Minivan VS SUV : Pros and Cons?

[etwahl]

i just wanted to get others opinions of the pros and cons of minivans vs suvs. we have a nice suv, and really love it. we've always said we're not the kind of people to own a minivan and never thought i'd even be asking the question...but we just got back from a road trip. whenever dh is with us, i ride in the back with lauren, and for this road trip, since it was longer, we took the laptop with dvd and i just held it sideways so she could watch videos and make the trip easier (it did). and we started talking about minivans. some of the pros and cons of each. surprisingly, we said we actually might consider a minivan (we were both surprised)...but we both said we wanted to find out why a minivan is better than an suv from folks who know on this board!!!

my initial thoughts of Minivan over SUV:

- more room (our suv only has 2 rows of seating) especially if you had two kids who each had two friends

- better gas mileage? is it?

- dvd already installed (i know only some have them, but our suv doesn't)

SUV over minivan:

- LOOKS MUCH NICER!!!

Your Thoughts?

Tammy,
Mom to Lauren Genevieve
03/12/2003
www.evantammy.com

[ppshah]

Tammy

I would like to through station wagons in the mix:

Pros:

better gas milage
drives like a sedan

We have a Volvo Cross county and love it. It has integrated booster seats which will come handy once DS is older and 3rd row otional seat
(that seats only children ). We love the AWD in the snow the cargo area is HUGE. It has been a great family car.

[kfcboston]

I'm really just wasting space with this post, as I have no wisdom to add, only thoughts. But I know soooo many moms who are "caving" and getting mini-vans b/c they really are so much more conducive to family life (again, I have never owned either!) Also, I gotta say I like the look of that new Nissan Quest, and have heard it's got great bells and whistles.

Good luck with your decision!

[ritacheetah]

We always thought the same thing but now I am considering a minivan (drive an SUV now) because if we have another rugrat, we'll never be able to drive any other people around. Anyway, there are some nice looking ones out now - the Sienna, for example, kinda looks sporty like an SUV that is closer to the ground. (Or maybe I'm just telling myself that to talk myself into it - I'm not sure I've got DH convinced yet).

But we have a few years yet to make that choice. By then maybe there will be an SUV that has as much room as a minivan but is not that big and gets 50 miles to the gallon. Or maybe by then it will run on Hydrogen...

Good luck on your choice.

[tinkerbell1217]

Well, I have owned an SUV and a minivan and I have to say for needing alot of room the minivan IS better, but I miss my SUV! So, I have decided that the next vehicle I get will be an SUV. There are SUV's with 7 seater capacity AND lots of room in the back too. They are BIG(think TANK) though, and have worse gas mileage than a minivan. But most are only 3-4 MPG less than an minivan so to me its not that big a difference since we are neighborhood drivers mostly anyway. Not much commuting far away at all.

I used to have a Rodeo and absolutely LOVED it! Since then we have owned a Caravan Sport and a Grand Caravan Sport. The Grand Caravan is very nice, very roomy, I can separate my kids so they don't pick at each other, decent gas mileage (18 gal tank filled lasts me a week), and they look nice too. The newer Grand Caravan's are coming out with Stow and Go seats that fold into the floor. I don't have that luxury, but it would have been nice! With my seats, we have to physically remove them and they are heavy!

We are looking into an Acura MDX. I love the look, there are 3 rows, two of which fold down. So it seats 7. The gas mileage is just a little less than the Caravan we have. My DD will be graduating from high school when we decide to get the Acura(we have 2 more years left on the minivan) so I won't need seating for 7 all the time. But, it will be there if we do happen to need it. It has all kinds of standard features that are optional on so many other models. And, the price isn't much higher either.

I just can't ever go back to a car. I like being up above everything and being able to see around me and other cars. I am short anyway so its nice to be able to see!!

Hope that helps!

Kelly

[pl71]

I've had SUVs (4Runner and a Tahoe) and recently caved and got a Quest. The Quest has so much room, as much if not more than the Tahoe, It can seat 6 very comfortably, 7 if one person is smaller. Aside from space, one advantage of a van is that it's so easy to get a baby in the car seat. The seat is the perfect height, you open the door and there it is, no bending over or climbing up. The sliding door is really nice too, you never have to worry about bumping someone's car in the parking lot.

Vans are cheaper than SUVs. A loaded Quest is in the lower 30s and to get the same equipment on a large SUV would cost much more.

As for gas mileage, on my commute I get about 16mpg on the SUV and 22 in the van.

Patty

[ralu]

I don't have any insight in your dilemma, but I remember having recently read a very interesting article in the New Yorker about how SUVs are generally unsafe. I happened to find the article on-line:

http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_01_12_a_suv.html

Raluca

[rrosen]

Tammy,
We recently bought a Honda Pilot for the reasons you describe. It has three row of seats (and fits one more person than many minivans that have pilot type seats in the middle row) It did well in Safety tests. Consumer Report gave it one of their highest ratings. I call it my minivan desquised as an SUV. We love it. We were recently able to take a weeks trip with my DD, Golden Retriever, luggage the three of us, a pack n play, stroller, and a million toys with no problem fitting everything.

I think it is vehicle worth test driving.

Rebecca

[C99]

One of the carseat techs just posted this site on the car seats board. It might give you some food for thought: http://www.suvsafety.info/

[MinnieMouse]

I think when we move "up" from a sedan we will definitely go with a mini-van over an SUV. The main reason we would go bigger than a sedan would be to increase seating options and increase the amount of stuff we can drag with us on driving vacations. If an SUV seats more than 5, then it has a third row and the majority of SUVs that have third rows have them up against the back window. I don't like having children (or adults) sitting that close to the back bumper.

I also like the versatility of the mini-vans. I like being able to collapse some or most of the seats into the floor as needed.

Safetywise, although SUVs are safer than they used to be, a minivan has consistently been safer than SUVs...especially when you consider rollovers.

Just my 2cents

Christine