To minivan or not to minivan?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
To minivan or not to minivan?
16
Sat, 04-08-2006 - 7:26pm

Soooo... Dh and I are still debating the minivan question. We will have three children as of November of this year. We currently drive a Subaru Outback, which technically has room for three carseats in the back seat.

I found some carseats that sort of fit, but it means the two children on the outside are sitting in seats that lean inward (because the seats have cushy bumps on the outer edges), so they don't actually sit up straight. And it's CROWDED. Oh, and it's hard to buckle the booster child, because you have to reach between two very tightly fitted carseats to get to the buckle (of course, the other two seats have harnesses, so this is a problem for them only upon installation). It's possible that once the baby graduates to a convertible, that they won't fit at all, seeing as the outer two would be leaning into the upper space of the middle one.

We're looking at the possibility of getting a Dodge Grand Caravan (reviews, anyone?), which we test drove today. It's a very nice vehicle upon first inspection and oh so roomy. Gas mileage is a little worse, by about 5 mpg. Insurance would be the same, roughly (already checked with my insurer). We really want the additional cargo space of the Grand Caravan versus any other makes or models we looked at (I'm always hauling stuff, and we take frequent car trips to visit family).

By my best estimates, which may be high or low but I think are pretty close, we would probably spend about $2000-$3000 more on this vehicle (including transfer costs like detailing our existing car to sell it, and tax title registration, etc) than we would get for our existing vehicle.

I checked on financing, and we could take out a two year loan for about $50 more per month than our current loan, or a three year loan for about $60 less than our current payment. Basically this means that we would probably have the car paid off in about two and a half years (as opposed to the two years in our current plan). This would represent a final, complete debt-free date of about six months later than our current estimates (two and a half instead of two years). The interest rate would be 1.5% higher than our current rate, because we financed our current car during a low rate period.

I would be very grateful for ya'll's feedback on this issue. I'm leaning toward getting the minivan, but I realize I may be feeling an emotional attachment based on the test drive and the newness factor.

By the way, we wouldn't buy the actual car we saw today. Instead, we would try to get our car sold, and then shop around, probably for a private party sale, which tends to be cheaper than through a dealership (we went to Carmax for the test drive). Otherwise, the difference between the trade-in of our existing car and the retail of the new one would be much greater.

Thanks for any thoughts and advice on the matter. It is greatly appreciated.

Blessings,

Heather

P.S. In the interest of being positive--I am EXCITED about the baby, and I'm not stressed about the car. I'm just grateful we're in a position to be making this decision at all. The loan officer at USAA told me I was pre-approved for a vehicle loan up to $50k!! I laughed really hard when he told me that. Then I asked him if I could just get $8k instead, lol. It made me feel good to know that our credit situation has improved so greatly in the past few years since the time when they wouldn't even refinance my $8k car because our credit rating was so abysmal. :)

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 04-11-2006 - 12:45pm

Thanks for the input--we are looking at a Sienna now, too. We love Toyotas and the only reason we didn't look at one when we bought our current car is that we HATED the dealership in town--they were horrible, all the typical high pressure sales stuff plus some. So we said, "We're never coming back," and bought a Subaru instead. I wrote a letter to the manufacturer telling them this, and they called me and wanted more information. I don't know what, if anything, ever came of it, but I don't want to ever walk into that dealership again.

Fortunately, in buying a used car, we don't have to deal with any particular dealership. Anyway, thanks for the tip on Siennas. I guess you like yours?

Blessings,

Heather

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 04-11-2006 - 12:48pm

Hey Aravis,

Thanks for the thought-provoking questions. We're not sure when we'll buy, but we have till November, so plenty of time to think it through and look for the right deal. I'd love to put less mileage on my car in the mean time, but I'm not sure how to do that. As it is, I try to drive as little as possible, so we'll just have to see. I know once it's detailed, we'll really have to be careful with it.

The guy who's going to detail it for us comes highly recommended from our trusted mechanic, and it's only $150 for inside and outside. I know that sounds like a lot, but he's going to do things that we just couldn't do ourselves, like a really thorough buff job with equipment we don't have access to, touching up paint where necessary, and cleaning the carpets and upholstery with equipment and supplies we just don't have.

Thanks for getting me thinking. Blessings,

Heather

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 04-11-2006 - 12:54pm

Sarah,

Thanks for pointing that out about the gas mileage. I asked my husband about it, and he concurred, and explained about the EPA estimates being based on emissions (how useless is that?) and therefore not really reliable. So, honestly, I have no idea how the gas mileage will compare... All I can do is ask around to people with minivans, but apparently we're the only people we know who keep track of that kind of thing. All anyone can tell me is how often they fill up their tank and how much it costs--but if I don't know how many gallons or how many miles, that tells me basically nothing. LOL

Anyway, I'll be doing more checking around. Thanks!

Avatar for colomom99
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Tue, 04-11-2006 - 1:20pm

I haven't read through all of the replies so I apologize if I am repeating someone else's comments. Here are my thoughts as I was once in the same spot as you:

We bought a Honda CRV when I was pregnant with my third in 1999. We had two car seats in the back with a kid wedged between -- technically he should have been in a booster seat but it was right at the cut-off age and weight and there was no way. Even at that I gave that car to my husband and bought a minivan in early 2003. It was a Kia which was cheaper than the Honda Pilot or used Volvo station wagon I really wanted. To make a long story short it was a nightmare. The car had one thing after another wrong with it (thankfully under warranty) but it was a mistake. Part of it was I never liked having a minivan. I always felt like I was driving a school bus. But on the plus side the space was great. That part I can see. BUT if you go the minivan route I would say go with either a Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna. Buy it used it get the price down but the other brands lose their value at a staggering rate. When I finally traded my Kia for a Toyota Highlander (leased with a third row seat) I was $2,000 upside down even though it only had like 30,000 miles on it. It was one of those penny wise/pound foolish instances.

Now our kids are slightly bigger and only the youngest is in a booster seat we will probably stay with a third row seat SUV when the lease is up. In my heart of hearts I would love one more child so I need that third row JUST IN CASE, but I learned my lesson on getting car that does not hold it's value. Just one mom's opinion.

Jenny

Avatar for 2locachicas
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-2003
Tue, 04-11-2006 - 2:18pm

We get 23-28 mpg on our sienna. It is a 99. We bought it with 62000 on it and we not have 78000 on it. Most of my driving is just around the town driving with trips also done in the van. The reason we put so many miles on it this year was because my mom died and she lived 200 miles away and I had to constantly keep going down there to finish up her business. I also like the fact that regular maintenance happens later in a toyota/honda than in domestic cars generally. We haven't had to do really any maintenance yet other than replace the tires, which we wanted to do for our midwest winters anyway.
But that mileage is WAY better than the Nissan Quest we got rid of. That was 16-20mpg and it was a much smaller van.

With that many years until your oldest will get out of a car seat you may as well go with the mini van. I definitely like my mini van and my husband and I are always commenting that if we HAVE to own one the Toyota is the one to own. We just wish there was another option for us....but in 4 years we will be a sedan family once again.

Good Luck!!

Loca

Avatar for mymartes
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 04-11-2006 - 3:14pm

when we were shopping around for minivans, we checked out consumer affairs report. it turned out that Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna, we're the best for safety. we purchased a Toyota Sienna. We love it.

Just my two cents.

MYM

P.S. With two growing kids, we needed to upgrade to a mini van. we had a mercedes suv. it was too small for us.




Edited 4/11/2006 3:16 pm ET by mymartes

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