Durango, Envoy, Sienna or ???

[stayinhomewithmy6]

We are shopping for a used vehicle that will fit 8 comfortably. I can't even tell you how sick I am of cramming our family into the tiny Ford Freestar. We have 5 now and are TTC. I would like '06 or newer and absolutely no more than 75K miles. DH isn't quite so picky, lol. Our budget tops out at 16K. DH likes the looks of the Envoy. We can easily find one in our price range that meets my requirements. The 8th seat looks like it's not a full seat, so that bothers me. I like the looks of the Durango, also available in our price range and meets my requirements. DH's friend told him that his Durango was "nothing but trouble" so that worries him. Then there's the Sienna, seats 8, so it's a possibility, but my thought is that it's still just a minivan and wouldn't give us much more room than we have now. We haven't looked at anything in person because there is nothing locally. If you have any insight, please share. We are not good at this vehicle buying thing. If we were, we never would have bought the Freestar knowing we would have to fit 5 kids in it.
ETA: I just found the Saturn Outlook. It looks like it would be good for us. Would it? Is it bigger than a Sienna? It doesn't have headrests in the middle seating positions, but we will have kids in car seats for probably the next 9 yrs, so I'm not too worried about that.

 

[melniemi]

We had a trailblazer, same as an envoy. No ta's in the third row, minimal cargo room with 3rd row used, lots of wind noise....we hated it. We had bought it new and kept it less than a year. We wish we had bought a suburban instead. The others, not sure about, but that's my pinion on the envoy

 

[stayinhomewithmy6]

We had a trailblazer, same as an envoy. No ta's in the third row, minimal cargo room with 3rd row used, lots of wind noise....we hated it. We had bought it new and kept it less than a year. We wish we had bought a suburban instead. The others, not sure about, but that's my pinion on the envoy

Thanks, Mel!

 

[krfogle88]

I have an '06 Trailblazer ext and love it... With the third row up I can fit my Cybex Topaz stroller and some groceries. I only have one child now, but I have my niece 70% of the time and also take my car on a lot of trips with family. Last year I had 5 adults and two children who were harnessed in car seats in my Trailblazer and although it was a squeeze it wasn't horrible. I was also able to fit my daughters Mac Quest and a cooler and some tote bags for the amusement park in the back. It has over 120,000 miles on it and runs great. I was stuck between buying this and a suburban and I am glad I got the TB EXT instead. Good luck!

 

[krfogle88]

As stated previously it only seats 7 though, so if you are looking to seat 8 comfortably I would opt for the Suburban or possibly the Traverse... My mom had a suburban and we all loved it. Good luck!

 

[Dizzymomma]

I've had a Durango and now I have a Sienna. The Sienna has way more room in the back for storage if you need all the seating space.

 

[stayinhomewithmy6]

I've had a Durango and now I have a Sienna. The Sienna has way more room in the back for storage if you need all the seating space.

That's interesting, I would have guessed the Durango would have more cargo space than the Sienna. What about seating space? Are they about equal? I think if it came right down to it and I had to choose between the two, I'd rather have more seating space and less cargo space than the other way around.

krfogle - Trailblazers are available with an 8th seat, I think. I could have sworn I've looked at them, but I could be thinking of the Envoy since they're the same. Suburbans are out of our price range and Traverse is definitely out. Ideally, we would get a Sequoia. We found one, it was awesome and a great deal and someone beat us to it. I'm going to keep looking for one, though.

 

[krfogle88]

The newer Trailblazer EXT's and Envoy XL's only seat 7 - three in middle row, and two third row. If you would be willing to get an "older" model than 2006 for a Suburban that would be the way I would go. They last forever and have TONS of room. I loved my moms Suburban. Just couldn't justify getting one with at most 2 kids in my car at a time. A Sequoia is also very nice, just doesn't have as much cargo space as what the Suburban does. I would also check out reliability issues with the Durango. I know they have Engine and Transmission issues with some years. Sienna's are awesome and have a lot more room in them then what it looks like. We test drove one but it didn't offer as nice of a warranty and price as we got with the Trailblazer.

 

[Dawn]

I used to have a Sienna and now have the Saturn Outlook. The Sienna is WAY bigger and has a ton more storage space and flexible seating. We are actually looking at trading back up to the new Sienna.
We had a Suburban as a rental in November and while it was big, I found it to be a pain to get 5 carseats in.

 

[SafeDad]

For many families, it is hard to touch an 8-passenger current generation Odyssey or previous generation Sienna in terms of cargo space, seating flexibility, handling, fuel economy and overall safety. The problem is that the full size SUVs still tend to have brick aerodynamics, high centers of gravity and high torque truck engines. They do things like towing and off roading well, but a lot of families never do those things. They also tend to cost more, at least when new!

 

[stayinhomewithmy6]

I would also check out reliability issues with the Durango. I know they have Engine and Transmission issues with some years.

I will look into that with the Durangos. Maybe that was the problem with the one DH's friend had. They bought it new and at about 50,000 miles, they started having constant problems.

I used to have a Sienna and now have the Saturn Outlook. The Sienna is WAY bigger and has a ton more storage space and flexible seating. We are actually looking at trading back up to the new Sienna.
We had a Suburban as a rental in November and while it was big, I found it to be a pain to get 5 carseats in.

Good to know! We won't even bother looking at an Outlook, then. I think I have seen other people say the same thing about the Suburban and that is what I want to avoid. It is a huge pain to get 5 car seats in the Freestar and I'm so sick of it.

