Educate me on '05+ Minivans

My knee jerk reaction is Honda or Chrysler but are there others worth considering?

What are things to look out for on the newer ('05+) Odyssey's or Caravan's/T&C's?

Our Windstar is almost at 130k and well into it's second transmission and needs new front struts, AC line patched and refilled, new rear brakes (drums, shoes, hardware, everything), has a possible alternator issue, will need tires later this year, etc. Time to stop throwing money into this hole and move on.

Mazda5

/thread

Is your Windstar part of the recall?
http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/money/consumer/consumer_specialist/another-ford-windstar-recall
If yes, take to Ford Dealership and find yourself driving a free rental car for months.
Drive to the back lot of any Ohio Ford Dealership and you will see a lot filled with parked Windstars. My small town dealeship must have about 50 vans out back.

I'll throw in the same answer that I do every time a minivan discussion comes up. Kia Sedona. I love our '06...best bang for the buck you can find. I just never understand how people spend $40k plus for a minivan. We use ours to haul 3 little kids around. It gets more than it's fair share of french fries, dirt, mud and who knows what else in it. We do our best to take care of it, but it's being used for what it was built for. I couldn't imagine trashing a super expensive minivan.

Mazda5 if it's got enough room for your needs.

The summary of my recent car show window shopping was:

•+1 for the The Kia Sedona, a lot of bang for the buck. •The Kia Rondo is still a better option than most current offerings. Why only Canada Kia?
•New Nissan Minivan is nice, and ugly.
•Honda was as good as expected, and ugly.
•Dodge was good as always, but the VW version was nicer to look at and be in.
•Toyota Sienna was awesome, not ugly, but pricey.
•Mazda 5 is way cool, why no Mazdaspeed version?!?!
•Ford has the Flex instead of a minivan, and it was expensive but awesome.
•The Ford Transit Connect was pretty awesome.
•Dodge also has the Journey as an alternative, nice as well, but for the money I'd move to an SUV.
•GM offers a bunch of SUV/Crossover alternatives, as does Hyundai, but the rear glass on everything slopes way too much and kills all the space in the back.
•GM should offer a body-on frame AWD minivan with a big V6. Oh wait, I want an Astro!
•The Sprinter with seating for 7 and a bathroom would be the best thing ever for a family.
•Volvo wagons and suvs are nice, why no minivan?
•Why doesn't Mini come out with a van? (miniminivan)

Yeah, should clarify a bit.

• Need seating for 6 minimum and room for luggage and kid-stuff for 6-hour trips so unfortunately the 5 is too small.
• Want sliding doors so the Ford Flex is out (I do like the looks of it though).
• Looking at pre-owned only, no new.
• Otherwise not too picky.

Definitely looking for more info and feedback on the Korean minivans (thanks Klayfish) - doesn't the "other big H" have one?

Our Windstar pass the recall inspection enough to keep driving apparently - they said something about coming back when they got some parts in but we were fine to keep driving it.

EDIT - what about 3rd gen Nissan Quests?

6 people all of the time plus their crap? Sedona is your answer then.

fastEddie wrote: Yeah, should clarify a bit. + Need seating for 6 minimum and room for luggage and kid-stuff for 6-hour trips so unfortunately the 5 is too small. + Want sliding doors so the Ford Flex is out (I do like the looks of it though). + Looking at pre-owned only, no new. + Otherwise not too picky. Definitely looking for more info and feedback on the Korean minivans (thanks Klayfish) - doesn't the "other big H" have one? Our Windstar pass the recall inspection enough to keep driving apparently - they said something about coming back when they got some parts in but we were fine to keep driving it. EDIT - what about 3rd gen Nissan Quests?

Yes, the other big Korean "H" had one, the Entourage...it was nothing but a rebadged Sedona. They are the parent company of Kia, so they tried selling their own for a few years. I believe it's been discontinued for 2011, so the Sedona is the only one available.

Ours is an '06, so it's the current body style. We have about 52,000 miles on it. Only problems we've had are a few random CELs pop up...each time it was just a reflash of the computer and we were fine. It's never left us stranded. We carry 6 people in it all the time. The 3rd row, like most minivans, isn't "huge", but adults will be fine back there. Luggage space is good, can carry several very large suitcases with ease. If you fold the back seat down, you can only carry 4 people, but a crap load of cargo. Engine is damn strong, if a bit thirsty. Get about 16-20mpg depending on driving style, but it can suprise a few sleeping morons at a traffic light. I've towed a landscape trailer many times with easy. This weekend, I towed a dolly and small car for the first time. No problems at all.

What we really like about it is all the standard stuff it came with. We have the very cheapest version...only factory option was a roof rack. It came standard w/3 zone climate control, ABS, traction control, stability control, 6 airbags, nice stereo, on and on. Don't have the automatically opening sliding doors or rear hatch, but to me, that's less stuff to break. Oh, and we didn't get the factory installed DVD system either. For $75, I've got a portable DVD player that sits nicely on the tray between the front seats. Have to hold onto it on sharp turns, but otherwise, makes for perfect highway entertainment for the kiddies.

