Late-model minivans: your thoughts/preferences?

Since it seems I have taken care of the pressing WRX issues and will keep it for another couple years before looking for something new for myself, it's my wife's turn. She's never much liked our 2005 Sequoia (which I will keep regardless for towing the rally car and utility stuff), and she more or less wants a minivan (and has for several years) since she liked to carry a load of kids around.

What she doesn't like is old stuff (unlike me), so let's keep this limited to 2-3 years old at most (and/or current generation of the vehicle). No MPV or Astro, please! Not interested in SUVs of any kind for this.

Really I have no other real criteria other than it be something reliable and something that can be purchased around $30k that will not require expensive maintenance. She doesn't much care about fancy A/V systems, so don't need 5 TV screens (we never use the one in the Sequoia as it is), don't need crazy power fold-down 3rd row seats either. Just three rows, quality build, and good for both daily short trips and occasional long family trips. Towing rating is irrelevant as it will never tow anything.

The obvious choices are Odyssey, Sienna, and the new Pacifica. What should I know about these and/or others in the class?

Never been a minivan fan, myself. One 15 year old the house doesn't really warrant needing something that big. However, I've been amazed at how inexpensive Caravan's are. Carmax (for example) has a bunch of Caravan RT's (leather, power, etc) for around $20k. That seems like a smoking deal to me.

-Rob

R63?

rob_lewis wrote: Never been a minivan fan, myself. One 15 year old the house doesn't really warrant needing something that big. However, I've been amazed at how inexpensive Caravan's are. Carmax (for example) has a bunch of Caravan RT's (leather, power, etc) for around $20k. That seems like a smoking deal to me. -Rob

My first car was a Voyager LX ('89) in high school. It was an appliance for sure (with gray mag wheels though). That said, this is not for me. I will probably only drive this on long family road trips. This is for the wife, who doesn't much care about cars as long as she doesn't dislike them (she generally dislikes the Sequoia and it gets DREADFUL mpg's on all her short local trips). So basically she wants an appliance.

Needless to say, I will buy a mid-range model at least (i.e. Sienna SE) since I cannot suffer a minivan in the driveway that looks TOO dorky, lol.

Not gonna do the previous-gen Caravan. I know they're great, but the wife doesn't look how my parents' 2015 town and country looks, so that body style is simply not gonna happen for us.

Knurled wrote: R63?

Go away, Pete ;)

I recently priced. This, 2017, is the last year for the Caravan (same since 2008). With mostly just 2 key options of stow n go seating and rear ac, a brand new one prices down to about $23,500 with incentives and that is before negotiations which could get you lower.

Edit: oops, we were writing at the same time.

I really like the ProMaster City. Plus, it comes with cargo tiedowns, so you can carry as many kids as you have ratchet straps.

yeah, I know. But my wife DOWNGRADED her last car (2008 4Runner bought new) to the 2005 Sequoia so I would have something to tow with....so I kind of owe her something that isn't "the old model" again lol....

On the upside, she drives like 10k miles a year at most, so whatever we get we will have for a LONG time probably - hence my top concern being long-term reliability.

For reliability, sienna. Get a 2015 or newer LE and call it a day. The pacifica is too new and the 9 speed autos have had issues in other applications. The odyssey seems to be a better minivan than the sienna, but is not as reliable. The sienna has had the same basic engine since 2007. The 2011 third gen brought a six speed auto which I have not heard too many bad things about. The 2015 refresh gives it the quality feel inside whoch it shoild have had in 2011. The 2017 has an 8speed and more power. The 2nd gen had power door issues, dont know if the third gen has those issues, but I do no there is a recall on some third gens with the power doors. According to thisSienna reliability and consumer reports if reliability is high on your priorities then the sienna is tops. I have a friend with a 2015. They are not great handlers, but work well. I do think the third row in the Odyssey more comfortable. If you're in no rush a new odyssey is coming out soon...Kia Sedona might also work, but I don't know much about them.

Kia just refreshed
Honda is about to refresh
Toyota could use a refresh

Outlier: Ford Flex but it has been around a while too.

irish44j wrote:

Knurled wrote: R63?

Go away, Pete ;)

Pete's an idiot.

I talked to the Toyota engineers a LOT on One Lap. They said it was a challenge to get the van lighter and it was a challenge to make it behave at very high speeds, but the mechanicals on it were rock solid. Now, they might have been blowing smoke, but the fact that they also talked with great specifics about all of the problems they had with the FRS (oiling and cooling) and how frustrating it was, I think they were being honest.

EvanR wrote: I really like the ProMaster City. Plus, it comes with cargo tiedowns, so you can carry as many kids as you have ratchet straps.

I actually think those are kind of neat, but not sure any woman on the planet would be interested in driving something that looks so utilitarian and strange, lol. Also doesn't appear that they come with 3rd-row side windows?

hotchocolate wrote: For reliability, sienna. Get a 2015 or newer LE and call it a day. The pacifica is too new and the 9 speed autos have had issues in other applications. The odyssey seems to be a better minivan than the sienna, but is not as reliable. The sienna has had the same basic engine since 2007. The 2011 third gen brought a six speed auto which I have not heard too many bad things about. The 2015 refresh gives it the quality feel inside whoch it shoild have had in 2011. The 2017 has an 8speed and more power. The 2nd gen had power door issues, dont know if the third gen has those issues, but I do no there is a recall on some third gens with the power doors. According to thisSienna reliability and consumer reports if reliability is high on your priorities then the sienna is tops. I have a friend with a 2015. They are not great handlers, but work well. I do think the third row in the Odyssey more comfortable. If you're in no rush a new odyssey is coming out soon...

