In praise of the minivan
The minivan isn't known for its sporty good looks.
Or as a status symbol.
And it's not a vehicle that car enthusiasts lust over.
But man, there's just nothing else that meets quite so happily at the intersection of practical and frugal for families that have more than three children.
Here's why I dearly love my van.
(My van = a Toyota Sienna that is a few years old.)
It can fit eight people.
There are only six of us, but we frequently use our extra seats to take friends along with us.
And when Mr. FG isn't with us, I can bring my 4 kids plus me plus 3 friends, which is awesome.
Sliding doors are EPIC.
You know how children are sort of accident-prone? And how spatial awareness is perhaps not their strong suit?
That's why sliding doors are so fabulous. There is no possible way that children can open the sliding doors and hit the car parked next to me.
There's so much cargo room.
My van has 39.1 square feet of cargo space behind the third row of seats, which is actually almost exactly the same or more as a large SUV.
(For instance, the Suburban has 39.3 square feet of rear cargo space and the Expedition has 18.6.)
(Let's ignore the fact that my van needs to be vacuumed, shall we?)
We can pack for a week at the beach, complete with a canopy, beach chairs, beach toys, and other luggage, and our things still only come about halfway up the back seat.
And we can fit all kinds of music gear in when we head to church (guitars, a bass, an amp, a speaker cabinet....)
So excellent.
The cargo well keeps things from falling out.
Why is the well awesome? Because you can pack it full of stuff and when you open the rear gate, nothing in the well falls out.
This is pretty stinking fabulous for groceries.
SUVs and older vans tend not to have recessed storage (my 2000 Sienna did not), but most newer minivans do, because they're designed to let the seats fold down into the floor.
We rarely have our seats folded down (we fill them with people!), so our rear well is almost always available for storage.
The price is good.
No vehicle that carries my family is going to be super cheap, of course. Once you have more than three kids, sedans and mid-sized SUVS are too small, so you have to choose either between a van or a large SUV.
(A Highlander or something similar wouldn't hold all of us!)
An SUV large enough to accommodate us starts at $40-$50K, while a minivan like the Sienna starts at $27K, and that's an enormous price difference.
There are variations in the used market (you could buy a used SUV for less than a new minivan, I'm sure!), but when you compare apples to apples, minivans are by far the least expensive option for my family size.
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So.
Minivans will probably never be super cool, but they are marvelously practical.
And thus, I love mine to pieces.
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P.S. For families that need to drive in snow, or off-road, or who need the horsepower to pull trailers, I can totally see why an SUV makes sense. But since I don't need to do any of that, a minivan is where its at for me.
P.P.S. The fabulousness of minivans does vary. I had to use a rental Town and Country a few years back, and it was not nearly as nice as my Sienna (poorer performance, less cargo space, less comfy seats, etc.) So, my enthusiasm for the minivan is based on my experience with Siennas, not with other minivans.
P.P.P.S. Mr. FG has a small stick-shift car that he drives most of the time. But he totally does not mind driving the van when we go somewhere as a family, or to work if his car is in the shop.
And when friends or co-workers give him grief or tell him they could never drive a van because it's not manly enough, he just says, "Hey, I have a wife and four kids. What could be more manly than that? ;)"
Kristen, is this a recently purchased, new to you minivan? I was remembering yours was much older?
It's just so pretty and practical. My son wanted us to get one, but with one child it's kinda hard for me to justify!
Oh yes, my original van was a 2000. The one at the top of the post is just a stock photo, of what I think is the 2015 Sienna.
We bought our current van a few years ago after saving up enough to pay cash for it (which is another reason a van made a lot of sense for us. It would have taken us a lot longer to save up for any other option!)
And yeah, for one kid, a minivan would be kind of overkill. I'd stick with something smaller, especially because you could get something with much better gas mileage.
This is an adorable post! The people I know with minivans (even the guys) seem to really like them after the get over the unfortunate stigma.
Their practicality is awfully appealing once you give it a shot! And the ride of my van is actually really nice...very smooth and quiet.
