Denial is slowly subsiding...

...and I have resigned myself to the possibility that I may need to purchase a minivan... *sigh*

I'd go for a large SUV, but the thought of getting 8 miles per gallon doesn't exactly thrill me.

Transporting 5 kiddos under the age of 6 in a car that barely fits 3 in the backseat just isn't happening.

I need space for 3 FF'ing harnessed seats and 2 RF'ing seats. Or possibly 4 FF'ing harnessed seats and 1 RF'ing seat... I'm not quite sure how much the bigger little one weighs. No one is ready for a full-time booster yet.

Please enlighten me as to what minivans you would or wouldn't recommend, keeping in mind the ridiculous number of child restraints I need to accommodate.

I prefer captains chairs to a middle bench seat and also prefer dual automatic sliding doors (maybe they all have this, I have no clue!)...

This transition has been slow and slightly painful... I've gone from a young, single, carefree "truck gal"; to a trendy mom with a cool SUV; to a boring, conservative, 4-door sedan... a downward spiral which has drawn me very near to the inevitable black hole... desperate housewives meets suburban soccer mom meets Mr. Rogers in a skirt, behind the wheel of a minivan...

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. And bonus points to whoever can recommend the best bottle of wine to down before signing the papers...

Oh, no, come back to us, don't look at the light! I find myself admitting that minivans are so darned practical and carseat friendly...

No advice or answers to your question (except the last one and the answer would be "the biggest") but just wanted to say my 98 suburban gets 18 mpg.

Also considering getting either my nose or tongue pierced to counter-act the affect the minivan would have on my "cool mom" image... suggestions as to which one are welcome...

i vote for tongue lmao but im biased

Mama Jo said:

Also considering getting either my nose or tongue pierced to counter-act the affect the minivan would have on my "cool mom" image... suggestions as to which one are welcome...

Click to expand...

Go for the nipple. That way, if you show off your piercing, that's about as far from the soccor mom image as can be.

Would a Ford Freestyle or Flex work? I don't see most SUVs as "cool" so I'm not the most help. What about a Mazda CX-9? I like the looks of that. Or the GMC Acadia.

If you do get a minivan, I like the Sienna or Odyssey.

codex57 said:

Would a Ford Freestyle or Flex work? I don't see most SUVs as "cool" so I'm not the most help. What about a Mazda CX-9? I like the looks of that. Or the GMC Acadia.

If you do get a minivan, I like the Sienna or Odyssey.

Click to expand...

My CX-9 gets close to 20 MPG. It easily accomodates 5 passengers in the rear.

The GMC Acadia we had for over a week was getting 18mpg in the city and I installed 4 car seats (2nd row caption chairs) in it with no issues. I probably could have gotten 5 if I had the right seats but I have Regents.

I owend a '05 Z71 Tahoe for almost 4yrs and I was getting 14-15mpg in the city. So big SUV's don't get horrible mpg unless it's a Hummer or Excurison.

My Jeep Cherokee got about 11 in the city. I could literally see the gas guage drop, especially when going uphill. My neighbor's grand cherokee got 10 in the city.

codex57 said:

My Jeep Cherokee got about 11 in the city. I could literally see the gas guage drop, especially when going uphill. My neighbor's grand cherokee got 10 in the city.

Click to expand...

My gas gauge would go up when I went up hills in my old pickup! (cuz the sensor was in the back of the tank)

And yeah I think the nipple would offset the van

my sienna gets about 24-6 mpg. With the 8 passenger, you could get any combo of seats you wanted.

I bought a Town and Country 2 months before turning 40.... UGH! I have to admit I love it!! We only have twins, but it works great for inlaws, cousins, etc and twins...

It gets around 20-25 highway, so not too bad... I plan to buy a used prius next to replace my Pontiac in a few years.... Hopefully that will offset the gas issue....

All you people offering the SUV's aren't helping!! You don't know how much I'd rather drive an SUV, but - and much as I hate this to be truth - the minivan will serve me better. :thumbsdown:

For a few reasons... these kids are spacy and clueless. They're all girls (except the baby), what do you expect?? So until I have a vehicle with sliding doors for them to get in and out of, I would recommend none of you park next to me in a parking lot - you will inevitably end up with dented and scratched doors and fenders. And maybe flat tires or a broken window or two. If it's within sight, they'll find a way to break it! And a sliding door would really help in the garage... I have a helluva time opening the car door inside my garage to get the infant seat out... I have to lean it on the lawnmower... slide in sideways between the door and the backseat... hit my head on the corner of the door trying to squeeze in far enough to release the back of the infant seat... turn the infant seat sideways-upside down-backwards-sideways again... wiggle it a little to fit it out the door... pull, pull, pull... fall on my arse when it finally pops out... get up, balance the seat on my head so I can reach the door to close it... carry it over my head all the way to the door to the house because it's too wide to try and get it through past the car... and then I realize I left my keys in the car, and of course the door to the house is locked...

Onto other issues... the gas mileage isn't a HUGE issue, although I do prefer to get the best I can if possible. I've driven a Tahoe and spent $150 - $200 a week on gas. Now I drive a Malibu and spend $30 - $50 a week. That works better for me and allows me to use the money I save to finance my carseat addiction.

Some of the SUV's I've seen that get better gas mileage, look like minivans anymore. If I'm gonna be driving a minivan-looking-thing anyway, I might as well just get the benefits of the actual minivan.

As for the piercing, I think I'll go with the nose. It seems the least painful. As to your other suggestion, I'm going to pass. My "girls" have been through enough - I just stopped breastfeeding and pumping a couple weeks ago... they deserve a break!

Back to the topic at hand... I'll likely need to get slightly pre-owned because my budget is around $15,000.00. I'm leaning toward the Town and Country or the Sienna I think... does anyone who owns either of these have any problems with maintenance or mechanical issues?