Thanks, that's the kind of thing I was looking for. I actually like the look of the Odyssey best (by a wide margin) as the Sienna is kind of frumpy looking (the SE looks decent though, haha). But again, will be up to the wife. SHe's had four of her five last cars that were Toyotas, so that should be a reasonably easy sell even if she doesn't like the style as much.

My mom has had 3 siennas over the years and won't buy anything else at this point. They are comfy and very reliable. That's all I got. I will likely buy her current one when she gets another.

We have a '14 odyssey and it looks great and have no complaints about power or ride or anything. I hope we don't have issues (especially tranny issues) but with 36k and we got it at 30 it's good.

I will say I've heard that the sto-n-go seats from Chrysler are amazing.

Make sure you get power side doors. They're one luxury that is really worth it, even if they need more repairs than on-motorized versions.

irish44j wrote:

EvanR wrote: I really like the ProMaster City. Plus, it comes with cargo tiedowns, so you can carry as many kids as you have ratchet straps.

I actually think those are kind of neat, but not sure any woman on the planet would be interested in driving something that looks so utilitarian and strange, lol. Also doesn't appear that they come with 3rd-row side windows?

They don't come with 3rd row windows because they don't come with a 3rd row. The kids won't need windows when they're ratchet-strapped to the floor.

EvanR wrote:

irish44j wrote:

EvanR wrote: I really like the ProMaster City. Plus, it comes with cargo tiedowns, so you can carry as many kids as you have ratchet straps.

I actually think those are kind of neat, but not sure any woman on the planet would be interested in driving something that looks so utilitarian and strange, lol. Also doesn't appear that they come with 3rd-row side windows?

They don't come with 3rd row windows because they don't come with a 3rd row. The kids won't need windows when they're ratchet-strapped to the floor.

Ratchet strap KIDS to the FLOOR? That is horrible. You have to be joking!

Things roll around on the floor and would bonk them. The proper place to ratchet strap children is in the roof, or at least high up on the sides.

We have a 2014 T&C that is just awesome, how about a low mileage 16 T&C? They really push all the buttons and do it well.

Odyssey drives like a car. So that's nice.

I've had Kia Sedonas non-stop since 2007. Don't own the current generation, which I believe was either 2015 or 2016 for the debut. The last generation ran until 2014 or 2015, so they're still 2 or 3 years old. They don't have quite the fancy refinement that the Honda or Toyota do (i.e there are some cheap plastics on the dash, etc...), but beyond that I would put it against the Honda or Toyota any day. We put 115k very hard miles on the first one... including towing race cars on a dolly sometimes, towing landscape trailers, and raising 3 little kids, and it never left us stranded once. Well, OK, there was that time that Mrs. Klayfish ran it out of gas, but that's a story for another day... Nothing but routine maintenance. We've put 35k on our replacement Sedona and same deal. Just routine maintenance. They're sneaky fast, 265hp and a short first gear = surprise sleeping sports car drivers fun. They come loaded with all the standard features we wanted, XM radio, dual zone climate control namely. Safety rating is top notch. Plus they're a bargain, especially when bought lightly used. You'll get a 2014 model now for a ridiculous bargain, far less than Honda or Toyota. Plus, if you shop carefully I'll bet you can find a CPO one for a steal, and it'll come with a 100k warranty. They don't have Stow-n-Go, only Chrysler does, but frankly in 10 years I can't say I've ever truly "needed" it. Our middle seats are removable with ease.

The new generation Sedona seems to be even nicer, but of course it's more money.

Our '11 Town and Country is a great people hauling machine, we upgraded from an '03 MPV. I would have preferred a Toyota or Honda, but the ones in our price range had a ton of miles.

We got our 14 odyssey fully loaded with 30k mikes for $30k. It was a friend's lease and we bought it for the lease buyback. Figured we saved ~$3-5k over buying it from a private party.

Although I neeeeeever would have picked all of the options because more things to break but my wife loves them (on-board vacuum cleaner????)

I've beat on my '08 GC mercilessly since I bought it 3 years and 100K+ miles ago (now at 179K). If something breaks I fix it - or more often - pay my mechanic to fix it, but since it's a GC, parts and labor are cheap. Otherwise, I change the oil when the computer tells me to with cheap Walmart oil and replace the brakes when they wear out (I seem to go through brakes...). For what I bought it for, it's been almost faultless other than being too small to be a good camper.

It's hauled way more than it was probably designed to haul (I use it mainly as a cargo van). Just hauled a GT6 drivetrain home from WV last weekend. I know your wife isn't keen on them, but as a basic appliance it's been hard to fault. When I finally do upgrade to a larger van, I'll be sad to see it go.

If I were in the market for a new minivan, the new Pacifica would be first to look at on the shopping list.

All that said, in this market all of the competitors are "good" and differences will be fairly minimal. None of them are perfect for one reason or another. Go test drive everything with an open mind and buy the one she likes for the money.

I see the result of this thread as a foregone conclusion but i'll add to Klayfish's comments and agree that the newer Hyundai/Kia vans are impressive and i dont understand why they aren't more widely liked. As both a Caravan and Sienna fan i would buy a Sedona to avoid the Chrysler 6spd trans and the Sienna tax. So there's that.

Kia Sedona! Probably the best bet if the kids are ages 10 and up, as access from first row to second row is limited due to the console. It's just as well built, if not more so than the Sienna, and the interior is a nicer place to be. A brand new "LX" model stickers under $30k, and has everything you're looking for plus that awesome 10 year, 100,000 mile powertrain warranty.