ask me.

Completely agree. Never understand people who say they'll never be caught dead in a minivan, but are happy driving their SUV. They also say they'd never drive a wagon. Yet the same people will drool and lust over the newest "crossover", which is really not much more than a station wagon/minivan on stilts. Minivans and wagons are much more practical for 99% of the things most people do with their SUV.

The Kia Sedona is really tough and reliable. If I could not afford an Odyssey, that would be my go-to.

Its odd hearing the good comments about the Kia. A co-worker's M-I-L has one and he rips it every chance he gets. I guess she was just unlucky.

By the way, the 2011 Caravan we have is doing fine with no mechanical issues thus far in the partial year that we've owned it. My worst tank is 21 and my best is right above 30.

2004-2010 Nissan quest. 14.9s 1/4 mile. Suspension and drivetrain from the Maxima. My wife has one and I LOVE IT. I dare say it's fun to drive. added bonus no T-belt to change every 90K miles.

I like the Odyssey but be wary of the transmissions in the 98-2005's (I've heard from multiple sources that if the rebuilt transmission was from Honda that you won't have any more problems.)

To be honest Van's is the Hardest segment to shop for.

The Odyssey transmission issues are more prevalent on the '99-04 models. When shopping used, I'd run away from anything that has a hitch on it (unless the owner can document an aftermarket transmission cooler being installed), and it would be preferable to see maintenance records with frequent transmission fluid changes (like every 30K).

The '05-06 models are slightly better, but I would give the same advice. We don't tow with ours, but I do the drain and fill method 3 times in a row (while getting TC lockup on the highway in between) every 30K on ours as preventative maintenance. It seems like it's really not worth messing with anything but the Honda transmission fluid.

'07 and up should be better in terms of transmissions (they switched to the design that was being used in the Ridgeline). In our case, getting a CPO model with the HondaCare warranty paid for itself when it needed repairs. We shopped around before we bought ours and some dealers try to get crazy money for some that aren't very good. Ours was the best sample we tested, and we ended up getting it for 2-3K cheaper than what they were asking for the other ones.

Problem areas:
- Transmissions (detailed above)
- Power sliding doors are great but require some basic maintenance (easy)
- A/C system is exposed up front and is not covered by any warranty (fixed with $5 worth of gutter guard and some zip ties)
- Our airbag light went on when we moved the driver's seat all the way forward (to vacuum). Apparently, the airbag wiring harness wasn't long enough (replaced under HondaCare warranty)
- Front struts, driver side swaybar end links and bushings were replaced (under HondaCare warranty)
- Passenger side drive axle worked it's way out of the transmission (replaced under HondaCare warranty)

Overall, we've been very happy with it. It drives well, is very comfortable to ride in, and has plenty of room for our three kids and all the gear that's associated with them. Mileage on the highway is pretty good, but mileage in-town isn't anything to brag about. The V6 has plenty of power, and the handling is very decent for a minivan. The Odysseys are very comfortable on a long trip, as well.

One thing I'd recommend for any vehicle with kids is leather. Much easier to clean!

Were I not allowed to buy an Odyssey, the Caravan, Sienna, and Sedona would be on my short list. When were looking in 2008, the Siennas were 3-5K more than a comparable Odyssey. Not sure if that's still the case...

Klayfish wrote: Completely agree. Never understand people who say they'll never be caught dead in a minivan, but are happy driving their SUV. They also say they'd never drive a wagon. Yet the same people will drool and lust over the newest "crossover", which is really not much more than a station wagon/minivan on stilts. Minivans and wagons are much more practical for 99% of the things most people do with their SUV.

Did you get that idea/thought from my wife???? She says the exact same thing, as she drives along in her used twice 4x4 Avalanche getting 17mpg, if I drive it.

Ranger50 wrote:

Klayfish wrote: Completely agree. Never understand people who say they'll never be caught dead in a minivan, but are happy driving their SUV. They also say they'd never drive a wagon. Yet the same people will drool and lust over the newest "crossover", which is really not much more than a station wagon/minivan on stilts. Minivans and wagons are much more practical for 99% of the things most people do with their SUV.

Did you get that idea/thought from my wife???? She says the exact same thing, as she drives along in her used twice 4x4 Avalanche getting 17mpg, if I drive it.

Women think if they drive a minivan, they can't be "hot".

I bought an 03 sienna 3 years ago for the wife since we had our second baby. Its been dead nuts reliable. we bought it for just under 10k from an old couple that only took short trips in it. it had 62k miles on it. How do I know it was mostly short trips? when I opened the 710 cap there was a bit of grit underneath(pennzoil platinum does wonders for engine cleaning btw) and the original pcv valve was rusted through in the center. it now has 120k+ miles on it and still runs like a top. I did replace the trans fluid when I bought it and every 30k miles after, and just did the timing belt at 120k. The dealer claimed they changed the timing belt when they took the van in but Im sure it was just the accessory belts (idiots). It was a consignment lot so I paid the old couple face to face(thats how I knew how it was driven). I expect every bit of 300k+ trouble free miles out of this rig based on its previous and current track record.

I'd cross-shop a full size van while you're at it. Sometimes a good deal pops up and you get way more van.

Our $1300 1998 Sienna XLE is still running well. It is getting close to 270,000 miles. The muffler has recently begun to fall apart. The power windows are sometimes flaky--recently it had been the driver's window not wanting to go up all the way. My wife is pretty rough on the transmission, so I'm glad I went with the Toyota over the other options.

If you can stand the horrid looks, you might be able to get a screaming deal on a Nissan Quest. There's a dealer in Orlando that has 14 new 2011 Quests in stock, and the '13s are out already. I spoke to my wife about approaching them with a low-ball offer ourselves.. They must be getting close to auctioning them off.

spitfirebill wrote:

Ranger50 wrote:

Klayfish wrote: Completely agree. Never understand people who say they'll never be caught dead in a minivan, but are happy driving their SUV. They also say they'd never drive a wagon. Yet the same people will drool and lust over the newest "crossover", which is really not much more than a station wagon/minivan on stilts. Minivans and wagons are much more practical for 99% of the things most people do with their SUV.

Did you get that idea/thought from my wife???? She says the exact same thing, as she drives along in her used twice 4x4 Avalanche getting 17mpg, if I drive it.

Women think if they drive a minivan, they can't be "hot".

My wife says the same damn thing. It's like driving a van is akin to throwing in the hot chick towel. Instead she drives a Highlander and borrows my Ford F-150 when she needs extra passenger space.

That must be why OEMs tint the rear glass on SUVs--so nobody can see the little suckers in the rear seat.

Not to be hating on the Quest but they run NOWHERE NEAR 14.9 when stock. More like 16 flat.

I just raced a Murano in my crapbox sohc neon and beat it. If a heavier quest runs 14.9 i guess my stock neon runs mid 14s?

They are quick for what they are, but not 14.9. A 3.5 Sienna is much quicker.