Am I crazy for wanting an Odyssey?

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
Minivans have an old and untrue rep. It's supposed to be the vehicle for "soccer moms". Well, aside from whether there's anything wrong with being a soccer mom, it's not true anymore. A SUV is the "soccer mom" vehicle now. The great majority of SUVs aren't even "real" SUVs anymore. They're basically station wagons or minivans without the sliding door. They don't even look tough or rugged anymore.

As a parent, we tend to be more practical. The minivan really is the most practical vehicle for a family that needs more space than a sedan (and doesn't tow a lot). You need to jump up to a monster vehicle like the Suburban to match the people and cargo carry abilities of a minivan, even tho the minivan is smaller than a Tahoe. Plus those sliding doors will make your back thank you if you still have small kids in car seats.

Look at the new Pilot, for example. Gone is the more rugged, boxy appearance. It looks just like a minivan now, but it lacks the sliding doors, interior space and flexibility of a minivan. You typically pay more for the Pilot and get less in terms of kid and cargo friendliness. About the only reason on paper to buy a Pilot over an Odyssey is for the small percentage of people for whom snow tires aren't enough and genuinely need AWD and don't mind the loss in fuel economy.

And this is from someone who drives a midsize SUV;-)

To get a vehicle with more interior and cargo room than Odyssey, you do have to go with a Suburban or Expedition EL or equivalent. And even those models are arguably less kid-friendly in terms of seating and access. On the plus side, they do offer true 4WD, off-road and towing capability for those who need to do this frequently. Of course, for the considerably higher cost upfront and for fuel, you could rent one for a couple weeks a year every year and still come out ahead. And like msg221 said, the Odyssey handles better than any of the full size truck-based SUVs, which is important if you are mostly driving in crazy urban and suburban traffic. Not to mention Odyssey's great crash test results and safety features! Sienna and Sedona are good choices, too!
 
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1mommy

New member
I'll note my husband has a 3rd row 4runner, and the third row wasn't really designed for children, it has 2 big seats but no tether anchors which means you shouldn't put a FF car seat there, the amount of space front to back is pretty small so you could squeeze a RF car seat there but it would be a pain. Then if we do put the 3rd row up there is next to no space for anything, I could barely fit my liteway plus which is the size of an umbrella stroller when folded up. So if you don't have multiple kids on a regular basis I understand not "needing a minivan" but if you do have multiple kids I see it as a good choice, not necessarily the only one, but one to seriously consider.
 

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