Recommendations for a mini van

You may recall all the fun I had helping my daughter find a new (to her) car. Well she has a two year old, is now married, is with child again and gets two step sons in the package. She is looking for a ninny van. I know little about them. I guess she is looking for an older model instead of new. She has asked about the VW Routan. Any advice? Run? I was thinking about a older Toyota whatever its called. Are all of the Chrysler products to be advoided? I didn't know if they ever got the transmission problem straightened out. Reliabilty is most critical with economy being close second. In a month or so she will be moving to WV and pops won't be around to help with maintenance.

The VW Routan is a Chrysler minivan with a VW badge on it.

Personally I wouldn't buy anything but a Sienna or an Odyssey, and I'd avoid the Odysseys before '06 or so due to the transmission issues they encountered (or find one where it's been replaced).

Toyota Previa if you can find one. Widely regarded as the strongest vehicle Toyota ever produced. Barring that, Mazda5.

I own a Mazda5. Nice car but in no way would I recommend it here.
If I read right, 4 kids and 2 adults.
The Mazda5 is a 6 seater but the rearmost seats are small and good for temporary use. I call them jump seats. If needed to be used at all times it would be small.
In addition, if you put 6 people in the seats there is darn near zero interior room left and even a big rooftop cargo carrier can not always carry the goods of 6 people.

What are the ages of the kids? (are they in car seats or not)
What is the budget?

Mazda MPV. Last one made was a 2005 model, and no, you can't have mine!

Honda Oddity would be my second choice.

I wouldn't pay the Yuppy tax for the Honda, VW or the Toyota. The wife drives a Chevy Venture. Being a Chevy, the Yuppies won't drive them. We paid $3200 for a 99 in 03 with every option under the sun except leather. They depreciate like crazy. It had 80K on it, it's over 220K now with minimal trouble. I've done the lower intake gaskets, an A/C compressor, the drivers window regulator, and normal maintenance. Original engine, original transmission. After 4 kids, it's thrashed, and it's starting to get tired, but still runs like a top. Pontiac and Oldsmobile re-badged it as well, as the Montana and the Silhouette. We're probably going to be replacing it soon with a newer version of the exact same thing. It's been a great van.

The Chevy also drives better and has more power than the 98 Caravan we had before it. The Caravan we bought fairly new, and other than eating a head gasket, it wasn't bad. Then my son stuck it under the back of a truck.

As far as economy, around town, 17-20. On the Hwy, 24-25. The best I've ever gotten out of it was 27, hauling two Vortec 4200 I6s in the back coming back from Fla.

Love my 2011 Caravan. Get a power liftgate and power sliding door remote into her hands and you won't be able to get them back. Then show her stow and go. Amazing stuff.

My wife drives a 2010 Kia Sedona and we have no real complaints. Power sliding doors and back up camera are great options to have.

Gas mileage is high teens in town, low 20's on the highway. No problems towing a 15 foot boat or 2 place snowmobile trailer.

I would stay away from any Sedona earlier than 2006.

Astro AWD w/LSx, but I digress. . .

I liked my Ford Aerostar, but they're getting old.

The Chevy also drives better and has more power than the 98 Caravan we had before it. The Caravan we bought fairly new, and other than eating a head gasket, it wasn't bad.

How in the heck did you get a caravan to need a headgasket? Ive never put a headgasket on a caravan in my 10 years working on cars for a living. What motor?

Personally, i dislike the GM vans because im an auto tech. Mechanically, they're stupidly packaged and things that should be simple are annoying, and things that shouldnt break do and are annoying (lower intake gaskets, for one..). If you pay someone to work on them, and manage to catch the leaking intake gasket before it takes out your bottom end, im sure they're otherwise comparable in ownership to their competitors.

The Chrysler vans, being how they make any money, are not bad at all.

In reply to Vigo:

The Caravan had the 3.3 in it. Not a bad engine. It started pissing water out of the back of the engine between the block and the head. Since it was under warranty, I let the dealer worry about it. Their diagnosis was blown head gasket. They never could tell me why. Probably an assembly problem, at a guess. It had about 50K on it at the time.

I've never had too much trouble with the Venture as far as working on it. Yes, the lower intake gaskets were a pain, but mostly because everything has to come off the top of the engine to do it including the rocker arms and push rods. Almost 9 hours to do that job in the driveway. But the engine survived at least two weeks with the crankcase full of baby E36 M3. The only reason the wife noticed it is the valves started rattling. Of course she didn't tell me about it until I drove it and asked how long it had been rattling. It's run another 100K since then. Pretty bullet proof if you ask me. Probably the only semi-regular maintenance item that is hard to do, is the rear plugs and wires. I've done them once, and will probably never need to do them again. If I had to work on them daily, I'd probably have been committed for beating one to death, but for infrequent repairs, I've worked on much worse.

