Question Help me pick a used van please!

Okay, so my 2000 Durango officially sucks. We currently have four kids in carseats, 2 in boosters and 2 in harnessed seats. The possibility if another baby in the next year or two is about 99%. So I need something to fit 2 boosters, 2 harnessed seats and an infant seat, later a 3rd harnessed seat.

Here's my wish list:

At least middle of the road crash tests
Second row bucket seats and three seats in the third row that can fit two boosters (outboard) and a Radian in the middle (Our current boosters are a PW and a highback Turbo booster)
Latch (upper and lower) in as many positions as possible
Adjustible headrests in as many seats as possible (We have an Apex that will hopefully get replaced soon.)
Something with a captain's chair that a Frontier will install in

I would love love love to get an Oddysey or a Sienna, but an 03 is likely out of our price range. Do either of those vans come with latch in older than 03? Not that latch is an absolute must, but I'd be nice to have, especially if we end up with two Monterey's as boosters....

I was thinking a Ford Freestar, but they are super hard to find and I don't know how the crash test ratings are. HELP PLEASE!!!!

TIA

I don't know much about oddesyes but here is some info on siennas (to the best of my knowlege).

04 is when the siennas came out with the new body style so it is then that it started having the latch almost everywhere (back outboard behind the driver doesn't have latch), 8th seat as an option, side airbags as an option, folding down back seat, and middle shoulder belt. I love mine to peices! Maybe you could find one with high miles! lol I would personally rather have a toyota with high miles than another car with lower miles.

With 4 kids and possibility of a 5th it would be handy to have the 8 seats if you had to take an extra kid.

I think they started putting latch around 2000, I'm not exactly sure. I know my SIL's has latch but I'm fairly sure before 2004 they only had latch in two spots, I think behind the passanger and middle back.

I had three in the back of my 98 many times, I had a marathon in the middle with star risers on the sides, radian in the middle with star risers on the sides, a marathon, and alpha omega and a star riser. A marathon, decathlon, and a star riser. I will say though that the radian is hard to install in the sienna. If I hadn't been able to recline the seat and bring it back up it wouldn't have fit right.

I wouldn't get a freestar, I had one as a rental and I HATED it. My old sienna was a 98 and I was kind of worried that if I got a new van as a rental I would start wanting a new van. Nope, after driving the freestar I couldn't wait to get my 8 year old sienna back! Everything about it seemed cheap and flimsy. It was also really loud on the highway, much louder than my sienna. It also didn't have captain's chairs and couldn't flip the bench because I had a convertible there. The kids had a VERY narrow space to get into the back.

Best of Luck!

Thanks for the info!

I looked up the specs and ratings and it looks like the latch started going in the Oddy/Siennas in 2000. I'm actually okay even with latch in the passenger side middle row captain's chair and center back. Reason being, we'd have a Radian in the centre back and the new baby eventually in a convertable in one of the Captain's chairs. Riley is going to have a Frontier in one of the captain's chairs, which will likely need a seatbelt installation by then cause he is a chunky little guy.

So I think I'm now looking at an 01 or 02 Oddy or Sienna.....Wish me luck!

What about a Windstar. They started latch in 2000.

proudmomofriley said:

Thanks for the info!

I looked up the specs and ratings and it looks like the latch started going in the Oddy/Siennas in 2000. I'm actually okay even with latch in the passenger side middle row captain's chair and center back. Reason being, we'd have a Radian in the centre back and the new baby eventually in a convertable in one of the Captain's chairs. Riley is going to have a Frontier in one of the captain's chairs, which will likely need a seatbelt installation by then cause he is a chunky little guy.

So I think I'm now looking at an 01 or 02 Oddy or Sienna.....Wish me luck!

Click to expand...

Our 03 sienna does not have center latch, and I've not been successful in a 3 across install using latch at all in the 2003 sienna. Though I have been able to get a tight radian install in the center back with seatbelt using the recline. It is a very narrow back seat though and I'm not sure you'd be successful with 2 boosters - there isn't really any extra space when installing 2 marathons outboard. :twocents: