Looking into minivans other than Sienna & Odyssey

[ShanaMama]

We are going to need a new vehicle pretty soon & have pretty much decided that a minivan makes the most sense. (I still have to come to terms with that!)
We'll be buying second hand & can't really afford a decent mileage Sienna or Odyssey. I'd love to get recs on other minivans. In the running are Chrysler Town & County, Dodge Grand Caravan & Plymouth Voyager, although I'm really unfamiliar with all the options.
Please tell me all your love/hate stories about your minivan. I'm looking for safety info as well as convenience & worthwhile/ stupid features.
TIA

[KBecks]

There's also Kia /Hyundai. I liked the Grand Caravan when I test drove it. Never got to drive a Kia or Hyundai

[Rainbows&Roses]

My parents and sister have a Kia and both love it. The models they have also did amazingly well in safety tests.

[egoldber]

I have an 02 Dodge Grand Caravan that I've been very happy with it.

[marit]

Look at Mazda MPV. I love love love this car! It is much cheaper than Honda/Toyota and still Japanese... It is a little smaller than the big minivans, which made me happy because it felt a little less like a traditional minivan and a little more sporty...

There are only 2 models. LX and ES. The ES has leather seats and automatic sliding doors, which to me is a must...

Good luck!

[wencit]

My friend just bought a Mazda5 and really loves it. She calls it her "mini" minivan, because it's much smaller than a traditional minivan (which she didn't like, because she thought it felt like driving a bus), but still large enough to seat 6. It has most of the convenience features of a minivan -- sliding doors, walking entry to the third row, folding seats -- but still drives like a car. She got the very top end model and paid $23k out the door, including TTL, so I'm sure there are models out there that are cheaper.

Just thought I'd throw another option out there.

[mom2binsd]

I have the lesser known Mercury Monterey, it is the twin to the Ford Freestar and I love it. I have an 04 model with leather, dual power doors, 2nd row captian chairs and the third row folds flat, there is extra room behind the 3rd row (when it is in use for seating)more than in some other vans...we weren't even in the market for a minivan but my DH wandered over to it in the showroom while we were punching numbers on a Mariner SUV, it doesn't look as bad as we thought it would and it's great, esp. as the kids can get in and out easily, the sliding doors are great esp in the garage, I can lift the baby in easier as I'm short and minivans in general are very safe. We used to drive a Ford Explorer and I have to say there is so much more room and you'll get over the minivan stigma...

HTH

[LarsMal]

LOVE LOVE LOVE my Nissan Quest! I can't believe I just wrote that!!!

I swore I would never drive a mini van, but now I can't imagine living without it. It has tons of room and drives very nicely.

[KBecks]

Look at Mazda MPV. I love love love this car! It is much cheaper than Honda/Toyota and still Japanese... It is a little smaller than the big minivans, which made me happy because it felt a little less like a traditional minivan and a little more sporty...

There are only 2 models. LX and ES. The ES has leather seats and automatic sliding doors, which to me is a must...

Good luck!

The MPVs were discontinued and were selling with big rebates at the end of their production, so I'd try to find a very good price on a used one if you can handle the smaller size.

[Happy 2B mommy]

We have a 2005 Grand Caravan, (not the sxt, the plain one) and our second row is captains chairs, not a bench. We've had it since July 2006 and purchased it used. (Like you, the honda and odessey were out of our $ and miles range) DH loves this vehicle because of the stow and go and that he isn't the one driving it all the time!

What I like.
It's like having a nursery on wheels. Plenty of room to change diapers, breastfeed, change your top after baby has spit-up all over you... huge well for the stroller or groceries, tons of storage under seats, 3rd row stores completely flat, or can be configured to be what we call 'tailgate seating' when the hatch is open. 2nd row can also fold completely flat (think hauling huge sheets of drywall/plywood etc) I like the sliding doors, the easy access to the 2nd and 3rd row. I love that I don't have to bend to buckle up carseats. This is my first vehicle with anti-lock brakes and I'm pretty impressed with them (we've had a TON of snow in WI this winter and it's been slippery) Impressed with the visibility (no big blind spots) LATCH system was obvious and really good install with the graco snugride infant seat and base. Good Tether spots for FORWARD FACING convertible seats. I like the multi- temperature zone options.
I'm NOT a minivan person, but I love having a minivan for babies/toddlers. However, with the exception the the stow n go, almost any minivan will offer the features I like.

