OK, I'm sold on minivans

Yep, soccer moms refuse to be caught dead in a mini-van, they have to be seen in the same SUV that everyone else has. My twins play youth soccer. There are probably 100 kids in the league. I never counted, but I'd be surprised if there are 5 minivans in the group.

There's even a mini van now with a built in vacuum cleaner. It may sound silly, but for a family with young kids it's absolute genius. Maybe if my minivan had one, it would actually get...you know...cleaned every now and again. But alas, it doesn't, so I can tell you what a McDonalds french fry looks like after 3 years of sitting under a seat.

OK, so after a week I am still smitten. I looked up my fully-loaded Town & Country and found that it is in fact the BASE model. How cool! You can start with a Dodge at $20K and work up to a Chrysler at over $40. That's a lot of options.

Power doors and tailgate are now on my must-have list. Stow & go for a family is like Penske coil-overs with remote reservoirs for race cars. I'll be toting kids for another 16 years, so it's minivan time.

I also saw a nice Solo V that I could easily tow...

dj06482 wrote: My wife and I both said we'd never get a minivan, so we bought a RAV4 as our practical kid hauler. Just before #2 was born, we bought our Odyssey. And once we had #3, it was truly a necessity for us. If I could only keep one of our current vehicles, it would be the minivan. They're extremely practical get good mileage for their size (especially on the highway), and our Odyssey once hauled two kids in carseats, and a drum to drum Ford 8.8" solid rear axle

how is it that families got by just fine without minivans before they were invented? i had 3 little brothers, and the whole family fit just fine in my dad's 73 Monte Carlo. hell, we all fit in my dad's 30 Model A 5 window street rod on a couple of occasions...

novaderrik wrote: how is it that families got by just fine without minivans before they were invented? i had 3 little brothers, and the whole family fit just fine in my dad's 73 Monte Carlo. hell, we all fit in my dad's 30 Model A 5 window street rod on a couple of occasions...

Families also got by just fine without refridgerators, TV's, microwaves, cell phones, internet, multiple bathrooms, indoor plumbing, a remote control, clothes dryers, contact lenses... Doesn't mean that I want to give any of it up.

They got by just fine without minivans the same way that people get by just fine without them now. Doesn't mean tha the minivan wouldn't make it easier.

novaderrik wrote:

dj06482 wrote: My wife and I both said we'd never get a minivan, so we bought a RAV4 as our practical kid hauler. Just before #2 was born, we bought our Odyssey. And once we had #3, it was truly a necessity for us. If I could only keep one of our current vehicles, it would be the minivan. They're extremely practical get good mileage for their size (especially on the highway), and our Odyssey once hauled two kids in carseats, and a drum to drum Ford 8.8" solid rear axle

how is it that families got by just fine without minivans before they were invented? i had 3 little brothers, and the whole family fit just fine in my dad's 73 Monte Carlo. hell, we all fit in my dad's 30 Model A 5 window street rod on a couple of occasions...

Things got bigger.

Seriously. A friend lent us a Ford Aerostar once when the Freestyle died. We had one infant in a carseat and two in forward facing seats with harnesses. We barely fit. The infant carrier did not. I had to wedge it in in the back row where the middle bench is short for the aisle, and the two kids barely fit in the second row.

Carseats are HUGE.

They are only going to get bigger. There is a push for reverse facing mandates up to two years old.

novaderrik wrote:

dj06482 wrote: My wife and I both said we'd never get a minivan, so we bought a RAV4 as our practical kid hauler. Just before #2 was born, we bought our Odyssey. And once we had #3, it was truly a necessity for us. If I could only keep one of our current vehicles, it would be the minivan. They're extremely practical get good mileage for their size (especially on the highway), and our Odyssey once hauled two kids in carseats, and a drum to drum Ford 8.8" solid rear axle

how is it that families got by just fine without minivans before they were invented? i had 3 little brothers, and the whole family fit just fine in my dad's 73 Monte Carlo. hell, we all fit in my dad's 30 Model A 5 window street rod on a couple of occasions...

My sister and I used to ride in the back cargo area of my fathers' Ford Pinto wagon when I was a kid. Doesn't mean I'd do it now.

Out of curiousity, how'd you all fit in a 5 window street rod? Someone sit on the fenders??

Ah... the memories of me and my parents along with their friends Bill and Joan stuffed into my father's 1978 Datsun F-10 (yes, all 5 of us plus luggage and small library of books and maps) travelling to various Civil War battlefields when I was say 12 or 13. Fortunately, I was a small kid and my mother and Joan were slim at the time....