I love mini-vans too. I had a (used) Honda Odyssey for years and I loved it, loved it, loved it. I traded it in when finally repair costs weren't making any sense and we needed an 8-seater since we had 6 kids and having a 7-seater was a PITA. However, back then I lusted for a large SUV so I got a Ford Expedition EL. My father-in-law is a Ford retiree so we got employee pricing on it and it's been paid for for several years so even though I no longer need an 8-seater (4 kids have moved out since), I'm keeping it until it dies. I do love it, despite the poor gas mileage since it's driven mostly in-town. And I'm the mom who drives the FFA team to the airport or their competition when school transportation isn't available so there's that 🙂
The one thing I really envy about your minivan, though, is that cargo well. I don't have a well so opening the trunk door is always fraught with danger. I have seen many gallons of milk come crashing to the ground this way, grrr. Also it makes the trunk that much higher when it comes time to put heavy things in it, like bags of soil, old TVs to be taken to the dump or thrift store, etc. So while being able to carry a lot (I have no idea what my cargo capacity is but it's very large), it's not all that easy to load, especially if you're on the short side. I'm 5'8" and it still is challenging when I'm buying heavy gardening supplies or construction material.
For my next vehicle, I'm hesitating between going back to a smaller sedan (my husband drives an F-150 truck so we don't really need to both have lots of cargo space available) or even an F-150 because his is so comfortable and I've grown to really liking driving it. I like sitting higher on the highway and since everyone here drives large trucks or SUVs, driving a smaller car would make me feel much less safe too.
We live in a place with hard winters. With studded tires, my Dodge Caravan is great in the snow. This is our second van, both of which were Plymouth brands. For a family of seven they just can't be beat. Mine doesn't have as much cargo room behind the seat as the Toyota you show here. The Grand Caravan has more, but as we bought ours secondhand for a good price, we are okay with that. Though we don't have the stow and go seats, I can fold all of the seats down flat in the back, which helps when filling the van with groceries. The seats do come out fairly easily for those times we want them completely out of the way. You wouldn't believe the things I've been able to get in my van. For its size, you simply can't beat the gas mileage either.
Yeah, we've fit a sofa into our van with the back seats folded down and the middle row removed!
We have a 2001 Sienna, just hit 203,000 miles. We also have a Highlander (we do live in Montana), but I will be sad when the Sienna dies, there were a lot of memories made with that van. It has been a great car for our family.
My wife and I are expecting and the joke is already coming up about how we will be buying an SUV or minivan at some point. I don't think I will ever do that. I'm also not expecting to have multiple children (one unborn one is enough stress at it is!) so I doubt that will ever happen. A small hatchback like the Honda Fit might be on our list to replace my wife's Chevy but for now, we're fine with our compact sedans.
My parents did rent a minivan a couple times when we took the rare vacation. My dad never liked driving them, but fitting five kids in one was a lot safer than our traditional method of transport (five kids in the back end of a Chevy S-10 pickup.)
Congrats, in case I didn't already say that. And yes, a small car is perfect for a family with one kid. In fact, we managed ok in our sedan with two kids in car seats. But once you get to three kids, a sedan is pretty difficult, mostly because three car seats do not fit well all next to each other!
Thanks! I will also say that I consider myself an intelligent person but comparing car seats just confuses the heck out of me! I'm just going to defer to Consumer Reports and let them decide for me. 😉
Imagine the appropriate amount of seriousness and levity infused in the following statement: No matter what you choose for a car seat, you'll be doing it wrong. Pick something you like that will grow with your kid and not expire before s/he outgrows it. That is all I have to say about car seats. 🙂
We had a sedan with 3 car seats. I remember going to babies r us and measuring our current car seats and theirs at the store to see which ones would fit. Crazy, but bought us some time to save for another vehicle. I saw on Facebook a posting that said something like...... I drive a mini-van because someone thinks I am sexy. 🙂
Bahahaha! I love it. That's kind of what Mr. FG is getting at. 😉
Mr FG's comeback is pure genius! We have a "very classy" Chevy ASTRO van! 😉 We just had our 3rd boy, and it works well for pulling our trailer. Growing up, there were always minivans, until my parents reached 6 children, when they upgraded to an 11 seater club wagon! Awesome for leg room and large families, but pretty ridiculous for driving, parking, and gas mileage! The first van was christened "Big Red" and was well loved. When it was later sold, there were tears shed by the younger ones who "hadn't said goodbye! " Awww
my friend keeps telling me my next car needs to be a van but...we are looking at replacing my vw beetle this summer and we don't even have kids yet! Plus I only plan on 2 (I'm already 31) and if I bought a van before I was even pregnant I think I'd get funny looks.
