OT: Need suggestions for a new minivan or SUV (family of 7)

[2Pirates2Princesses]

We are in the process of looking for a new vehicle because #1 we are now kind of squished in our minivan when we are all in it. It is a standard 7 seater Dodge (2 seats in front, 2 captain chair style seats in middle row, 3 seater bench in third row); but that third row is the issue. It's kind of small and squishy for three kids, especially since my DS5 and DD7 are in booster seats and we have the baby's car seat in one of the captain chairs in the middle row. #2 our van is getting old and we are putting a lot of $$ into repairs for it. If any of you are in Pennsylvania or a state that requires annual vehicle inspections, you can't imagine how much we had to recently pay for work done in order for this van to pass inspection. I told DH we might as well just forget it and just get a new vehicle now instead but we agreed to just pay the $ for it to pass and take our time to research what new van or SUV would be best for our crew since we plan on keeping it for a long time like we have done our current minivan. We've considered a large SUV like a Suburban because the 4 wheel drive would be a plus for our brutal winters since we drive the kids around a lot and the ample cargo space would be really nice too. Our current 2nd vehicle is a Tahoe (a two row, 5 seater though) so DH and I are used to driving a SUV; but the minivan has been our "family" vehicle when we are all together and for driving the kids to/from school and their activities in the evenings and weekends. We definitely want something that is reputable, would comfortably fit all seven of us, and have a decent amount of cargo space. We're still not sure if we want a minivan or SUV; but plan on making the purchase by mid-summer since we plan to drive to the beach in late August. Any suggestions??

 

[MandiC]

You already listed the two I was going to suggest. Personally I would go for a Tahoe, my mom has one and I love it, it is very spacious for when the kids get older. We had a Suburban until recently (sold it due to gas mileage). My current vehicle is a Honda Pilot, which technically seats 8...and it works for my kids but I imagine once I have teenagers it is not going to work so well because the third row especially has very little leg room. Plus it isn't a good vehicle for family trips as the cargo space with the third row up is almost non-existent. We can currently fit all we need under kids' feet and if we are doing a longer trip we usually have our boat so we can put stuff in that but in a few years it's just not going to work.

 

[Gracie09]

I had a traverse for a few years and loved it. You can get captains chairs or a bench in the second row.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

You already listed the two I was going to suggest. Personally I would go for a Tahoe, my mom has one and I love it, it is very spacious for when the kids get older. We had a Suburban until recently (sold it due to gas mileage). My current vehicle is a Honda Pilot, which technically seats 8...and it works for my kids but I imagine once I have teenagers it is not going to work so well because the third row especially has very little leg room. Plus it isn't a good vehicle for family trips as the cargo space with the third row up is almost non-existent. We can currently fit all we need under kids' feet and if we are doing a longer trip we usually have our boat so we can put stuff in that but in a few years it's just not going to work.

That is our dilemma, the issue of gas mileage with having two SUVs but getting another vehicle that will have a third row with comfortable leg room for when the kids get older while still having some cargo space with the third row up. I love the idea of having a Suburban, but we do a lot of non-highway, stop and go driving with the kids.

I had a traverse for a few years and loved it. You can get captains chairs or a bench in the second row.

I love the look of the Traverse. I didn't think we all could fit in one, but if it can comfortably seat 7 passengers and still have cargo space then it would definitely be an option.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

Also check out the Acadia. My inlaws have the the seven seater and we (my husband and I) have comfortably ridden in the third row for short road trips (couple hours of travel).

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Honestly, the Acadia (which I own and love) will have less space than the minivan. If you need more space, I suggest replacing the Tahoe with a Suburban or a full-size van. You can then decide if you want to keep the minivan as your secondary vehicle.

 

[RachaelA]

We fit 7 adults in my traverse. The 3rd row was okay. It wasn't perfect, but it definitely was not bad. And if you are going to have kids back there, I think it would be perfectly fine.

You are always going to have more cargo space in a minivan though, but I'm pretty sure the Traverse has more cargo space then many/most of the SUVs its size.

 

[eliz603]

Honestly, the Acadia (which I own and love) will have less space than the minivan. If you need more space, I suggest replacing the Tahoe with a Suburban or a full-size van. You can then decide if you want to keep the minivan as your secondary vehicle.

