Looking at minivans

Amanda · Jan 21, 2010

DH and I have been talking about trading in my small SUV for... a minivan.

I swore I'd never drive one, but they are so practical that it's kind of hard to pass them up.

I currently have a 2007 Ford Escape and it's tight with two RFing car seats. We do some long trips a few times a year and we just need more space. I'm liking the Toyota Siennas, but we're looking a bit older. I saw an '06 that I liked, but I may even go older than that. I know that the 7 passenger '04-'10 models have four full sets of LATCH (bottom and top, right?), but my question is: If I decide to go older than that, can the top tethers be retrofitted in these vehicles? It's not an issue at the moment because both children will be RFing, but in the future, I'd like the flexibility of being able to put them in nearly any position. I can install with a seatbelt, so the bottom anchors aren't *that* big of a deal, though they are convenient, but if they can't add the top tether anchors when my kids turn FFing, That will definitely make an impact on which year models I'm even willing to look at. ya know?

Thanks in advance, ladies!

firemomof3 · Jan 21, 2010

What is your budget? I was on the minivan hunt this past summer and looked at everything

We wanted to spend 14K total (and that included my trade in so we financed 10K). The Sienna & Odyssey are great but in that price range your looking at older/higher miles. The Caravan/T&C were out for me because they only have 1 tether in the 3rd row. So, we finally went with an 06 Kia Sedona

Its been great for car seats! I can fit anything rf in the captain seats and get 3 across my 3rd row. The 3rd row has 2 sets of latch and 2 rear tethers

You can see here in the pic I have a MyRide & a Complete Air installed rf in the 3rd row. Its so easy!

Amanda · Jan 21, 2010

I actually found an '06 Sienna with 86K miles advertised for under 14K. And DH gets a deal through the Toyota dealership where they will sell to him for $300 over what they paid. We'd end up paying... I think it was $11,900 or so for it.

Honestly, I don't mind going a bit older, and on a Toyota, the higher mileage doesn't bother me much either. My Ford has nearly 60K miles on it and Toyotas are better made vehicles. I don't think we'd want to go much above $12K.

ETA: Oh, yeah... and my DD has the same MR. lol