Who makes the best minivan in SUV clothing?

My wife is due for a new car. She uses it for work, and gets reimbursed a set amount plus mileage. The reimbursement  is based on a $25k vehicle, and she covers the difference herself. Her 2014 Sienna is about to time out, and she needs to replace it in the next few months. 

The Sienna has been great. Invaluable when the kids were smaller, and it really is the best tool for the job. Except it’s a minivan, and she wants a break from minivans. Three kids, lots of nieces and nephews local. She wants the functionality of a minivan, with the look and higher seating position of an SUV. 

We’ve been casually looking for a while, and she’s realizing that midsized, and even large, SUV’s can’t match the useful space of her Sienna. So she wants to get close enough. 

Budget around $35-$40k. 8 passenger. She will keep it for 5 years, about 125k miles. So far here is what we’ve checked out...

First place so far is a big surprise. We checked out the Kia Telluride/Hyundai Palisade sisters, and they seemed like a lot of car for the money. They also seemed to be the most minivan like in space and function. And they were very nice, even on lower trim levels. Not the fanciest engine, but the big torquey V6 gets the job done with little effort and gives up little MPG’s to it’s smaller engined competitors. Any feedback on these?

2nd place so far, Subaru Ascent. Very nice car, looks well put together. Feels like a good value for the money. Was a bit too car like for her tastes, but it’s still high on her list. I’m a bit leery about another turbo Subaru. Trick me once...

Ruled out the the CX9 right away unfortunately. Was my favorite on paper, but the 3rd row was tiny, and no storage behind the back seat. Great looking inside and out. Very disappointed to rule it out. 

She didn’t like the Pilot. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing really right- she thought it was boring, not worth the Honda tax. 

Explorer- Drove a 2019. She loves the look of the Explorers, and lots of to deals to be had on the outgoing version- but it just felt a couple steps behind all the newer cars. We had the 2020 potentially at the top of the list, until she saw the KIA/Hyundai. They are just getting to dealers, hoping to see one tomorrow. She loves the exterior, and is very happy that they didn’t go too far from the last model. The power and MPG’s looks good on paper. But it looks like they are only 6 or 7 passenger? And they look to be expensive to get any of the options she wants. It looks like to match the $40k KIA it would take a $50+ k Explorer. That’s not happening for a work car. 

Anything else we should check out? The Traverse looks good on paper. I’ve had a couple Malibu’s for company cars, and they have been decent- for Chevy’s. Wouldn’t buy one with my own money, and the Traverse looks like a Malibu SUV to me. Am I wrong? I believe a new Highlander is due out soon? 

What are your thoughts on AWD? The thought of a FWD SUV makes my mind frown. But if I think of it as a minivan in costume, I’m fine. Not doing any towing- got a truck for that. Not going off roading.  Got the Subie for Tahoe trips. Sounds like extra cost, weight, and less MPG’s to me. But she will have to sell it in 5 years, will AWD hold it’s value better and make selling easier? Not an issue on the Ascent (standard) or Explorer (RWD is fine.)

Highlander or Pilot for me. But its your wife, her choice. Sounds like you will bring a Palisades home

i wouldnt touch an Atlas, but others are substituting that for a van 

Ford Flex Ecoboost. All day. My insurance says it's a van but it rrrips.  
Yes they still make them but you should get a used one because depreciation.
On my second because of a wreck. First one went 250kmiles. Water pump is a $5k job but hey that was around 180k so. 

In reply to cdeforrest :

I like the Flex, they still make them? I thought they stopped a couple years ago. Forgot to mention, needs to be a 2020 or be a heck of a deal. Her car program goes by year. She could keep a 2020 a year longer than if she bought a new 2019. 

I have no need, but I really like the Telluride, it's a handsome vehicle getting great reviews and they have been building great cars for well more than a decade.

That would be my choice in the arena.

Just get a Chrysler, Honda or Kia minivan. CUVs with three kids suck. Sliding doors plus stow n go rules!. Plus the Chrysler and Honda drive way better than a CUV.

What I really love is how all the moms think they are escaping the mom stigma by getting a CUV. News flash, nobody thinks you are anything but a breeder in one of those.

You want to escape the mom stigma, put your kids in an e class wagon. Or get a crew cab F150.

So, to sum it up, get a half ton pickup.

My wife went through the same decision process three years ago, and we ended up with a Buick Enclave.  It’s been a great vehicle, and is the roomiest of the crossovers we looked at.  It has captains chairs in the second row and can fit grown adults in the back row, and still has some cargo room with the 3rd row up.

Six months after selling the Odyssey, we still missed having a minivan for long family trips.  I now drive a Sienna and I love it.