For us and our potential family size, I think we'll go with compact/mid-size SUV. I learned after a summer of nannying that 2 doors plus a car seat doesn't work! (And that kid was 2!)
Oh yeah-trying to buckle a kid in through a folded-forward front seat would be very hard.
When I bought it almost 9 years ago, it was with the intent that I'd have it until I needed to upgrade to a family car! And here we are! It is a 2003 and has reached the point where repairs are going to be more than it's worth, and I'm just thankful that it isn't a rush and coincides with our plans to start having kids soon! (But even if I am pregnant when we are replacing it, which is possible, I probably still won't do a van. Yet, maybe my next next car, when the kids are older and have things like sports equipment and friends! Or maybe I'll rely on my friend's van!)
For the record, it's not so much the stigma of vans turning me off as the gas mileage! And impracticality for our family/planned family.
I so relate!
When my daughter was born we needed to save up just a little more to get our car (a dodge Calibur, which is basically a station wagon and has the same stigma as a minivan, but so practical and affordable!).
For that first year we relied on borrowed transportation when it was absolutely necessary, mostly from my dad who drove, of all things, a 2001 Tiburon.
Getting the carseat in and out was challenge enough, but I most distinctly remember the month my sister came to visit and we had to accommodate two infant carseats and room in the middle for an extra-narrow booster seat. Getting the kids in and out required one to double as a contortionist.
I do still miss driving my Subaru Outback, but the Town and Country (the only minivan I've ever driven, so it seems great to me) we got last year in anticipation of three kids under five years of age has been, well, a lifesaver. One of the things I most love about it is how, with only one or none of the back seats up, you can just kind of walk around in it, almost like a small room. So if we have to wait somewhere for awhile in the car and it's cold out, I leave the car running and let the kids wander around the van. I can also change the baby easily right on the floor in front of his car seat and be in the van myself, which is also excellent in the winter.
Our plumber drives a minivan in favor of a pick-up truck, which makes a lot of sense. His is all-wheel-drive, too, so I think there are minivans that can basically be driven anywhere. Though they tend not to have a lot of clearance. Even my non-all-wheel-drive van did great in this most recent awful winter with new snowtires on it. Of three drivers in the house, I was the only one who didn't get stuck in our incredibly long and non-plowed driveway, as a matter of fact. You can see a lot better when you're backing up in a big vehicle like a minivan.
I love what your husband said! My hubby once told me that he gets a huge charge out of the fact that he supports a large family. A real man should feel that way!
We now have a 15 seater and while I wanted the 11 seater, the kids begged us to get the bigger van so we could haul around their friends, and now I love it. I never have to say no to an overnight guest because we won't have room in the car.
At what point does it stop being a van and start becoming a bus? Also the idea of 13 kids in one vehicle is probably the scariest thought I've had all day.
We have a 2004 Sienna which we bought used a few years back. I was so set AGAINST the minivan, but after spending $80+ to fill up my Yukon XL, it was time to give in. It's the best decision we ever made. I know when my kids get bigger, we will probably need to move up to an SUV, but for now the Sienna ROCKS!!!
