Calling all Mini Van Mamas and Papas Too!

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

Another vote for the Toyota Sienna here

We are on our 2nd 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE AWD and absolutely love it. Unfortunatly we can attest to its safety record as we purchased our first one at the end of Sep '05 and my husband crashed into another car on Dec 1 '05 totaling the van but he was literally untouched-not a scratch-wasn't even sore the next day. Even the driver of the vehicle he rear-ended was ok. The van did just as designed and the whole front end was collapsed like an accordian but the "passenger cage" was untouched. Thank God for great insurance. We were able to purchase the exact vehicle(in a different color) in Dec '05 with no out of pocket expenses.

My kids also love the Toyota Sienna. The seating arrangement is great--LOVE the seats folding into the floor and all the rear cargo space even when all the seats are up. Also must chime in that the Sienna has BUILT-IN sunshades for all the side windows in the second and third rows. I love never having to worry about messing with all those crappy window clings and suction cups again!!!

I noticed the OP lives in IL so the AWD would be a great option for you as well. I live in WI and the AWD makes for easy driving in the snow. Can't say enough great tings about it. My neighbor has a Honda Odessy but it slides around alot in the snow. She is already wishing she had bought the Sienna I have instead of her Honda since she has checked mine out.

Good luck and happy shopping

 

[dougsmom98]

We have a 1999 Dodge Caravan and have enjoyed it. We had to go cheap with this van and it has served us well. We are looking to trade in our car for another minivan. We looked at a Dodge Grand Caravan this past Friday and will most likely get one with the stow and go feature. Besides an air conditioner problem last summer, we haven't had any trouble.
I am surprised at how mant people have Hondas. I just asumed they were really expensive and have never considered one. Maybe we will check one out for the heck of it.

 

[Nicolepa]

OK, I posted before I read this. He gets about the same mileage as you. My friends with minivans get closer to 25 on average. I would have thought the difference would be much greater.

I don't know of many minivans that actually get 25 mpg. I think it is in the upper teen/low twenty's IF you do all highway driving. I do all city driving and on my (non AWD) Sienna I get just under 15. That was the one thing I was quite surprised on, but after doing some reasearch that is the true # for most drivers. My small SUV gets better gas mileage than my Sienna.

That said, I would not trade my Sienna for anything (except an AWD Sienna). I love it. I like the Sequoia too, but with kids I would never drive anything but a minivan again. My only regret w/my minivan is that I didn't buy it when my first child was born!

 

[bengalbelle]

I don't know of many minivans that actually get 25 mpg. I think it is in the upper teen/low twenty's IF you do all highway driving. I do all city driving and on my (non AWD) Sienna I get just under 15. That was the one thing I was quite surprised on, but after doing some reasearch that is the true # for most drivers. My small SUV gets better gas mileage than my Sienna.

That said, I would not trade my Sienna for anything (except an AWD Sienna). I love it. I like the Sequoia too, but with kids I would never drive anything but a minivan again. My only regret w/my minivan is that I didn't buy it when my first child was born!

We're in the suburbs so it's mostly interstate driving.

 

[RI&BMOM]

We currently own a 2003 Dodge Caravan. This has to be the worst car we have ever owned. Nothing but problems. We have been looking at new vans and think we have decided on the Honda Odyssey. We are being pretty picky this time, mostly because of all the problems with the Dodge. The Honda has great reviews and everything our family needs.

 

[allboyz]

We currently own a 2003 Dodge Caravan. This has to be the worst car we have ever owned. Nothing but problems. We have been looking at new vans and think we have decided on the Honda Odyssey. We are being pretty picky this time, mostly because of all the problems with the Dodge. The Honda has great reviews and everything our family needs.

We had trouble with our first van too (a Sedona). Just the name Kia should have scared us away but noooooooooooooooooo we had to get it! LOL And think only to save like 2,000 or 3,000 (if you price base models of Caravan, Sienna,etc). We learned from that costly mistake (awful..awful..awful resale) though. We were extremely picky. Now we have a mid-range (LE) Sienna that we absolutely love!