For many families, it is hard to touch an 8-passenger current generation Odyssey or previous generation Sienna in terms of cargo space, seating flexibility, handling, fuel economy and overall safety. The problem is that the full size SUVs still tend to have brick aerodynamics, high centers of gravity and high torque truck engines. They do things like towing and off roading well, but a lot of families never do those things. They also tend to cost more, at least when new!

Thanks for your input, Darren. For years, I have been saying that a Sienna would be our next vehicle. DH wants 4WD and I don't know if it's that easy to find in a Sienna? I'll look and see what I can find. Today, I have been looking at Expeditions, but from pictures, it doesn't appear that they have much passenger room in the 3rd row. I'm also thinking about increasing our budget a bit. I tend to be more cautious than I need to be.

 

[SafeDad]

Thanks for your input, Darren. For years, I have been saying that a Sienna would be our next vehicle. DH wants 4WD and I don't know if it's that easy to find in a Sienna? I'll look and see what I can find. Today, I have been looking at Expeditions, but from pictures, it doesn't appear that they have much passenger room in the 3rd row. I'm also thinking about increasing our budget a bit. I tend to be more cautious than I need to be.

Yup, really, the only reasons to get an Expedition over one of the top minivans are offroading, towing more than a couple thousand pounds, seating 9 passengers (in a few models) and image. Almost everything else like price, safety, handling, fuel economy and seating/cargo capability and ease of loading/unloading is in favor of the better minivans.

 

[jennzee]

I know that Durangos are often not a favorite, but we have LOVED ours and haven't had a minutes trouble with it (and it's got a ton of miles on it....it was driven lots for business). We sold our Trailblazer (no third row) and upgraded to the Duragno ('07) for seating space and have been really happy with it. I do think you have to look at ratings pertaining to the model year, as the Durango doesn't seem to be as consistent as others. We do tow some and have need to travel through snowy mountain canyons, so 4WD was a must for us.

The seating has been great....I've ridden in the third row many times and it is not cramped AT ALL. I initially had some trouble installing my Radians in the third row due to extra long buckle stalks, but now that we've figured it out, it's not too difficult. All of the other seats we've installed in it have gone in nicely. I do wish that the third row had top tethers in all three seating positions.

Cargo space is a bit of an issue when we're using the third row. It's not too big of a deal now that we're out of the stroller/baby gear phase, but if you use cargo a lot, it's definitely something to consider.

Gas mileage....eh. Not great. We get about 14 MPG around town, but it goes up to about 20-21 MPG on the freeway.

 

[Dizzymomma]

Yeah when all the seats are up in the durango I only had about a foot ,foot and a half deep if that makes sense. My big stroller didn't fit in there.

The sienna has a lot of room because the seats fold into the floor so when they are up there is that much more room.

 

[stayinhomewithmy6]

Anyone know if they made the AWD Sienna in an 8 passenger? I have looked pretty extensively tonight and haven't seen any. AWD isn't necessarily a deal breaker for DH, but we live in the Northland, snow-ville, pretty much everyone has AWD, except us. We would be towing a trailer occasionally, but we've done it with the Freestar and it was fine, so I'm not concerned about that.
I'm off to search the 3-across thread now, gotta see what you can really do in each of these vehicles. :thumbsup:

 

[melniemi]

It looks like the AWD comes in 8 pass

From edmunds

The fully redesigned Toyota Sienna minivan comes in five trim levels -- base, LE, SE, XLE and Limited. The LE and XLE come in seven- and eight-passenger configurations, while the base and Limited are seven-passenger only and the SE is eight-passenger only. All trims come with front-wheel drive while the LE, XLE and Limited can also be had with all-wheel drive.

Good luck with your search! We've never had AWD up here in the north but with good snow tires, we really haven't had a problem. That being said, our next vehicle will have 4wd - most likely an 8 pass Suburban.

 

[Jeanum]

Anyone know if they made the AWD Sienna in an 8 passenger? I have looked pretty extensively tonight and haven't seen any. AWD isn't necessarily a deal breaker for DH, but we live in the Northland, snow-ville, pretty much everyone has AWD, except us. We would be towing a trailer occasionally, but we've done it with the Freestar and it was fine, so I'm not concerned about that.
I'm off to search the 3-across thread now, gotta see what you can really do in each of these vehicles. :thumbsup:

Not in the previous generation 2004-2010 8-passenger model Siennas if you're considering used models- the 2004-2010 8-passenger Sienna CE (the base model) and LE (mid-level model) were FWD only, not available with AWD. You could get a 7-passenger Sienna in some trim levels (LE and up if I remember correctly) with AWD but not the 8-passenger version. I honestly don't miss it on our '05 8-passenger Sienna FWIW, and the Sienna replaced an AWD SUV (Saturn Vue) in our garage here in the snow belt.

 

[stayinhomewithmy6]

Would any of you with an 8 passenger Sienna mind measuring the 3rd row bench seat across for me? I know it's not all about measurements, it's about puzzling, but I want to know how much room I would have to puzzle in. Our Freestar is 48". Somewhere I saw that the Expedition is 50", which doesn't seem like it would be a huge improvement.

 

[Dawn]

Solid side to solid side I got 50 inches. 2011 Sienna XLE-8 passenger.

Sienna only offers 7 passenger seating when you go to AWD.

 

[Jeanum]

My mini collection of Ikea paper tape measures is broken/too short to reliably measure the third row's full width in our '05 Sienna, but I can link you to the specs page for it on cars.com where 51.8 inches is listed for third row hiproom: http://www.cars.com/toyota/sienna/2005/specs/ The dimensions would be the same for any 2004-2010 model year Sienna's third row.