New Mini-Van - What Kind?

Hi J.-

All I can say is I LOVE love my odyssey...

Prior to that I had dodge products...found them to be a money pit.

Did I say I loved my odyssey??

best luck!
michele/cat

Not sure it meets your "American made" criteria (it may be "America assembled"), but I LOVE my 2011 Honda Odyssey Touring Elite. The only thing it lacks is all wheel drive. Before that I had a 2000 Honday Odyssey for 11 years. I loved that one too. I never had major mechanical problems with it. The engine was a little loud, but the redesign of the new ones has fixed that. I had a few problems with the automatic sliding doors on the old van, but no problems so far with the new one. I prefer the drive of the minivan to an SUV and it has better cargo space in my opinion. I have no qualms about driving a minivan like some people do. It's practical and I love it.

If you want American Made, you are going ot ahve problems. Do you know that more parts of Honda's and Toyatos are made in the US than many "american made" cars? Most Honda's are 70-80% American made (engine made in Japan).

I love my Honda Touring. Automatic doors are amazing.

If you want a good deal, buy used. We got a 3 year old one with 20k on it, in like new condition, for 15k less than the price of a new.

We just got a Toyota Sienna and love it!

Thanks for your question. It is EXACTLY what I wanted to ask. Down to getting it in the spring. :) Looking forward to your answers.

I love everything about my Grand Caravan except for the maintenance costs. it's 10 years old (2001) and love the versatility of it - take the seats out - fold one down, take one out. Seating for 7. love the get up and go. auto doors. great gas mileage.

We are looking at new vans...

Honda Odyssey
Kia Sedona
Toyota Sienna

All have good things about them. none are 'green' - can't help you with that one.

We had a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan and loooved it. I guess we got lucky, though because we didn't have any issues with it at all.

We just got a Honda and I love it. It was assembled in America. :) I love that it turns on a dime. Sooo much easier to park than the Dodge. It isn't green but it does have a feature in the engine that makes it shift into ECO mode to save gas. We didn't get a lot of extras(dvd, or nav) but we did insist on leather.

Had a Ford Winstar (TERRIBLE), the last two I have had are Toyota Siennas (AMAZING). The only reason I have had 2 is because my husband's company took away his company car and gave him a car allowance insted and it worked out better for us to trade in and get 2 cars at the same time. I wanted the exact same green that I had before, because I really did not want to give it up at all, but they didn't make that color anymore and I ended up with silver. I am not happy with the silver because there are so many in Keller and my kids keep trying to get in the wrong vehicle.
Mine has 3 back seats (that are a cinch to fold down to make a flat space ) and 3 middle seats. so you can take them out individually and rearrange them however you want. The middle one even scoots all the way up right near the 2 front seats, so if you have a little one they are so close, however this can get a little distracting when you are supposed to be driving.

I know of at least one family who bought this after I showed them how cool mine is. The back seats can even fold out in such a way that you can sit on them and tailgate. We do it at the park all the time!!

Not American though, wish it were cause it ROCKS!!

We have a Kia and hate it, nothing but problems. If you narrow it down to a couple and can't decide, get the VIN's and get a quote from your insurance agent. There could be a HUGE difference in premium and that may help you make a decision. Congrats and good luck!!!

Love, love, love our Toyota Sienna. We love that the seats all come out easily, the middle seats fold back very easily and the back seat folds down into the trunk area. The automatic door feature is fabulous. At one touch of a button from the front of a grocery store I can push the buttons on my key fob(sp?) and the back doors open and the trunk too!! I walk up, we unload groceries and kids jump in. Love that genius idea. Our passenger side windows also roll down half way...not a feature on too many vans.(well maybe nowadays they are catching on) The turning radius is the best we have EVER had.(a feature my hubby loves) We have not had to put a dime into it for maintenance and it purrs like a kitten. Gas mileage is fabulous for its' large size. It seats 7 because we chose the middle captain chair feature. We also got leather seats and it is awesome...easy clean up. The luggage rack is a great feature if you travel often or are outdoorsy. We opted out of the tv...don't want tv distracting us from good ol' family time...personal decision.If it is a sanity saver than go for it. We just take our computer on long trips along with a couple dvd's...works great.

Good luck and best wishes at finding the right vehicle for you!!
PS It has more cup holders than you can keep count...not a huge selling point but comes in handy on looong vacations)

We have a Pontiac Montana, that I LOVE!!! It is longer than the Honda's and Toyota's that I have seen in parking lots. Lots of space behind the back row. My parents always bought Honda's and Toyota's, so I actually feel like a bit of a traitor. The thing is, we bought the Montana (that was not running) from someone for $500 and hoped that the gamble paid off and my husband could get it running again. Luckily he was able to do that.

The one feature I really like is that there is a cupholder in the driver and passenger doors. It is a bumpout of the mapholder, if that makes any sense. I love it! I'm very curious, do other minivans have something like this?

We are hoping to purchase a newer minivan in the spring, so I'm also interested in the features that most people like. We just kind of fell into our current minivan, but we will probably have to spend more on the next one. Just want to make a smart choice!

I'm not sure the availablity of ethanol fuels in your area but I know some Dodge vans offer the flex fuel options. Doubt that is what you had in mind as far as green goes.

My experience with American made gives a whole new definition to the word "green"... because you're going to spend A LOT of it in repairs. I think domestic vehicles are poorly made and refuse to buy another one. Plus a lot of the imports are made here in the United States so you may not want to rule them out.

As far as features, I love the dual sliding doors, stow and go seating, and rear windows that go down. The factory and extended warranty is also a big deal with me because I am very particular and want my vehicle operating the way it did the day i brought it home.