 

[Gillian]

We have a 1999 Dodge Caravan and have enjoyed it. We had to go cheap with this van and it has served us well. We are looking to trade in our car for another minivan. We looked at a Dodge Grand Caravan this past Friday and will most likely get one with the stow and go feature. Besides an air conditioner problem last summer, we haven't had any trouble.
I am surprised at how mant people have Hondas. I just asumed they were really expensive and have never considered one. Maybe we will check one out for the heck of it.

Do be sure to compare the Honda & Toyota vans to the Caravan. Caravans have more features for the money, I think, but I know around here you can get a base Sienna CE with all the air bags, split folding 3rd row seat, and the same engine as the higher trim levels in the low 20s. They really are much less expensive that you'd think!

We wanted to buy a 2004 or 2005 used Sienna, but found the new 2006's to be very close in price so we went with new.

 

[wdwlver]

We have a 2002 Sienna, which we loved and was great for us. Just last week, we went looking for a replacement for the Sienna, because the lease is up and ended up buying a Mercedes R class. It's so roomy, so comfortable, and drives like nothing I've ever been in before.

Definitley worth checking out.

 

[CanadianPrincessMom3]

Hi all,

we are in the process of buying a 2003 Dodge Caravan (possible) what kinds of problems are there with this vehicle??? I don't want to trade a lemon for a lemon..LOL...we currently have a 1998 Chev Venture..I am working on the financing this week (March 27/06) so if you can help i would greatly appreciate.

thanks Isabell

 

[Brooknwdw]

Love my Honda Odessey!! It is a 2000 and still running great, only wish I had a new one because after 5 years and 3 kids it is getting a little grungy!

Same as above word for word except replace Oddessey with Toyota Sienna! We LOVE IT!!

 

[latexscooter]

Hi all,
we are in the process of buying a 2003 Dodge Caravan (possible) what kinds of problems are there with this vehicle??? I don't want to trade a lemon for a lemon..LOL...we currently have a 1998 Chev Venture..I am working on the financing this week (March 27/06) so if you can help i would greatly appreciate.

thanks Isabell

I just checked Consumer Reports and the 2003 Caravan ranked very good or excellent in all categories. It was given a rating of "acceptable" in offset crash tests. Although this sounds like it's not a lemon it did not earn CR "Best Bet" used car recommendation. They said the retail price for that year would be $20,000-$22,000.

I'm a Toyota Sienna owner and fan and highly recommend them. For the same model year and price range you can get a Toyota Sienna that does recieve the Best Bet rating and does better on the crash tests.

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

Interesting about the complaints from Windstar owners - our 2001 Windstar has been pretty problem free, and the price was great, so we're happy with it.

We have a 1999/2000 Windstar and love it! We've got over 100,000 miles on it and it run perfectly. There are a few repairs we'll need to have done over the next few months that are common around 100,000 miles, but it'll cost us less than $700 to get everything done.

We had a Mercury Villager, drove it off the lot with 3 miles on it, traded it in with 17,000 miles on it and two sets of breaks and rotors. I hated that van!

My Windstar was originally from Canada and has some features that weren't readily available on the 1999 model year. We have a power slider (love it!) and rear sensor (which is great unless it's raining) we added an aftermarket DVD player for under $200, can't live without it!

I've driven a new Sienna and I loved that van, but DH won't by a Toyota (he sucks) also drove a new Grand Carvan and it did nothing for me! We had an Uplander for 2 weeks in CA and NV and it was nice, but I wasn't comfortable with how close the middle row seats are to the doors. The storage area is much smaller in there than the other new vans too. But it was a rental and had the DVD player and we just happened to bring our DVDs so the kids were in heaven! It was great on the drive from LA to the Grand Canyon and then Vegas to San Jose!

