I have $4,500 to buy a minivan, which one?

AutumnMama · Oct 23, 2009

A Sienna is my first pick, followed by an Odyssey; but I'm not sure how realistic I am being considering our budget.

A minivan is a must, we have 4 kids now.
I was looking at Kia Sedonas but my SIL was saying how everyone she knew who had had one ended up trading them in right around 100k miles because they went berserk!

It maybe possible that we can get a small loan from our credit union, but I'm not counting on that. DH seems to think it would be no problem to find a private party seller who would take any amount owed past the 4,500 as payments...on good faith. I'm not so sure. Maybe I'm being cynical?

Anyway, I would love some input from all you knowledgeable people here!

Nisha · Oct 23, 2009

We love our 2000 Ford Windstar van

.... 5 tether anchors and LATCH in 4 seating positions doesn't hurt either

carseatcoach · Oct 23, 2009

I have sold several cars privately and I would not have taken payments.

jujumum · Oct 23, 2009

With only $4,500, I'd recommend a Mazda MPV (we have 2). Their safety ratings (2000-2006) are better than the 2000-2005 Sedona which is available for around the same price. With that $, a Sienna or Odyssey would be really old and/or have high miles.

AutumnMama · Oct 23, 2009

jujumum said:
With only $4,500, I'd recommend a Mazda MPV (we have 2). Their safety ratings (2000-2006) are better than the 2000-2005 Sedona which is available for around the same price. With that $, a Sienna or Odyssey would be really old and/or have high miles.

Interesting! For some reason I had it in my head that MPV's were 5 passenger, not 7.

swtgi1982 · Oct 24, 2009

Personally I like my dodge caravan. Around here you can find an 01 or 00 for around your budget so that may be an option. I know that my 01 has 5 tether anchors and 4 latch locations

Lea_Ontario · Oct 24, 2009

We spent $5K on our 2005 Kia Sedona - it's got well over 100k km on it, and works beautifully ! I love it.

skipspin · Oct 24, 2009

We will be in the market for a mini-van so we've been watching out market here. I've seen 05 Grand Caravans go that low from a private seller with over 50,000 miles, but under 100,000. We only want a Sedona if it's 2006 or later because of changes, but there are a lot less of them so the chances are less. There are tons of the DGCs out there. Ideally we'd like a Sienna or Odyssey, but we'd want the current body style of either and unless there's something wrong or well over 100,000 miles you won't find one in your budget. We have up to $6000 to spend and still haven't found one. We're open to a Mazda 5 too, but there just aren't that many around.

My DH really likes the idea of the DGC because there are a lot of them out there, maintenance it easy, parts are cheap and even available in junkyards, and they are easy to fix with a good track record of dependability.

jujumum · Oct 24, 2009

AutumnMama said:
Interesting! For some reason I had it in my head that MPV's were 5 passenger, not 7.

7 seats are: 2 front, 2 capitan's center, 3 bench.

Op, whatever van you get - try to look for low miles (ie. miles driven per year of the life of the van), side airbags, lower anchors & tethers, see the carfax report, and check up on the maintenance history (if the folks are honest).

Some vehicles need their timing belts changed at 60,000 miles. If you buy a vehicle with over this figure, you need to know the status of the belt. I bought a Villager at a really good price once that had 90,000 miles but hadn't had the timing belt & other 60,000 mile service done. I was able to have my mechanic replace all of the belts, water pump, etc. at a really resonable price, and drove the van till over 130,000 miles with no problems. The MPV has a timing chain - I don't know about other newer vans.

AutumnMama · Oct 24, 2009

I thought Dodge Caravans were big no-nos?

lukensophie · Oct 24, 2009

I'll second the MPV vote. We have a 2001 MPV that we have had since 2002. It currently has over 120,000 miles on it and it's still in good shape. We've only had to have two major repairs (over $100) in the past eight years of ownership. It also gets car-like gas milage.

When we decided to buy our 2008 Sienna, we kept the MPV and traded in DH's newer, lower milage Mitsubishi Galant. We hope to keep it atleast 2-3 more years.

LuvMyGirls · Oct 26, 2009

AutumnMama said:
I thought Dodge Caravans were big no-nos?

Why? I've had two of them and loved them. I now have a 2008 T&C and love the stow-n-go.

AutumnMama · Oct 26, 2009

LuvMyGirls said:
Why? I've had two of them and loved them. I now have a 2008 T&C and love the stow-n-go.

I guess I was under the impression that the safety ratings weren't great, and they weren't all that reliable.
But the last time I was doing real minivan research was over 3 years ago, so maybe that's why?

My BIL and his wife own a Chrysler T&C and there is something wrong with a computer something (yeah, I know what's going on with my family

), and she told me that as of next month the nearest Chrysler dealer able to work on stuff like that was going to be like 350 miles away.
But I'm not sure if that's something that we really need to worry about or not (SIL is known for being *slightly* dramatic anyway).

We have a good friend/relative who is general manager at a Ford dealership, so I told him what we were looking for, with an MPV being at the top of the list, and he said he'd get on it today.
Not sure if that's going to pan out or not, but it's a good start perhaps.

MPV's are few and far between on Craigslist around here, we'd have to fly over to Seattle to even look at one in our price range.

I've found a few Grand Caravans that look nice, but the one I am liking has 122K miles on it, it's been well-maintained from what he says, but do you think that's too much?

livsmum · Oct 26, 2009

I love my Pontiac Montana, 2002. I bought it a few months ago from a dealer, for $6,1000. 65,000 miles and it's immaculate both inside and out. It seats 8 and is a nice ride.

If at all possible, I'd try and add as many more $ to your budget as you can. You might then be able to avoid buying a car with really high miles. I was very nervous buying a car with 65,000 miles - we've never bought one this high before but we've had no problems with it. It was very well looked after, by one previous owner.

AutumnMama · Oct 29, 2009

How are Montanas with safety ratings?
There is a severe lack of all things MPV around here.

gecikuh · Oct 29, 2009

AutumnMama said:
How are Montanas with safety ratings?
There is a severe lack of all things MPV around here.

not great

ETA: sorry, I tried to link the results for the 2003 montana. but it's in the worst 10%

AutumnMama · Oct 29, 2009

gecikuh said:
not great

ETA: sorry, I tried to link the results for the 2003 montana. but it's in the worst 10%

Dang.

Looks like I might be looking at an 01-02 Grand Caravan then. Nothing under 90K miles either.

Maybe dh will be ok with trying to get a loan after all...

AutumnMama · Oct 29, 2009

Ok, DH wants to just use the $$ we have now to get up by while we save for a couple of years to get a better minivan.

With the economy and his work like it is, I do agree.

If anyone is bored and wants to hit up www.spokane.craigslist.org feel free

April · Oct 29, 2009

Keep in mind that the 01-02 GC's have the Gen 3 seatbelts in them. It doesn't bother some people, but for me it was a dealbreaker.

We loved our 02 Windstar (6 tether anchors and four sets of lower anchors). It got totalled last month and we are currently looking for another Windstar to replace it.

AutumnMama · Oct 30, 2009

Good to know about the seatbelts...seems like I'm always finding something else to watch out for.

Question re the MPV though, can it seat 7 or only 6?
I'd really like to be able to use all 3 seats in back, I sometimes have my nephews (only when we're borrowing MIL's van

) and I'd like to be able to fit them; or at least one of the kids' friends!

I have $4,500 to buy a minivan, which one?

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