To those with kids - SUV or Minivan

[hepcat]

Been an SUV person my whole driving life. But with kiddos I'm pretty close to getting a minivan for the sliding doors and extra space/comfort. The features you get with the minivans are way higher than the SUVs for similar prices from what I can see. I've test driven the Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna, Chrysler Pacifica, Honda Pilot, and Toyota Highlander. I read that the Kia Carnival is supposed to be nice but I #1 can't bring myself to consider a Kia and I think they're butt ugly. 

If you ended up with a specific SUV or minivan, why and what do you like about it?

[LinvilleGorge]

Honestly, go with a minivan. The "SUVs" you're looking at are just minivans without the convenience of the sliding door. They just took a minivan and put standard doors on it to label it and SUV. A Honda Pilot is literally just a minivan with four swinging doors.

[hepcat]

1 hour ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Honestly, go with a minivan. The "SUVs" you're looking at are just minivans without the convenience of the sliding door. They just took a minivan and put standard doors on it to label it and SUV. A Honda Pilot is literally just a minivan with four swinging doors.

Yea we kinda relinquished to being minivan people for the next 5-7 years or so until kids are old enough not to need carseats and boosters anymore. Sliding doors are awesome, so much easier to stick a kid in. I liked the Odyssey a lot. The Sienna is just a stupid price at this point too, although it's a nice minivan as well.  

[CRA]

I'm anti SUV with small children (specifically if you need a 3rd row) unless you get a ride that has captain seats in the 2nd row.  Otherwise, the 3rd row is an utter nightmare. 

[hepcat]

15 minutes ago, CRA said:

I'm anti SUV with small children (specifically if you need a 3rd row) unless you get a ride that has captain seats in the 2nd row.  Otherwise, the 3rd row is an utter nightmare. 

3rd row in the minivan is a breeze! Minivans are sweet from everything I've seen in my test drive, they just lack the cool factor of an SUV. The low clearance is an issue every once in awhile too but not enough to make me not want to buy one. 

[CRA]

Just now, hepcat said:

3rd row in the minivan is a breeze! Minivans are sweet from everything I've seen in my test drive, they just lack the cool factor of an SUV. The low clearance is an issue every once in awhile too but not enough to make me not want to buy one. 

I don't know anyone that went mini van and regretted it with small children.  But there does seem to be some mental hurdle for some folks to going to the van life. 

and it's hard to find captain seat 2nd row SUVs.   And those are the only bearable ones IMO. 

[hepcat]

1 hour ago, CRA said:

I don't know anyone that went mini van and regretted it with small children.  But there does seem to be some mental hurdle for some folks to going to the van life. 

and it's hard to find captain seat 2nd row SUVs.   And those are the only bearable ones IMO. 

The Highlander we drove had captains chairs. But the odyssey is sweet because it has a removable middle piece of the second row and you can make them captains chairs or have a bench. And the chairs slide. It is a nice feature 

[PootieNunu]

20 hours ago, CRA said:

I'm anti SUV with small children (specifically if you need a 3rd row) unless you get a ride that has captain seats in the 2nd row.  Otherwise, the 3rd row is an utter nightmare. 

Everyone loves climbing over the 2nd row to sit in the 3rd row dont they? Genius design. 

[toldozer]

On 7/2/2024 at 12:16 PM, hepcat said:

Been an SUV person my whole driving life. But with kiddos I'm pretty close to getting a minivan for the sliding doors and extra space/comfort. The features you get with the minivans are way higher than the SUVs for similar prices from what I can see. I've test driven the Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna, Chrysler Pacifica, Honda Pilot, and Toyota Highlander. I read that the Kia Carnival is supposed to be nice but I #1 can't bring myself to consider a Kia and I think they're butt ugly. 

If you ended up with a specific SUV or minivan, why and what do you like about it?