We have a Honda Odyssey and a Buick Enclave (which is basically the same as an Acadia). This is correct - you will have less cargo space with an Acadia/Enclave, although my oldest seems to think he has more leg room in the back of the Enclave. We are taking the Odyssey to Disney this weekend because there's no way we can get a week's worth of luggage in the back of the Enclave. I agree with this poster that getting one really big SUV/van and having the minivan for the around town stuff sounds like a good idea.

 

[Lilliputian]

I drive a 12 passenger full-size van and love it. We're currently a family of 7, but I will add that we're praying for more and frequently have another family's children with us in our car.

It's not hard to drive a van, even though they do look big. I had a Ford E350 first, which made me decide to never go back to anything smaller. Now I have a Nissan NV, which is absolutely the most wonderful car ever. The seats can be moved around in a variety of ways, there's a sliding minivan-style door, and it has a rearview camera. And it makes people stop and stare.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I drive a 12 passenger full-size van and love it. We're currently a family of 7, but I will add that we're praying for more and frequently have another family's children with us in our car. It's not hard to drive a van, even though they do look big. I had a Ford E350 first, which made me decide to never go back to anything smaller. Now I have a Nissan NV, which is absolutely the most wonderful car ever. The seats can be moved around in a variety of ways, there's a sliding minivan-style door, and it has a rearview camera. And it makes people stop and stare.

I just watched a video on You Tube about the 2013 Nissan NV and it is so nice! It definitely changed my perception of the full size/passenger van! What has the gas mileage been like for you?

 

[nadira36]

We have a 2013 honda odyssey - family of 6, all 4 kids in carseats. We can easily bring 1 more passenger with zero squish. If our children were in different carseats, we could easily fit 2 more ppl in our an.

The second row has a 'bench' that can have the seats pulled apart and the centre seat removed, or all 3 remain with extra hip/shoulder room. The back bench is much roomier than the dodge (our previous was the 2009 dodge GC).

Though the honda doesn't have the stow n go, we find that for our day-to-day and basic travel needs it suits just fine.

 

[Lilliputian]

I just watched a video on You Tube about the 2013 Nissan NV and it is so nice! It definitely changed my perception of the full size/passenger van! What has the gas mileage been like for you?

I think I usually get around 14 mpg, and that's almost all city.

 

[MudQueen22]

I also have the 2013 Odyssey and love it. It seats 8. We take the middle seat out of the middle row to create a passage when traveling with other adults/larger children. it is very comfortable.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

Thank you everyone for the feedback. Right now we are leaning towards the Honda Odyssey but that isn't definitive at this point since we aren't going to buy anything for a few more months.

 

[wallawallakids]

Thank you everyone for the feedback. Right now we are leaning towards the Honda Odyssey but that isn't definitive at this point since we aren't going to buy anything for a few more months.

We had a Suburban but sold it for the Honda Odyssey. I LOVE IT!! It is seriously the best car ever. We have one less kid than you, but we often have friends so their have been many times when I have had 6 kids in the back seats. (even with two in full size boosters) It has a lot of room and a lot more "family friendly" features than the Suburban did. It also does much, much, much better on gas millage. We were getting killed with the Suburban. We bought the Suburban new and after 4 years it needed a new transmission!! Luckily it was still covered 100% but it was something that they had an issue with on our year of release. This was only a few years ago. My husband was driving and all of a sudden it went. Thank God it wasn't me or on the highway because my husband could barely get it off the road. It scared us enough to sell it after the fix.

One other option, have you looked at the Dodge Sprinters? I test drove one a few years ago (when I was pregnant with the twins. We had two foster children at the time and I thought that we were going to be able to adopt them and then I would need a car for 8). Long story, but obviously that did not work out, but it was an amazing car. I really liked it and for how large it was, it drove like a much smaller car. It seats a ton of people so you could have all your kids and friends in there. Just a thought. Good luck.

 

[texasroni75]

I know I"m responding late in the game here, but wanted to add my suggestion The Honda Pilot. Back in 2004 when we had "only" 3 kids, I wanted to upgrade to a minivan, but DH wouldn't budge on his NO minivan rule. Said he wouldn't even get in one to move it out of the driveway LOL.

We compromised on the Pilot - it actually seats 8, and ended up being my all-time favorite vehicle. It really helped since we drove my niece and nephew around often too. Basically, for most weekdays it was Me in driver's seat, oldest DD (teen) in the front passenger seat, and 3 elementary school kids plus a booster seat in the back very comfortably.

