Question Need new vehicle guidance

:question:

So husband and I were thinking maybe in mid 2013 we'd start looking at replacing our 2001 nissan quest that currently has 135k miles on it. We bought a nissan it should make it to 200k right? :whistling:

We took it for inspection and a hesitancy that just started on Friday and found out fixing it costs more than what the vehicle is worth and there is no guarantee it's going to continue to work. Needless to say we are caught off guard and don't have any idea where to even START looking for a new vehicle.

Currently we have 2001 Nissan Quest.
We have
12 y/o in a lap/shoulder belt
10.5 y/o in lap/shoulder belt
9 y/o in a HBB
6.5 y/o in a britax regent
1 y/o rear facing in a britax boulevard70

My husband is tall 6'5" so that is a factor in vehicles....
Also, we are pretty sure we are done having children but there is always that option still open for us.....
We do have a yellow lab that we take with us at times. We do enjoy going camping 1x a year.

SUGGESTIONS!?!? I talked to a car salesman he he actually suggested to NOT go for something like a 3 seater explorer or trailblazer(which is where I thought we should start our search) because they have LESS room than we'd have in a larger minivan. He does have a 2007 Ford E350 Super Duty Passenger XLT Van 12 seater that we could take the back row out of and still have room for everyone. I'm not sure about this though as it doesn't look like there are shoulder belts in the middle seats of the rows. Also there are no head rests. Shouldn't there be head rests in an ideal situation even for those NOT in restraints?

I don't like the safety, handling, gas mileage, etc of those big passenger vans. I'd avoid it if you can. Since you've "only" got 5 kids, you can still get away with a regular minivan.

So start testing out minivans.

And no, I wouldn't consider a 3rd row Explorer. I'm not even sure a Trailblazer even came with a 3rd row and if it did, it'd be a horrible choice as well.

Frankly, any SUV short of a Suburban or Excursion is a horrible choice. Yes, this includes other large SUVs like the Expedition, Armada, Sequoia, etc. Those are quite a bit bigger than an Explorer and Trailblazer too. You wanna go camping in those, well, you all better be able to sleep outside in the open without a tent or even sleeping bags. No room for any of that gear.

If you like to sleep in sleeping bags and under a tent, then you need a minivan or a Suburban. When you consider that a Suburban starts at $40K which is the price of a loaded minivan.....

I'd go minivan - Odyssey, Sienna or Sedona/Entourage.

I bought an '09 Sienna on Saturday and love it.

I'd look at the 8 passenger Sienna...easily be able to fit all of you in (I can install a number of car seats RF'ing in the middle row behind my 6'5" DH driving with the front seat all the way back) and you'd still have a decent amount of cargo room left (especially if you invest in something to put on the roof, etc to carry some stuff). With the 8 seater (I'd go 2004-2010 model year so 8th seat is very useable) you'd also have room for friends, etc.

The Sienna was really the only van that DH has "enough" leg room in...he'd actually like a little more in the Sienna drivers side (so he prefers not to drive), but since he's exceptionally long legged (we're talking 39-40" inseam on his pants), I think he runs out of leg room sooner than other guys do who are also 6'5".

The cargo area in the Expedition EL is only slightly smaller than the Suburban. They made it a little bigger to make up for the Excursion being discontinued in 2005.

I have 5 kids (10, 9, 6, 4, 2y/o). We have a 02 Suburban.

If you want to take the dog with you (we have 2 large dogs as well), make sure you have at least a 8 seater minivan/large SUV.

I'm not sure about your state but if you do find a high capacity van you like, if you transport anyone but immediate family, you'll need an additional vehicle class added to your driver's license.

Just wanted to say thanks for all the input!

In the end on Monday we just purchased a 2011 Toyota sienna 8 passenger leftover that the owner of the lot was barely using. It has only 800 miles on it so it's almost like getting something brand new without the brand new price

I had looked at an 2006 sienna, 2010 kia sedona, 2006 isuzu acender, 2010 ford expedition EL also. My husband got in it and he was like oooo I love the room! He was immediately sold on it despite starting to fall for my brother's loaner SUV---a 2003 toyota sequoia 8 passenger. I couldn't rationalize a suburban because I was having a hard time filling the tank of the sequoia as often as I needed to!

Now I just need to learn how to use all the "stuff" on it!

mkmama said:

I'd look at the 8 passenger Sienna...easily be able to fit all of you in (I can install a number of car seats RF'ing in the middle row behind my 6'5" DH driving with the front seat all the way back) and you'd still have a decent amount of cargo room left (especially if you invest in something to put on the roof, etc to carry some stuff). With the 8 seater (I'd go 2004-2010 model year so 8th seat is very useable) you'd also have room for friends, etc.

The Sienna was really the only van that DH has "enough" leg room in...he'd actually like a little more in the Sienna drivers side (so he prefers not to drive), but since he's exceptionally long legged (we're talking 39-40" inseam on his pants), I think he runs out of leg room sooner than other guys do who are also 6'5".

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You can't use the middle seat for a car seat can you? I was looking at the book and it appears there is no tether for Rfing/FFing in that location?

An '11 Sienna 8 passenger is not the same as an '10 or older Sienna 8 passenger. Prior to the redesign of 2011, the middle seat of the middle row was a true seat - and you could easily fit 3-across. Not so now. However, the Odyseey of 2011+ is now a true 8 passenger. They basically switched......LOL.

You'll still love it though. I just bought a 2009 Sienna and love how it drives.

brelza said:

You can't use the middle seat for a car seat can you? I was looking at the book and it appears there is no tether for Rfing/FFing in that location?

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livsmum said:

An '11 Sienna 8 passenger is not the same as an '10 or older Sienna 8 passenger. Prior to the redesign of 2011, the middle seat of the middle row was a true seat - and you could easily fit 3-across. Not so now. However, the Odyseey of 2011+ is now a true 8 passenger. They basically switched......LOL.

You'll still love it though. I just bought a 2009 Sienna and love how it drives.

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Ah I see. We couldn't find any Toyota Siennas that were 8 passenger other than the one 2011 (which we ended up buying) and I had looked at the 2010-2011 8 passenger odyssey (they had no 2012s yet) and they looked the same in the 2nd row middle seat dept. I couldn't figure out what the big hype was. (I know the oddy you can take the middle out and push them over but that wasn't a selling point for us). I did just google and I did see that the prior years 2nd row siennas did have a different seat. It's kind of funny though as my husband DOES fit in 2nd row middle seat of our 2011. He's tall and thin and all our children take after him.