To say the least, it's been a workhorse for us, I'm very impressed with it.

Got home to find a letter from Ford in the mail, now the Windstar is being recalled for front suspension issues!

If I recall correctly, the Odyssey, Sienna and Kia have roll-down windows on the sliding doors, the others do not. That was on our list of wants.

I don't recall when the Quest got rid of the center instrument placement, but that was a deal-killer when we were shopping. Horrible!

Of the Sienna and the Odyssey, I liked the driving dynamics of the Ody much better - which is what we ended up with, an 05.

Mazda MPV. Too bad '05 was the last year. We love our 2005 MPV-ES, and the windows in the sliding doors roll down. We've got 72,000 trouble-free miles on ours.

After driving my brother's 03' Ody I wouldn't consider anything else. It really surprised me in a series of very good ways. He has 4 kids so the van is constantly packed to the rafters and it's now over 120k miles of trouble free hooning. And I do mean hooning, he doesn't know what "slow down" means.

I had an 08 Sienna fully loaded as a special "Please don't be pissed at us" rental from the dealership after they re-used a crush washer on my turbo oil feed and it started leaking everywhere. It was nice and smooth but put me to sleep.

The Odyssey is nice. Since the demise of the MPV, it will be the frontrunner the next time we're in the market for a new minivan, which will probably be in just a few years. I just wish they weren't so dang expensive.

To expand on what I said before, take Windstar to Ford dealer for recall work. Leave the dealership in a typical Enterprise Rental Car. Be sure to demand a rental large enough to fit your family, safely, meaning 6 seatbelts!
Continue to drive free rental car for at least 3 month (maybe more) that it will take Ford to get through the backlog and backorder of Windstar parts.

I would if it were that easy - their inspection must find the vehicle "unsafe to drive" to get a rental. I'm scheduled to get it in on 3/15 for this latest front end recall so we'll see what happens then. In the mean time I will continue researching and looking.

Thanks for the feedback on the other vans guys, keep it coming. Jeff, the latest Pentastar minivans also have "roll"-down side windows.

The Quest got a re-fresh in '07 and they moved from the center instruments to conventional at this time.
My view of them from the dealership service department:
The early ones are pretty terrible for water leaks, power sliding doors and squeaks/rattles.
The later ones seem better, but I'm not sure if that's because nobody bought them or things improved. Run away from 04s (first year) at all costs.
Mechanically they're rock solid as it's the 4 or 5 speed auto from the maxima and the legendary VQ35.
Personally, I'd only consider an 07+ model. They're still fairly rattly simply due to the size/amount of interior panels but otherwise alright. Power sliding doors won't work in temperatures below freezing, the auto reverse is really fussy when it encounters any kind of resistance, stick with normal doors.

We have an '05 Odyssey and love it. Plenty of room for a drum to drum Ford 8.8" rear, plus two carseats (don't ask). We bought ours as a CPO with the Honda Care warranty, which has already more than paid for itself. Problems over the first 2.5 years include a passenger side drive axle and a broken wire under the driver's seat (tripped the airbag warning light). Both were covered 100% under the Honda Care warranty.

The Odyssey drives very well for a minivan, and the ventilation system is exceptional. Plenty of room, as well. The stability control isn't bad in the dry/wet, but the traction control goes a little nuts in the snow/ice. I have to turn it off in order to make forward progress in some situations. I run Blizzaks in the winter, and it's never let us down in the snow/ice.

In terms of preventative stuff, I put gutter guard on the bottom opening in the grill to protect against rocks hitting the A/C compressor (not covered under any kind of warranty). Also did the 3X drain and fill for the auto transmission with Honda's Z1 ATF. Transmissions are better than previous years, but if you're going to tow anything I would add an aftermarket transmission cooler and consider the '07+ (they got the Ridgeline's improved transmission).

Power steering pumps/reservoirs are a know issue, the Honda brake pads had a TSB (those are probably long gone, now), and there is now a recall on the master cylinder. Not as reliable as I'd like, but all in all we're happy with it.

'06 Sienna here,and we love it. I liked the Odyssey a little bit better,but we got a smoking deal on the Sienna as a CPO car with 0% financing for 60 months back in Jan 07 so we did it. Never a regret as it is an awesome car. I just wish my kids would treat it a bit better,but we are working on it. Ours is the 8 passenger,but we didn't need that,the 7 would have been more than enough. I think the 7 pass vans have arm rest on the rear captain seats,but ours doesn't. Not a big deal for kids in car seats,but for adults it sort of is a bummer.

For the record zero troubles in 45k+ miles so far. Just had a recall for the spare tire cable done,and had a small issue with the power door on passengers side,but turns out it was just the child safety switch had been operated and wouldn't allow the door to open from the inside via the handle or button. We bought it with 17k miles on it,and I believe it was a former rental if that matters. Chris