And, that still left some cargo room in the back for backpacks and a stroller or a few small bags of groceries. It also towed our pop-up camper easily (we purchased the hitch/towing package).

Smaller than a Suburban so it was better on gas mileage than a lot of the really big SUVs too, and didn't feel like I was driving around in a huge boat LOL.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

 

[tourguide81]

We just got an Odyssey and love it - but there's only 5 of us. We could absolutely fit 2-3 more people in it, though. I think the trunk is pretty spacious - definitely more room than the Pilot, IME and most cross over, smaller SUV types. I am not a fan of the Traverse anyway, but definitely not for 5 kids.

What if you sold both of your current cars and got a small cheapo car for the other commuter type car and then the bigger family vehicle? You could get an AWD subaru that's even 10 years old for a great price and it would last another 5 years at least.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

We had a Suburban but sold it for the Honda Odyssey. I LOVE IT!! It is seriously the best car ever. We have one less kid than you, but we often have friends so their have been many times when I have had 6 kids in the back seats. (even with two in full size boosters) It has a lot of room and a lot more "family friendly" features than the Suburban did. It also does much, much, much better on gas millage. We were getting killed with the Suburban. We bought the Suburban new and after 4 years it needed a new transmission!! Luckily it was still covered 100% but it was something that they had an issue with on our year of release. This was only a few years ago. My husband was driving and all of a sudden it went. Thank God it wasn't me or on the highway because my husband could barely get it off the road. It scared us enough to sell it after the fix.
One other option, have you looked at the Dodge Sprinters? I test drove one a few years ago (when I was pregnant with the twins. We had two foster children at the time and I thought that we were going to be able to adopt them and then I would need a car for 8). Long story, but obviously that did not work out, but it was an amazing car. I really liked it and for how large it was, it drove like a much smaller car. It seats a ton of people so you could have all your kids and friends in there. Just a thought. Good luck.

We keep coming back to the Odyssey whenever we narrow down our choices and consistently hear so many good things about it. As much as I would love the Suburban the gas mileage issue scares me, especially since we do so much non-highway driving. We've looked into some full size/passenger vans but nixed that idea as we would like to continue to be able to pull into and park in our garage, especially in the winter. The gas mileage on the passenger vans is also a concern.

I know I"m responding late in the game here, but wanted to add my suggestion The Honda Pilot. Back in 2004 when we had "only" 3 kids, I wanted to upgrade to a minivan, but DH wouldn't budge on his NO minivan rule. Said he wouldn't even get in one to move it out of the driveway LOL.

We compromised on the Pilot - it actually seats 8, and ended up being my all-time favorite vehicle. It really helped since we drove my niece and nephew around often too. Basically, for most weekdays it was Me in driver's seat, oldest DD (teen) in the front passenger seat, and 3 elementary school kids plus a booster seat in the back very comfortably.

And, that still left some cargo room in the back for backpacks and a stroller or a few small bags of groceries. It also towed our pop-up camper easily (we purchased the hitch/towing package).

Smaller than a Suburban so it was better on gas mileage than a lot of the really big SUVs too, and didn't feel like I was driving around in a huge boat LOL.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

Several families in our neighborhood own Pilots and they seem real popular. I didn't think my family would all comfortably fit in one but I could be wrong.

We just got an Odyssey and love it - but there's only 5 of us. We could absolutely fit 2-3 more people in it, though. I think the trunk is pretty spacious - definitely more room than the Pilot, IME and most cross over, smaller SUV types. I am not a fan of the Traverse anyway, but definitely not for 5 kids.

What if you sold both of your current cars and got a small cheapo car for the other commuter type car and then the bigger family vehicle? You could get an AWD subaru that's even 10 years old for a great price and it would last another 5 years at least.

Yeah, everyone I know that owns an Odyssey says they just love it. I especially like that it is a true 8 seater minivan. Unfortunately we're not giving up our current SUV because it has been good to us and it is a rare model since it is a five seater, so DH wants to keep it.




Thank you again for all your suggestions everyone

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

The Acadia, Enclave, and Traverse will not have enough cargo space to hold all the luggage needed for a big family on trips. You would need a roof rack or trailer for it to work.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Around here the Toyota Sienna is popular because you can get AWD.