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Chris

New member
Our Dodge Caravan is on its last leg and I want to have my ducks in a row when we have to replace it. We have four kids (12 five stepping, 8 boostered in a frontier, 5 FFing in a radian, 2 RF in a boulevard) and we plan on having one more within the next 18 months. We also love having cargo space and taking friends with us.

Just wanting to know from those who have been there, done that, is it silly to make due with another minivan for a couple of years or should we tighten our belts and just make the jump to the bigger van now? (I don't love car shopping, kind of prefer to buy a car that I love and drive it until it dies)

We need something that isn't so tight across the backseat so that three carseats or just teenage bodies are reasonable comfortable (these kids are only getting bigger and so are their friends). We are toying with the idea of an older 8 seat Sienna to bridge the gap for a couple of years and then jumping up to a NV or something similar.
 
ADS

Keeanh

Well-known member
I would get an 04-10 8p Sienna. If you get a full-size van, there's no trunk, so you have to take the back row out. So you're dealing with a much bigger vehicle and no increase in passenger space (although you would have extra cargo room). I have an 8p Safari and a 15p Express. I drive the Safari everywhere for everything unless I have too many kids with me or I need to transport a major appliance or something. It's just not fun manoeuvring and parking a full-size van all the time if you don't need to.

ETA: We had the 8p and a small sedan until #7 was born. So even with 6 kids, we still used the 8p van for everything including vacations.
 

Chris

New member
Can I just take this moment to whine about the European VS American van market. I think the Ford Tourneo and VW Transporter (the diesel TDI is sooo fuel efficient) would do amazingly well in the US, but no, we can't get them here. I would think that with the success of the NV companies would realize that big and ugly will still sell if you nail the other critical features. I travelled with my siblings last year in Germany in a VW transporter and was so impressed that I came home and immediately began trying to hung one down to no avail. :crying:
 

Keeanh

Well-known member
Oh, and if you do want a bigger van on a budget, it's possible to retrofit headrests. I put Dodge Caravan headrests in my Chevy Express.
 

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