My wife actuality actually wants the carnival specifically bc of the looks.  I really just want to hold on to our  2.7% cars that are almost paid off.  Putting my daughter into my compact suv nearly breaks my back but our traverse isn't too bad. 

[LinvilleGorge]

I'd never heard of the Kia Carnival before but it's kind of an interesting concept and one that I'm surprised took so long to come around. Basically disguise a minivan as an SUV but actually retain the functional benefits of a minivan. That makes a helluva lot more sense than the "crossover SUV" platform which basically disguised a minivan as an SUV while sacrificing the actual functional benefits of both platforms. I've honestly always thought that the crossover SUV was the worst vehicle concept of all time in terms of actual functionality but they became wildly popular because people liked the way they looked and they were considerably cheaper than an actual truck based platform SUV. A+ for the marketing team. They sold a ton of those poo sandwiches.

[hepcat]

4 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I'd never heard of the Kia Carnival before but it's kind of an interesting concept and one that I'm surprised took so long to come around. Basically disguise a minivan as an SUV but actually retain the functional benefits of a minivan. That makes a helluva lot more sense than the "crossover SUV" platform which basically disguised a minivan as an SUV while sacrificing the actual functional benefits of both platforms. I've honestly always thought that the crossover SUV was the worst vehicle concept of all time in terms of actual functionality but they became wildly popular because people liked the way they looked and they were considerably cheaper than an actual truck based platform SUV. A+ for the marketing team. They sold a ton of those poo sandwiches.

 

5 hours ago, toldozer said:

My wife actuality actually wants the carnival specifically bc of the looks.  I really just want to hold on to our  2.7% cars that are almost paid off.  Putting my daughter into my compact suv nearly breaks my back but our traverse isn't too bad. 

Went to a Kia dealer this afternoon with the intention of test driving a used 2020 Sienna they supposedly had, but it was already sold. So we peeked at the Carnivals while we were there, but I thought they were even uglier in person. I don't see the SUV in disguise, I saw an uglier bulkier looking minivan. Interiors are nice though, it felt more like the Odyssey interior.

The minivan stock is really low right now, not trying to buy new but we might have to just to have some options. 

 

[toldozer]

17 hours ago, hepcat said:

 

Went to a Kia dealer this afternoon with the intention of test driving a used 2020 Sienna they supposedly had, but it was already sold. So we peeked at the Carnivals while we were there, but I thought they were even uglier in person. I don't see the SUV in disguise, I saw an uglier bulkier looking minivan. Interiors are nice though, it felt more like the Odyssey interior.

The minivan stock is really low right now, not trying to buy new but we might have to just to have some options. 

 

I haven't looked at them in person or even too much online. My wife swears they look like an SUV and much better then other minivans. Again I have no interest in an almost 40k purchase at 7% or whatever it is right now

[hepcat]

On 7/4/2024 at 4:25 PM, toldozer said:

I haven't looked at them in person or even too much online. My wife swears they look like an SUV and much better then other minivans. Again I have no interest in an almost 40k purchase at 7% or whatever it is right now

Yea the prices and interest rates on vehicles right now are pretty crazy although the prices have gone down a little. 

We ended up buying a 2021 Odyssey EX-L with 44k miles over the weekend. 36k OTD. They put new tires on the van and it was fully inspected and serviced. It is a certified used Honda with 1 year remaining bumper to bumper warranty and 4 years powertrain warranty. I ended up buying a 4 yr dealer extended bumper to bumper warranty for an extra $2,400 which included 8 oil changes and tire rotations with no time cap. I'm not one to usually buy extended warranties but with the oil changes and tire rotations included I thought it was a pretty good deal, if literally anything breaks we're fully covered until 2029. 

Edited July 8 by hepcat

[KSpan]

Our 3 boys are older now but there's only a 3.5 years spread total between them... there is no SUV in existence that can match convenience and ease that a van provides when it comes to small children. You made the right call. 

Edited July 8 by KSpan