When my first kid was born (1987!!) we were driving a little 4-door Subaru, which I loved, but we had to give it up when he was about 9 and his knees no longer fit in the back seat! We moved to a smaller minivan, a Caravan, because we were planning to (and did) adopt. Drove that one into the ground, and by then we had another child, so we got a bigger (used) Caravan that I LOVED. (All our cars are used and we almost always drive them til they won't go any more. Talk about lack of status symbol...) So when a deer attacked my Caravan (way beyond totaled-our cars aren't worth much $$!) we looked for one more minivan (found a used Town and Country that happened to have a DVD player for the road) since we still have teens. With only two teens, one in college, it seemed a bit overkill, but I have 1.5 grandchildren (back to carseats!) and it is not uncommon to fill our van with teenagers! I love having room to have 6 teens in my car. Still, I'm almost at the end of my minivan life. But still, driving this one till it drops. Only at 160,000 so far and hopefully will get 100,000 more! Long live the minivan!
Yeah, I'm hoping this minivan will last until the days when I'm at a stage of life where a minivan is not so necessary. We shall see!
I know loads of people who quickly got over the "dorkiness" of a van once they realized how incredibly convenient and versatile they are. We bought ours when our third child was on the way--we were going to have three rear facing carseats for at least a year--and several folks gave me a hard time. Now they ALL own vans!
Our 2005 Odyssey does great in the snow. Good tires make a difference.
I wouldn't say I'm in love with the van. It's just a car. But we've got 150k miles on ours and will likely put many, many more on it. And my husband said the same thing about the "cool" factor. He has three kids--how is that *not* manly?
I don't know...I just love how well it serves our family, I guess! I'm not much of a car person, but the practicality of my van makes my heart go pitter-patter. Ha.
Mr. FG is just very, "Whatever." about the idea that it's not manly to drive the van. Why is it unmanly to choose a practical, less-expensive vehicle for the family you have? It's not like he has something to prove through his vehicle choice anyway.
We have 2 kids and used to have a Mazda 5 (mini minivan). We replaced it last summer with a VW Sportwagen TDI. Wagons don't get enough praise in the US. It has more cargo space than the 5 had, gets way better fuel economy, and is fun to drive (it's a manual).
We only have two kids, so 99% of the time, our "new" (recently purchased 2008) Honda Fit is perfect. There is a surprising amount of room in that hatchback.
But I have always salivated over those sliding doors! And when my parents came to visit, I felt bad that my mom had to ride in the backseat between the car seats. (I offered to let her drive while I squeezed in there, but she chose the back. My dad, though a lovely person in many ways, is not allowed to drive our cars :-).) In contrast, when we visit my mother, we tool around in her brand-new fully loaded Sorento, which can hold my entire family of four, plus both my parents, plus Aunt Becky who is also often visiting. Possibly overkill for when she's just driving to work...
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Honda Odyssey! Prior to that I had a Chrysler Town and Country and loved that too. My Honda has the recessed storage (that my Town & Country didn't) and it's one of my favorite features. I technically didn't have to go with a minivan again this go-round (I just got the Honda in Dec) because my 2 oldest children are 21 and 19 and have their own vehicles but when we do go somewhere as a family, I'm glad we have it and they don't have to drive seperate. Plus I just love all the room they have when we go anywhere and they do to (especially since their legs aren't exactly short anymore, lol).
I think my mini-van is way cool, lol.
I meant to also add that while I have 2 older, I have 2 younger too! So we need a minivan for our family of 6!
I only have two children, both teenagers, but I love my mini van! I regularly have my kids' friends in the car. I'm always driving a group of them somewhere. Once, I took a full 3/4 of my son's basketball team to a game. I have a 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan, which even has storage space under the floorboards in front of the second row of seats. We do a lot of camping and the extra storage space is awesome.
Thanks for this post! We're looking for something like this with a third kiddo on the way. My husband is dead-set against a mini-van, but I'm going to have to butt heads with him, because well, money. It's good to know of a good recommendation though, thank you!
I hope you guys can find a good compromise! Mr. FG and I are opposites in a LOT of ways (!), but fortunately, we were both on the same page when it came to our family vehicle.
And it's a good thing because it would have taken us a realllllly long time to save up enough for a suburban-sized SUV.
Funny to see this post. We just bought a used sienna 2007. I wasnt too thrilled about being a mini van mom bit after baby #3 it was a necessity. If I knew how much I would love this van I would have bought one years ago! I feel like every day is Sunday morning when I'm driving. I love, love, love my Sienna!