After our Sedona, I’d definitely say Sedona. Oh, sorry, Telluride I guess if I had to compromise on the best feature of sliding doors. 

The utility of a minivan is unbeatable.  I enjoy driving our new CX-9, but it lacks the room and ease of the MPV.  At least it's quite pleasant to drive.

The big Buick is nice, but a bit pricey.

Atlas is an interesting package, but feels like a big risk reliability-wise.

Not a single SUV has sliding doors that I know of. 

Sliding doors are the single best feature ever installed on a family truckster.

Could you get one of the AWD Toyota minivans and lift it with spring spacers and get some knobby tires? You could probably even do a roof rack with KC lights and a buffalo bar with a small winch on the front. That would be the best cuv on the market.

Definitely the Telluride. Comfy, handsome, loads of kit, plenty of room. The EX model should do the job perfectly.

In reply to Dave M :

 

Just get a Chrysler, Honda or Kia minivan. CUVs with three kids suck. Sliding doors plus stow n go rules!. Plus the Chrysler and Honda drive way better than a CUV.

What I really love is how all the moms think they are escaping the mom stigma by getting a CUV. News flash, nobody thinks you are anything but a breeder in one of those.

You want to escape the mom stigma, put your kids in an e class wagon. Or get a crew cab F150.

So, to sum it up, get a half ton pickup.

My wife knows and agrees with all of this. That’s why she bought the 2014 Sienna new. She came from a ‘04 Titan that she drove for 10 years. She loved driving it, and it was great with 2 kids in car seats. After the 3rd, she wanted the van. We still have the truck, and every time she drives it, she say’s “I want a truck”. The first vehicle we actually looked at was a lightly used Armada, after someone on this board tipped us off to what a screaming deal those are. And they are, great value for the money, but the interior was just too much smaller than her van and the gas mileage was way too bad for 25k miles a year. Gas flirts with $4 a gallon here. She also looked a Suburban- great value for the lower end models, but not as nice as everything else and bad mileage. Wrong tool for the job. 

The dark horse is actually a Crew Cab F150 2.7 Ecoboost. She liked it, but we don’t really need another crew cab truck, and could use an 8 seater fairly frequently. Lots of family local. 

The perfect vehicle for her would probably be one of the large Nissan passenger vans. I pointed one out to her half jokingly, she said no way. Just as well, same horrible mileage as the Armada. 

She does want the truck look, but mostly wants the high riding position. She drives her van with the seat jacked all the way up. I’m not much taller than her, and I’m eye level with the mirror. She actually thinks the Subaru Ascent drives too much car like, which I consider a strength.

Honestly, I’m just trying to avoid an expensive “I told you so.” Anything new coming down the pipe on the Minivan front? It seems like they have all been put on the back burner to the SUV’s. The Pacifica is a no go, needs to seat three in the middle row, and I think It is captains only. Otherwise the hybrid version would be tempting.

I guess it's too bad Nissan dumped that Cummins 2.8 that Cummins is trying to salvage as a crate engine right now, because if they had it could be in the Nv3500 and that would've been cool. 

Just checked out the new 2020 Explorer, and it was a bit of a let down. Much smaller in the back then just about everything other than the CX9. And the Explorer looks downright boring inside compared to the CX9, Ascent, Telluride, and Palacade. Just as well, because it was much more expensive. Went back and looked at the KIA/ Hyundai, and they are way ahead. Checked out the Traverse for the heck of it. Definitely the biggest (not taking a chance on the Atlas.) Firmly mediocre. Not completely boring, but nothing to write home about either. It looked like they just stretched out my Malibu company car and called it a day. Quite a bit bigger than everything behind the third row, big in the third row but didn’t seem to fit people back there as well as the Tellaride, Palasade, or Ascent. 

Local dealer is marking up the KIA/Hyundai by $7k! He’ll no, I’d never pay a dime of mark up, especially on that kind of vehicle. 

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

Pacificas  can have 3 seats in the second row, and I'm a big fan of how they drive.

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

Yeah the Pacifica is just about perfect except for that it's a FCA product. If you're scared of VW reliability, you should be terrified of FCA!

It also seems like you've got an impossible conundrum. You need:

Truck ride and height.

Not an actual pickup though.

Seating for 8.

Good reliability and gas milage.

Not a minivan because reasons.

Besides yelling at my wife and regretting it later, I'd probably just get a used suburban and put the money I saved on the vehicle towards gas. Yes, the interior stinks and it's not that big inside and it's a gas hog, but you can't really go wrong with one from a resale perspective. So at least if it is a mistake you can sell it and get a new minivan! If you buy a Kia, depreciation is nuts...

