Wanted: Dependable transportation that will seat more than a few (preferably 8). It would be nice to be able to store things in the back, too, like a tent or several bags of groceries.
Our 1996 Honday Odyssey van kicked the bucket on Monday, three days after being reintroduced to our family. As a result, we’re a one-car family for a while until we get things sorted out and figure out what comes next.
It would seem to make sense we would be interested in the new Chevy Traverse that we just spent the last 30 days driving around. And we would, except for one tiny problem: $$$$$. We were told we would get a pretty good deal on a new Traverse if we decided to buy one, but Chevy and I have two different interpretations of the term “good deal.”
So here’s my official inquiry:
What do you drive?
How many does it seat?
How is it on the storage capacity?
Do you love it?
Would you buy it again?
The Dunhams have officially entered the auto research game. Darn it.
Half-Pint House 
I love my Honda Odyssey. Love it!! It seats 7 and has a really deep storage part in the back. It drive great 🙂
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We are a devoted Toyota family (well, we’re gracious to other makes and models from time to time – when necessary). All of our ten years of marriage we’ve driving a Civic, a Camry and now a Sienna mini-van, which I L-O-V-E! Test drive one…I think you’ll fall in love, too.
The Sienna seats seven comfortably, two typical front seats, two captain seats in the middle and one large across seat in the back. It’s a typical mini-van regarding storage but I’m sure the newer models have more features than my 1999 version.
Yes, I would ABSOLUTELY purchase it again. No doubt.
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We actually bought an ’01 Dodge Caravan with only 10,000 miles at a government auction. $4,000 out the door. Buying from a place like that might be worth looking into…
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’02 Odyssey – seats 7 – would certainly buy it again – deep storage in the back. If we could have afforded it, we would have went with the ’05? or newer which has the option for a split backseat so you could haul more and still carry some passengers and has a jump seat in the middle row to make it seat 8 if you need it to. But we are pretty loyal to Hondas, just to let you know what perspective we are coming from. Previously had a Chrysler Town & Country given to us, and though they may have improved from the year we had, we would never buy one…lots of problems.
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Let’s hear it for the Honda Odyssey! We’ve loved ours too. And let’s face it: 198K is nothing to sneeze at. It’s time was due.
We have friends with a newer Odyssey and it seats 8 and has amazing storage in the back. I like it. So we might look at something like that when were in the position to look again.
But I’m seriously interested in the auction idea. Going to look at that too.
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Our van is so close to dying, too. Like, any day it will give up the ghost, and it is really not possible to be a one car family (don’t think I haven’t thought long and hard how to make our little Geo be our sole vehicle.) We’ve always had either a Dodge Caravan or Plymouth Voyager, but this is the. last. one. ever. In the past, as long as we got past the 75K transmission replacement, it worked great and gave us a good 200-250K. This one has been a pain from the get go. It’s had unfixable problems for the past six months that we’ve just lived with, but this latest one? Fixable, but not worth it considering the myriad issues. So. It’s being replaced a good year or two sooner than we planned.
All this to say. . . I’m watching this thread. Though Hubby is tired of being a minivan guy and is researching affordable SUV options. Needs to seat 7 and is workable in our budget are my only two criteria!
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Ha! Craig just wondered tonight if we might not be able to finally graduate out of the mini-van stage.
We’re open to whatever, but, as you said, it has to be workable in our budget too. All of the local pre-owned Odysseys I can find that are around 2004-2005 are in the $20K range. OUCH!
I had a missed expectation with the whole Chevy deal. We were told we would be offered a “really good deal” to buy a new Traverse. So all this time I really thought that would at least be a consideration. I just didn’t know what they meant by “really good deal” and it turns out our definitions are so very different.
I think if I could do this whole promotion again I would have just gone ahead and asked for that number from the very beginning. I would have asked, “Exactly what are we talking here” and they hopefully would have been honest and said, “You’re looking about about $3K off the sticker price.” And I would have said, “Okay. Now we know.” And I wouldn’t have ever even thought it to be a possibility.
Because it isn’t. Not at all.
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We have a 2001 Ford E350 12 passenger van. It’s as long as a 15 passenger van, but doesn’t have that last row of seats. So, we can carry our family, plus a bunch, and cargo space is a non-issue. Camping- check. Sam’s Club- no problem. We bought it 2 years old- it was first an airport shuttle van. It now has 149,000 miles and it seems to be going strong. It’s a workhorse. We’ll keep it ’til it dies. I can’t tell you I LOVE my van- but I am awfully thankful for it. It’s been a great ministry- you can have some great conversations with folks when they are stuck in your car… 🙂 We hardly ever have to think twice about if we have enough room. I drove my daughter’s volleyball team, and even got the bus driver free meal one time! Now I know that our van is not what you’re looking for, but I just wanted to chime in… 🙂
Blessings! And happy shopping.
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Y’all probably remember when we got our van– weren’t you living two doors down then? Anyway, we got a 2004 Ford Freestar.
We test-drove the Hondas and Toyotas, and they were great– very comfortable, great safety features, plenty of legroom and headroom (which were must-haves for me). And thousands more than we could possibly afford. We also test-drove the Kia van, which had decent specs and the price was closer to what we could afford, but it wasn’t nearly comfortable enough (and legroom/headroom were a big factor too).
The Freestar was/is a great compromise. Good comfort and legroom– not as much as the Honda, but close. It has run really well, and with very little trouble. The price was right: I think we paid something like $8000, in late (December) 2006– so it was only 2 years old then, I guess.
On a (slightly) separate note: talk to Jeremy and Becky Kicklighter; they got theirs (also a Freestar) through a service that Jeremy will be able to connect you with. They might be able to help you find a good deal.
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We drive a 2003 Kia Sedona, which we bought with 12K miles (used) for $15,000. Though the Kia brand is newer to the marketplace, we just turned over 105,000 miles with no problems with this vehicle. Seven years later, our cost of ownership has been relatively low. When I hear the 26-36K price tag on the Odyssey van (and translate that into a $600 monthly payment) I start feeling faint. 😉 We currently have no vehicle debt, and don’t plan to have it ever again. We are in the painfully long process of saving cash to replace cars. We know that owning free and clear will be worth it for us.
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I totally hear you. When we got our 96 Odyssey (in 2001) it cost some $13K. I had NO idea how much they were now until yesterday.
Wow. So we’re still hunting. 🙂
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