Minivan lovers, unite! 😉
We still have our 2000 Sienna. Love that thing! Our seats don't fold into the floor, but they come out easily. You can fit a full sheet of plywood inside! Between that and the tow package (hitch + stronger transmission), we often use it like a pickup truck, but then we throw the seats back in and can take our family everywhere. Plus it's a very comfortable ride. We plan to run it into the ground.
(By the way...power sliding doors are THE BEST THING EVER. Even the youngest child can close the door behind them, and if they forget, you can close it from the comfort of your living room.)
Oh wow, does your 2000 have power doors? Our 2000 did not, but of course our newer one does.
I don't understand that whole stigma thing - sounds like snobbery to me...I had an Aerostar and a Safari and I loved both and could not have gotten my four kids to all of their various activities without a van. Not to mention that family trips were a breeze, along with occasional trips to IKEA to purchase furniture and hauling things to Goodwill, moving a kid to an apartment...you get the idea! (: When the kids were very young my hubby even had one. it got the job done, and once we had young adult drivers were were once again able to drive smaller cars.
I LOVE our 2014 Toyota Sienna. Best car we've ever had! I've never understood the deal with not liking minivans, but then we had one growing up -- I got my driver's license in an old manual 9 seater with no power steering. 🙂 There are so many things I like about the Sienna: ease of driving, power doors, 3 spare seats (we have 3 kids), loads of room in the back, and pretty good pick up -- there's an onramp near our house to the highway that is ridiculously short, and you can go from 0 to 60 in just a few seconds.
Love your husband's comeback, by the way!
When we were shopping for a new vehicle early this year, my husband admitted that he can't imagine us NOT having a van in the foreseeable future. 🙂 We are spolied by the comfort and space. We only have two kids, but we often have friends or family riding with us.
Such a timely post! Years ago, when I was a self-employed sales rep, I needed to replace my aging SUV. I reluctantly concluded that a minivan was the best option. However, I was single with no kids and didn't really want become magically invisible to the opposite sex (Hee). I decided that if a good personalized license plate was available, I'd bite the bullet and get the dang minivan. I was delighted that "NOTAMOM" was available and scored a good deal on a used Mazda MPV. My customers loved my license plate and so did I.
Later, I took a position as a manufacturer's rep, complete with company car. Yup, it was another minivan. I sold the MPV to a friend of my sister's (three girls) and hung the license plate on a nail in the garage. When the company van (Dodge Grand Caravan) was up for renewal, I sold it to my sister (four boys) and it's still on the road with 200k+ miles. When I got married and retired, I kept the second company van, also a DGC. It's now eight years old and has 120k+ miles. My husband wants me to replace it soon, but I just can't think of any other vehicle that would be as practical. When he mentions it too often, I tell him I'd like a Tesla 🙂
Despite the statistics, I've had good luck with Grand Caravans. I think the Odysseys are overpriced and over-hyped. I've never driven a Sienna, so maybe it's time to take a look at one. I can't believe I just wrote that! Thanks, Kristen.
Love the license plate!
We decided to go for the Sienna when we learned kid #4 was coming, and I agree, it is awesome. Kids climb in and out on their own, plenty of room. We got the 7-seater AWD version because we do have snowy hills. But it was about $20k less than a big SUV. That's a lot of babysitting hours or vacations!
So true! For some people, spending the extra money on the vehicle might be worth it. But for me, not so much. There are a lot of other things I'd rather spend the money on.
I really think that if minivans were just now coming out—after instead of before SUVs—they'd be super popular! With four (now grown) kids, we owned several minivans, and they were great. I can't imagine getting by without them!
I'm not sure what it is, but I just can't imagine driving one. I just... they're just not for me. I have a wagon and I LOVE IT. It's a Ford Flex. They can seat 6 to 7 and still have plenty of room. I believe we are done, so I don't think we will need anything bigger. I use to have a Durango and at the time I really enjoyed it, but it was just so big! I really love my Flex. 🙂
I have a 2001 Toyota Sienna and couldn't agree more--it's the greatest! We drove it across the country when we moved. Not a single problem in 14 years--wow.