We are currently looking at Volvo XC90s and they are a really nice 3-row option. I believe new the T6 Momentum would be out of your price range though.

It is funny to see what you said about the Pilot, we looked at the Elite's for cooled seats and my wife felt similarly about it being "blah".

We really wanted to check out a Kia Telluride, but there are literally none available to even check out at this point.

In the end I think we will be going XC90 with extended Volvo warranty.

The Flex was still made for the 2019 model year; not certain if it will be again for 2020.  The only way to get the EcoBoost engine in the Flex is to order the Limited with AWD at $45K+.  That seems to be rather expensive.

Motor Trend says the Pacifica is the answer to all problems, vehicle wise.

We had an 2003 XC90 2.5 AWD we bought new.  My bride loved it. 

The 3rd row seats allowed seating for 7 (the 3rd row was suitable for kids or very small adults).  Comfortable and reliable.  In 215K miles, we replaced the rear wheel bearings (one under warranty), tires, brakes, and the normal belts, etc.

We have a XC60 now that we also like a lot, but my wife still comments ever time we pass an XC90.

Can't comment on the newer XC90s, but ours was great.

In reply to CJ :

I really like the XC90’s. I figured they were out of our budget, and they are, but they are a lot closer than I thought. I may check to see what kind of deals are to be had. Trying to keep a cap on the price, I think we are already in stupid territory for a work car she will use up in 5 years. She’s selling her van, so I figure $25k work allowance + what she sells the van for is reasonable. How are Volvo’s on resale? Got to be better than KIA?

Wife and I looked at all of the 3rd SUVs at the auto show a year ago.  She was dead set against a minivan.

None of them had usable space like a minivan, except the Suburban or Excursion and their derivatives, which were too big and way out of budget.  All of the others were useless for either using the seats or actually bringing people and things.

We bought a Pacifica.  Visibility is better, you sit nearly as high up (and really since everyone is driving tall cars/trucks, it doesn't matter anymore), you can haul people and stuff at the same time and they don't need to be gymnasts to get in and out of the back seats.  The $10k in tax credits on the hybrid helped out quite a bit, especially with the eventual gas savings.

Most SUVs are jacked up station wagons with less space and worse visibility.  Have her buy a car.  A literal car that is suited for her commute (a hybrid or similar that gets good gas mileage and is enjoyable to drive).  Save the van on the sidelines for when you need to haul the family or make runs to the grocery store, etc.

Jus' Sayin'

iceracer said:

Motor Trend says the Pacifica is the answer to all problems, vehicle wise.

Except she's going to be driving it 125k which is more than the standard 5/100k Chrysler warranty. But she'll get plenty of chances to try out their new 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 vehicles each year while hers is being repaired.

We bought a Telluride last night.

We checked out just about everything, and the Telluride topped the charts in just about every category for us, especially when you factored in the price. We decided on an AWD EX, and it’s a lot of car for the money. I’m extremely impressed with Kia’s execution. They sure paid attention to detail, and it feels that they were building to a much higher price point than the sticker suggests. The hardest part was finding one to buy. Kia has had trouble keeping up with demand. Dealers all over the state have been jacking prices $5k+ over MSRP. Many are shady, with lower online and even over the phone pricing, only to add the mark up on the lot. I refused to pay extra mark up, and we found one exactly as we wanted it at a dealer 2 hrs. away without a dealer mark up. Funny thing, two dealers that we previously tried to buy from contacted my wife today. They were ready to talk about reducing their mark up. With great satisfaction, my wife sent them a pic the car with the message “too late.”

Those things really do look pretty cool.  I definitely prefer the Kia to the Hyundai version.  Congratulations! 

Dave M said:

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

Yeah the Pacifica is just about perfect except for that it's a FCA product. If you're scared of VW reliability, you should be terrified of FCA!

I realize this is an old post, but I just don't get this attitude.  I've had a Mopar minivan in one form or another since 1992, and all 3 of them have been dead-nuts reliable.  I have plenty of friends and relations with them, too, and major problems are rare in my experience.  Everybody screams about the old 4-speed ATX from the '90s and how terrible it was. Yes, at 150k, my father's needed a rebuild, but he went on to put another 150k on the van before it rusted to death.  My old 2000 with the same transmission is still doing heavy duty with my nephew and his wife - at 150k+ it is still running strong.  I really don't consider that terrible service life, no matter how big a grudge Consumer Reports may carry against Chrysler.

On the other hand, I've known more than one person with Volkswagens that even the dealer service departments literally gave up on and said "we can't fix this."