Next car is going to be a 2007 Suburban though....I nned more space!

 

[mjmcca]

Next car is going to be a 2007 Suburban though....I nned more space!

I wanted the 2006 but hubby vetoed it said to takes too much gas

 

[Deb & Bill]

We just drove home a new 2006 Sienna LE last night. We now have two Siennas in our garage, the new one and a 2000 Sienna with just under 100,000 miles. It has been a nearly perfect car, taken us on over 15 trips to WDW from Louisiana. We had a slight problem with the automatic sliding door on the passenger side and had to have that fixed. Other than oil changes and tires, nothing else. When we talked to the dealer about it, he said he thought we probably had at least another 100,000 to 150,000 miles left on it.

We had a 2004 PT Cruiser. Fun little car, but it was just a fun little car. Not good at all for trips and it didn't get that good of mileage. The AC went out on it at less than 2 years and less than 10,000 miles. They fixed it under warranty, but in my book it should not have happened.

I've learned my lesson. Toyotas and only Toyotas. This newest one is our sixth one.

The Sienna has consistantly gotten Best Buy from Consumer Reports over the past several years. In fact, most of the Toyotas get Best Buy.

 

[shellynn24]

I didn't read the whole thread, but I will post anyway. I just drove home my new 2006 Nissan Quest. I love this van! It is my second Quest and I have nothing bad to say about them. I got a new one because I wanted a luggage rack and a DVD player for the kiddies. This one is a little more pricey then our last one but it rocks I actually just got to drive it for the first time today (DH is a driving hog!) I love that new car feeling... oh yeah and smell Oh right, price, we talked them down to $25,000, and I feel special but it was just because we were repeat customers

 

[mimif1]

Hi all,

we are in the process of buying a 2003 Dodge Caravan (possible) what kinds of problems are there with this vehicle??? I don't want to trade a lemon for a lemon..LOL...we currently have a 1998 Chev Venture..I am working on the financing this week (March 27/06) so if you can help i would greatly appreciate.

thanks Isabell

We also have the 2003 Dodge Caravan and have had nothing but problems with it! There is a constant whine with the steering. Nobody can seem to make it stop. The dealer said they can put an "additive" in the steering fluid, but that only helps for about two weeks and then it's back. It's slowly driving me crazy and it's LOUD! Our next problem is the check engine light. It comes on and off at will. Nobody can seem to figure out why. I can't count the times I've driven to the dealer to have it checked and then the stupid things turns off as soon as I get there. Then a couple of weeks ago, I go to take the kids to school and it's completely dead. Can you say dead alternator? I know I can! All of the rubber weather stripping around the windows and doors is loose and popping off. My drivers side window stops working periodically for no reason and then chooses to work again at a later time. The bottom half of the rear defrost doesn't work and it's been replaced twice. One of the seatbelts quit retracting and had to be replaced. The air conditioner compressor had to be replaced. I actually think there are a few other things, but that's just what I remember off the top of my head! Now a lot of these have been covered by warranty, but I've got three kids that have had to spend numerous hours in the waiting room while it's being fixed. Never again!

Now I do love having a minivan. I don't think I would drive anything else now with three kids, but next time it's a Honda or a Toyota!

 

[kaysmommie]

One week ago we got out of our Chrysler Pacifica lease to get a Chrysler town & country limited instead. So far I like it much better than the Pacifica. We had nothing but problems with that car. Brakes are horrible and it didn't matter how many times you fix them. I had a couple fender benders because of it. I've been driving for 15 yrs and never had any problems until that Pacifica! Also stuff always seems to get lost under seats and in cracks between the seats and it is lost forever! We had to get another Chrysler because we were supposed to have one more year with the Pacifica so we owed alot of money. Anyway I would have wanted a Honda Oddesey or Toyota Sienna, but so far the Town & country is very nice . Never thought I would even like a minivan because I love SUV's.