We a 2002? Town and Country, bought it in 2005 for $14,000. LOVE IT! (althought I can't believe thoses words!)

Maitenence issues? We bought an extended warranty. I think it cost $2,500. It was through Chrysler and covered EVERYTHING up to 100,000 miles. We had 40,000 at the time. We have used it. Some fixes we probably would have skipped if we didn't have the maitenence plan, .... sliding doors stick, heated seat problem, etc, but we did do some transmission work... this seems to be typical with these. We have no regrets! Will look for a good deal on a used one again. (we are approaching 97,000 miles... and will keep until we get a repair we don't want to pay for.....

Years ago I swore I would NEVER, ever, ever get a mini van under any circumstances. Fast forward a few years, and I'm driving a Toyota Sienna . But I have to say, I don't regret it. The sliding doors have been a lifesaver, especially in parking lots & tight spaces where it's hard to swing a regular door out and reach in to buckle kids. It has also been a back-saver since you don't have to bend down and in while twisting to buckle the kids (very bad for your back!!). Yes, it lacks the 'cool' factor, but as I get a little older, the 'convenience' factor becomes much more important!

My original motto before becoming a parent and as a first time mom was "death before I own a minivan." A few years of car crashes, transporting grandparents, and a second baby led me down the road to embracing minivan ownership. Four years of owning a Sienna this week and counting, lol. :thumbsup: Owning more than one subcompact station wagon when I was a teenager/20-something pretty much conditioned me to not care so much about the cool factor of the car and focus more on the functionality, lol. There was a brief three year ownership of a sporty Saturn SC coupe as a rebellion of sorts against the wagons. The SC was a closeout model and I got it new for thousands less than other Saturns we were considering at the time, so there was some iota of practical involved (and it had tether anchors :thumbsup, followed by a Saturn Vue SUV and then the Sienna. It was a more gradual progression rather than an immediate conversion to the minivan. The sliding doors, versatility of the seating, and the fact that it gets better mpg than my smaller former V-6 AWD Saturn Vue helped ease the transition.

When I become pg with #1, DH and I made a pact that we would never ever drive a minivan. About 3 years ago we rented a minivan on a trip when we had several other people along, we loaded everything up, got in and started driving. A couple minutes later we were both looking at each saying that it was rather nice for children. I've owned a Sienna for over 2 years now and will not be driving anything other then a minivan for quite some time. I resisted, I had a fun little car with just one child, a Saab 9-3 and then an Audi for a while with 2, I really did not want to jump straight to such a "mom car".

The minivan really is worth it. The sliding doors are SOO nice, my DD1 always dings other cars when she is riding with DH in his car. The seating arrangements, the space, all the child friendly features..... :thumbsup:

If I were buying a newer vehicle, it'd be a Toyota Sienna or a Sequoia. I've got 3, one on the way, and an extra, and my little van is vewy vewy crowded, since they all need to be in seats of some kind.

To those of you who have posted and who own a T&C or Sienna... thanks you for your encouraging words at this difficult time in my life...

My experience with these fun killers is limited to online research and a brief experience with a vacation rental T&C, which my dad drove and I was only a passenger. He offered to let me drive, but I wasn't quite ready to take that step, yet... However, I did grudgingly admit at the time that it really was so very easy to get DD in and out ((DS hadn't arrived yet)) and even my neurotic, claustrophobic aunt was able to ride in a middle seat for 10+ hours without a single psychotic episode or panic attack lol. According to her, there was enough oxygen for everyone in the vehicle, so that no one needed to steal hers lol... The extra space, and especially the extra head-room, is definitely nice.

I hope to get a newer pre-owned model of one or the other, provided it falls within my price range. How many top tether anchors are there in the vehicle? I'd like to be able to top tether all carseats, RF'ing and FF'ing... would this be possible in either the T&C or the Sienna?? ((There will either be 3 FF'ing and 2 RF'ing seats, or 4 FF'ing and 1 RF'ing seat.))

Sorry, but my 2008 T&C only has a top tether for each of the center row captain's chairs and one for the third row, so I wouldn't be able to tether more than three ff seats. Of course, if you put the rf seats outboard in the third row you may be able to tether them under the center row captain's chairs and use the three actual ff tethers for your ff seats.

One difference that I would point out that may sway you toward the T&C is the Stow-n-Go. I rarely ever remove my seats, so actually being able to stow them isn't the big thing. It's the HUGE buckets under the floorboard that are intended to hold those seats. Those buckets hold tons of stuff that otherwise clutters your vehicle. And the back of the vehicle has a HUGE (think small bathtub size) recessed area intended to stow the third row seats. You can put some serious groceries back there even with a stroller.

It also has two nice sized glove compartments, several bins in the front doors (I use one for a garbage bin), drink bottle holders in every door, a total of 13 cup holders, the second row windows go down so adults don't feel trapped (but the driver does have a lock button), and more overhead storage compartments. It's just unbelievable storage.

I would also suggest that in addition to power doors, you may really want a power hatch. It is really nice to be able to open the doors and hatch as you approach with a full grocery buggy and arms. Some of the non-power hatches are pretty hard for me to pull down and close.

Mine also has an overheard dvd player and plug ins for game consoles including a 115v electrical outlet for the console. We haven't used it, but I can see where it would be nice for older kids to play video games on long trips.

The current model Sienna is very good. Possibly the best minivan out there, particularly the 8 passenger version. Even with the older engine (depending on how far back you have to go). However, if you have to get the previous version, I'd go with the T&C then.

My mom's been driving minivans forever. The practicality was just too great. So, she's owned various permutations of those two along with some others and I've had to ride in them. It's pretty tough to go wrong with either the T&C or Sienna.