BTW, have you ever seen the Youtube video "Mom My Ride?" It's HYSTERICAL! A take off on "Pimp My Ride" but for Moms with minivans.
https://vimeo.com/9358036
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4
You've seen this, right? 😉
No I hadn't seen that--thanks for sharing! Perfect!
My husband and I were looking to replace my Toyota Rav4 when I was pregnant with my son in 2013. I was AGAINST a van. Like, stomp my foot, steam out my ears, mad about getting a van. We talked with a dealer who could take both of our cars as a trade in and it would cut our car payments in HALF...IF we got the Toyota Sienna. We traded both our cars in for the van and paid $2500 for a used Honda my husband still drives. We've saved so much money in car payments, we leave the back seat stowed down most of the time because we just have 2 kids, and I just love it! We didn't need it for the space, but the savings was HUGE (like, $400 a month saved kinda huge). Worth every penny.
Minivans are awesome, I totally want one. I do not have one- instead I fit two car seats in the back of my 2001 VW Golf. I can actually squeeze a booster in between them when needed as well. A minivan would be way more convenient and fun but it would also come with a car payment. I call my car the
mini-minivan. Fitting more car seats depends a lot on the car seats in question- the car seat lady dot com has a lot of information on this, for folks who can't size up to a minivan. You might need to spend a little more on very narrow car seats, but that is going to be a lot cheaper than $25K for a new vehicle. On the other hand, hey, if you've got the money, go for it.
I have a theory that if you strap a car seat into ANY car, it instantly becomes a minivan. You could be driving the sexiest BMW convertible with all-leather interior- doesn't matter. You stick a car seat in there, it is now a minivan. Same thing with diaper bags. I have friends who use gorgeous designer purses instead a diaper bags. But if it's got wet wipes and goldfish crackers spilling out, it's a diaper bag. Just embrace it!
So agree with you. We love our van too. We bought a used one, 5 years old, which cost 1/2 price of the new. Ours come with buttons for us to open and close the doors with one click. Super fabulous! Recently, we have been using it instead of using tent for camping: http://www.chriskiki.com/2015/03/camping-at-mendocino-how-we-turn-our.html 🙂
Out of curiosity were you able to test drive the Honda Odyssey? If so what made you choose the Toyota?
Had I driven the Sienna and felt uncomfortable with it, I'd have driven the Odyssey. But, at least at the time when I bought my van, the Odyssey was more expensive, so I felt like since I was satisfied with the less expensive option, I'd rather not drive the pricier option!
(I'm a satisficer on the maximizer/satisficer spectrum, which means I don't feel the need to try all the options if I've found something I like. But of course, not everyone is like that! Some people love to try out ALL the options before deciding.)
I think Odysseys and Siennas are very, very comparable and that both are really great choices as far as vans go.
We love our minivan! I only have three kids, but it's still so worth it. My original plan was to try to get 3 car seats into our Toyota Matrix and I look back at that plan now and cringe. Having all three kids that close together sounds HARD. And all of the nice things that the minivan comes with makes me sad for the day I'll have to drive anything else.
Kristen, my husband and I recently had our third child and we are in the market for a used Sienna! Which edition do you have or recommend?
I had a 2000 and I now have a 2013. I'd definitely recommend getting a new-ish version that has the fold-down seats in the back. So convenient, and when the seats are upright, you have a HUGE storage well in the back, which is excellent for vacations and grocery shopping and really just hauling anything. That's probably my most favorite improvement when I compare my old Sienna to my newer one.
I'm not sure what year they added the folding rear seats, but it was sometime after they made my 2000.
What about LE, XLE, Limited etc? I'm not sure what the differences are.
I think I have the trim model that's one step up from the lowest. The only feature I sort of wish I had is the automatic back liftgate opener. That would come in handy when I have arms full of groceries.
Otherwise, I'm totally happy with the features mine came with.