Oh, I forgot one repair. The brake booster puked at about 215K. I took one look at it and payed a shop to change it. That job would have sucked bad and for the $400 the shop wanted, I wasn't going to spend a day under the dash and hood.

At the time, used Venture prices were $1500-$3000 lower than any of the other comparable van on the market. I'm not going to pay that much of a premium just to drive the "socially approved" minivan. I'm cheap that way and since I've paid much less than that in repairs, I'll recommend them to anyone who asks.

Toyman01 wrote: The wife drives a Chevy Venture....Pontiac and Oldsmobile re-badged it as well, as the Montana and the Silhouette.

Also note the Chevy Venture was renamed the Chevy Outlander in the final years.

Aside from the Pontiac and Olds versions these were also rebadged as the Saturn Relay and the Buick Terraza. The fact that these two are so often forgotten may be reason enough to seek out those marques since it is likely that no one else is. ...if GM is what you are looking for.

We have had an 06 Sienna LE since Jan of 07 that we bought as a certified pre-owned car. I love it, and so does the wife. Last October I drove it for 6 hours to Montreal,QC with only one stop for fuel in Vt,and was as fresh as a daisy when we arrived. The seats are nothing short of amazing,and it is a very capable,and quiet vehicle. Not one issues so far, and I do all the maintenance aside from having the dealer do the timing belt a few months ago as I was gun shy. Oil changes are super easy,and the van just seems to be really well put together. Heck I think it would smoke my RX-7 in a drag race as well. But maybe that isn't saying much as my RX-7 is all of 100 hp anyway.

Chris

'Nother vote for a Mazda MPV. Nothing comes close.

2nd Gen. 1999-2006. Not the 1st Gen.

Can't have mine either!

Best condition for the best price. Do you like it ? Regardless of who made it.

And definitely get a minivan and not an SUV. The minivans are so much more versatile.

carguy123 wrote: And definitely get a minivan and not an SUV. The minivans are so much more versatile.

Unless, of course, you want to tow a decent sized trailer, have a diesel engine, seat 8, carry heavier loads, need 4wd, etc., etc....

http://www.bestads.tv/view/636/mastercard-peyton-manning-minivan-peptalk/

We have an 06 Toyota Sienna. I am actually surprised how junky it is. It has 140000 kilometers and so far.... Power antenna has not worked for years sliding door arbitrarily will not open or close. We once had to hold it shut for a 30 minute drive rear wiper fell off mid wipe one day plastic body panels have warped and no longer meet the steel panels there is other stuff, but the capper is that the drivers door hinges are broken inside the door. Toyota gave us a service bulletin that says it is a known problem and that we may need a new door. At the bottom it said in legalese "good luck with that"

I have a 2004 Honda Odyssey, base model. 130,000 trouble free miles. I put a trans cooler on it as a precaution, as there are some who say the trans is fragile. This one has never given me trouble, all I ever give it is routine maintenance. I plan to drive it until its done.

I also have a 2011 NIssan Quest right now. It is the S (base) model, the new bigger body style with the CVT and V6, 24k miles. It is parked in my garage for a friend who left last week, took an expatriate job in Panama. He is coming back soon to take it to carmax for cash. If anyone is interested in scoring a deal before it is basically given away, I'm in suburban Atlanta.

The Honda drives like an Accord, the Nissan feels like a much bigger appliance.

I debated buying the Quest and selling my Odyssey, but I prefer a vehicle that is reliable and Paid for.

Another vote for the Sedona. I have 90,000 miles on my '06 now, it's been great. Their resale is terrible so buy used and reap the benefits of a negative public image.

I don't know enough to really add anything useful, so I thought I'd just post a pic of the Mini van I want.

I do not like my in-laws Caravan. I liked the Sienna I drove. Back in the late 90's I owned a Windstar.

The Caravan had the 3.3 in it. Not a bad engine. It started pissing water out of the back of the engine between the block and the head. Since it was under warranty, I let the dealer worry about it. Their diagnosis was blown head gasket. They never could tell me why. Probably an assembly problem, at a guess. It had about 50K on it at the time.

Im thinking your guess is right, as ive never heard of that.

As for your take on the GM vans, sounds about right. Like you said, if you only ever do a repair once, you can just do it and be glad it's behind you. I hate them because every time im already having a bad day, some lower intake gasket jobs come in and i get to silently rail against the utterly retarded engine design all over again. I started refusing to take them as side jobs. I told my cousin to sell his car to a junkyard over a lower intake gasket leak. We bought him a caravan and i had to remove the trans almost immediately. I was way happier doing that. Ive told people many times, if i could get a full time job working on caravans, id take it. If i had a full time job doing lower intake gaskets id shoot myself.