With the upcoming birth of our third child I will be needing to get rid of our Mazda5 and move up to a real minivan and would like to start researching them now to buy one in maybe May-June.

Are the top two still the Honda Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna?

We plan to buy pre-owned, something like 2 years old or newer and 30,000 miles or less. I've heard some good things about the Chrysler Pacifica and my neighbor across the street whose wife is also having their third child soon just bought a Dodge Grand Caravan via Carvana and loves it.

My in-laws have an Odyssey and are very happy with it and my wife's sister has a Sienna and she seems happy with that too.

I own a 2015 Sienna SE. I absolutely love it and will be buying another this year. Last year I went to Florida and rented a Pacifica. Absolute worst car I've ever driven. Hated it. Hope this helps.

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Originally posted by Bulldog7972:
Last year I went to Florida and rented a Pacifica. Absolute worst car I've ever driven. Hated it. Hope this helps.

What did you hate about it? I seem to only hear good things but am strongly leaning toward the Honda or Toyota because I know they have good track records.

I always preferred the Odyssey to the Sienna, but recently, the Honda has gotten pretty unattractive (for a van).

Former boss has/had a Pacifica (fairly loaded) and he loves it.

Probably the only 3 I'd consider.

The Dodge Caravan seems a major step down in all ways.
Never been a fan of Nissan, so a Quest (if they're still available) wouldn't get a consideration from me.

If you're wanting to drop some $$, Mercedes does have the Metris, which can be had in passenger variants.

Personally, we have a Ford Flex, and it's a sort-of cross between a wagon & a minivan. Sseats 7 with the middle bench seat. Ours has been trouble free, apart from normal wear/tear items & 2 batteries.

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Originally posted by P250UA5:
I always preferred the Odyssey to the Sienna, but recently, the Honda has gotten pretty unattractive (for a van).

The Odyssey gets more clunky looking and the new Sienna's are getting really nice looking to me, especially the front end.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
I always preferred the Odyssey to the Sienna, but recently, the Honda has gotten pretty unattractive (for a van).

The Odyssey gets more clunky looking and the new Sienna's are getting really nice looking to me, especially the front end.

Agreed, The 3G Odyssey was the best looking, IMO, and just after the notorious failure-prone transmissions of the 98-04 years.

If it matters to you only the Sienna has the option of AWD.

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The Odyssey gets more clunky looking and the new Sienna's are getting really nice looking to me, especially the front end.

yeah but you'll spend a fortune on new rims...

I'd suggest you contact the rental fleets at your airport, rent one of each for a weekend, run errands, pickup groceries, go to the park, go to the range, things that require you to use the van in a manner you'd like.

See which van meets your needs.

We bought a 95 Odyssey used 20+ years ago and it's still running with about 190K. We no longer need a "soccer Mom" vehicle, but it's long been paid for and there's no reason to get rid of it while it still runs. It's front wheel drive.

FWIW, this is Mrs Sigmund's car and it's local use only. For anything else we take my 2016 CRV.

My parents have had Honda Odysseys for years but the last two have been Toyota Siennas. I have driven them quite a bit when they are in town, as my dad doesn't drive at night anymore and I prefer to be in control when my whole family is in the car.

They carry a lot of people / stuff, but that is about it. It's like a military truck, buy it for what it can do for you, not what it looks like. Because they look like shit.

So get whichever one fits you and the family best. Personally we have always opted to pay more for an SUV instead of a Minivan. Money well spent IMO.

IMO you can't go wrong with either. I've got an 03 Odyssey with 255K. I just saw a used Sienna in our neighborhood for sale - a 2000 with 139K asking $5K and it's clean as a whistle.

The Pacific gets pretty good reviews, not necessarily the Dodge products.

One question to ask is what will it look like at 100K? My guess the fit and finish of the Honda or Toyota is better and you'll want to keep it another 100K miles.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog7972:
Last year I went to Florida and rented a Pacifica. Absolute worst car I've ever driven. Hated it. Hope this helps.

What did you hate about it? I seem to only hear good things but am strongly leaning toward the Honda or Toyota because I know they have good track records.

To me it handled like a Greyhound bus. Absolutely no road feel. It over steered big time. No get up and go, poor gas mileage. I understand that it's a good looking van, probably the best. But I would never, ever buy one. As a matter of fact if I ever rent another van and they give me a Pacifica, I'll go elsewhere.

So as not to appear to be too negative, I did like the arm rests up front on the Pacifica. They are longer than the ones in a Sienna.

I know nothing about minivans, but I sure like my Hyundai Sonata much better than the Toyota Camry that I had. The Hyundai service department is much better too. Hyundai offers minivans. You might look at them.

Yeah, What kind of rims are you going to put on it?

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Originally posted by .38supersig:
Yeah, What kind of rims are you going to put on it?

It's hilarious that as soon as anyone says "Minivan" people here think "Rims" and member Black92LX...

Thanks everyone.

A SUV isn’t happening, we both like sliding doors way too much, especially with kids in a tight parking lot. The Mazda5 has them and they are great.

The Honda Odyssey has much better configurations for car seats than the Sienna. We used to have a 2011 Sienna which is essentially still the same as the current models and we just got a 2019 Odyssey 6 months ago. We really appreciate the latch system on the Odyssey, you have a lot more options for car seat placement versus the Sienna. The horizontally sliding middle row seats come in handy daily for us. Drives nice too, although I thought they both did. The AWD on the Sienna was nice but we barely ever made use of it. I also get a lot of use out of the Android Auto on the Odyssey, the Sienna doesn't have that. We have 4 kids, a 6, 4, 3 and 3 month old all in some sort of car seat.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
I know nothing about minivans, but I sure like my Hyundai Sonata much better than the Toyota Camry that I had. The Hyundai service department is much better too. Hyundai offers minivans. You might look at them.

Can't think of a Hyundai minivan, but Kia had the Rondo IIRC. Dont know much about them, but they're of the earlier era when Kia/Hyundai had a less reputable image. The Rondo is also fairly smaller than the Ody/Sienna. Somewhere between the Mazda5 & the full size minivans.