What I don't like.
Gas mileage. Feels too big (for me). Stereo controls just aren't logical to me and the sound is average to poor. I hate the 'nanny locks' (keep in mind the vehicle I had prior to this was a 1992 mercury tracer wagon with manual locks, windows, etc. I just hate that everything locks automatically) Interior fit and finish are okay, but not great. A bit of a noisey ride. Pick-up is sluggish at times (we got the smaller engine) No traction control for the slippery spots (would be nice with the anti-lock brakes).

Car seat/safety issues.
NO SIDE CURTAIN AIRBAGS. I have a Britax Blvd and the ONLY place I could find a spot to tether for a rear-facing seat was behind the drivers seat. C'mon, people, isn't this marketed as a mommy-mobile? However, the install with the Blvd is rock solid. Do have to use towel/pool noodles to get proper recline angle with convertible seats. Also, putting an infant carrier in the middle really isn't an option in the 2nd row because of the 2 captains chairs.

So, no this is not my dream vehicle, nor even my dream minivan. However, we got it with super-low miles (under 17,000) and the price was definitely in our budget. It's been very reliable and handles well in snowy weather. I wasn't very well educated with child seats when we purchased the Grand Caravan, so I'm not sure if the rf tether spot is an issue in other minivans. In general, I am satisfied with it.

Good luck in your search!

Kerri

[caleymama]

Short and sweet - skip the Chevy Venture. Not so hot safety ratings (how my research-oriented brain missed that I'll never know - I'm blaming it on having just had DD2 . . .). We've had nothing but issues with ours and it only has 75000 miles on it. It's an '01 that we bought with 44000 miles. I do like the space and the features, but our particular van has been one big headache. We couldn't afford a similar year/mileage Odyssey or Sienna and they were few and far between in the area we were living in at the time.

Also, www.informedforlife.org is a helpful site. Good luck!

[MelissaTC]

I have a 2005 Grand Caravan SXT that I have been driving now for almost 4 years (bought it new in 2004). Overall, it has been pretty good to me. I like all the upgraded features like the stow and go, DVD player with 6 disc changer, sunroof, power doors, power hatch, etc... I moved into this from a 1998 Ford Explorer so my gas mileage is a lot better!

[ShanaMama]

Thanks for all the tips. The specific reviews were great. Thanks Kerri, your GC review was super helpful. Liz, my DH is anti the Chevy Venture for some unknown reason, so now I can join him in vetoing it.
I'm off to research different options, I'll be back with more specific questions.

[hellokitty]

Short and sweet - skip the Chevy Venture. Not so hot safety ratings (how my research-oriented brain missed that I'll never know - I'm blaming it on having just had DD2 . . .). We've had nothing but issues with ours and it only has 75000 miles on it. It's an '01 that we bought with 44000 miles. I do like the space and the features, but our particular van has been one big headache. We couldn't afford a similar year/mileage Odyssey or Sienna and they were few and far between in the area we were living in at the time.

Also, www.informedforlife.org is a helpful site. Good luck!

I ditto this. I have a neighbor who has one of these, it is only a few yrs old and she has hated it for along time. It has numerous problems, the worst one is some sort of whistling sound coming from the roof. GM cannot figure out what it is and won't do anything about it. She is so PO'd (we live in a GM town, so she bought the GM thinking she was being, "supportive," she said next time she's getting an odyssey or sienna) about it and has nothing but bad things to say about her venture and how much GM sucks. It is so obvious who works for GM in our town, b/c the only ppl who buy GMs are GM workers, everyone else buys non-GM, lol.

To the OP, if you are not stuck on having a minivan, you might want to consider the subaru forrester. It seems that everyone I know who has one :love-retry: theirs.

[ShanaMama]

I am more concerned about safety than I am about upgrades so I'm trying to find which minivans come with what standard safety equipment. It seems like the Chrysler Town & Country & the Dodge Grand Caravan are essentially the same car. But neither of them ranks too high on informedforlife spreadsheets.
I thought side curtain airbags were standard or at least available but my research is not supporting that assumption.
Does your minivan come with side curtain airbags? How about stability control? How important is stability control in a minivan anyway?
Thanks so much for reading and responding!

[egoldber]

My Grand Caravan has side curtain air bags, but they only came on higher trim levels. The GC and the T&C are EXACTLY the same car. There may be some slight difference in trim level packages available from Chrysler vs Dodge.

I don't have stability control, but I've never missed it. I don't live in an area that gets tons of snow though. My DH does put snow tires on my car during the winter though which does make a huge difference vs all weather tires.