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  1. #51
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    Dec 2016
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    In a van... down by the river
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    Quote Originally Posted by plugboots View Post
    <snip>
    The argument I always hear against getting a minivan is some version of "I just don't want to drive a minivan." Pretty silly.
    Yup.

    Oddly, it's almost always the wife arguing this. Probably 'cause she knows the husband will just roll his eyes and tell everyone, "Yeah, she made me buy it."


  2. #52
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
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    Gaperville, CO
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    Meanwhile, my fiance loves to point out I'm the one who has bought 3 mini-vans in the past 10 years.

  3. #53
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    Hell Track
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    13,843
    Quote Originally Posted by skaredshtles View Post
    Yup.

    Oddly, it's almost always the wife arguing this. Probably 'cause she knows the husband will just roll his eyes and tell everyone, "Yeah, she made me buy it."

    This is fairly on the nose.

  4. #54
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    Dec 2016
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    In a van... down by the river
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    Quote Originally Posted by doebedoe View Post
    Meanwhile, my fiance loves to point out I'm the one who has bought 3 mini-vans in the past 10 years.
    That's because they're awesome. And you know what else is awesome?


  5. #55
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
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    Last Best City in the Last Best Place
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    7,270
    We had a minivan at the start of the kid thing, but sold it and never missed it. Might work for some families, but I needed something that would double as a hunting rig and had more towing capacity and clearance.

  6. #56
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    northern BC
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    30,881





    Quote Originally Posted by skaredshtles View Post
    Yup.

    Oddly, it's almost always the wife arguing this. Probably 'cause she knows the husband will just roll his eyes and tell everyone, "Yeah, she made me buy it."

    the wife is so done with being a mini van mother she wants to distance hereself which is the only reason they invented the SUV
    Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know

  7. #57
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Undisclosed
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    2,283
    I am surprised there isn't any mention of the Nissan Pathfinder. I drove both the Pilot and CX-9 and I preferred the Nissan. We wanted a vehicle that we would not be too upset about when it got trashed over time. I picked up a platinum edition 2014 loaded with everything, it was a Nissan corporate vehicle that has 10k miles on it. I have been very pleased and at 100k we have had very few issues even with the new style gearbox. I have boys ages 7 and 10 as well as a dog. In the winter we travel with the dog(female St Bernard) and her fold up kennel in the 3rd row. A ski box on top and space behind the 3rd row provide enough storage for all our ski gear. It has performed very well with snows on during the winter months. I also do some towing of my 22ft boat in the summer. I have gotten about 18mpg over the life of the vehicle according to the computer. If you chose a smaller motor you would be getting much better mpg. Lots of highway time between Boston and VT and wouldn't hesitate to get another one, although I suspect with kids getting bigger I may have to get the next size up. The 3rd row gets a lot of use with kids and their friends. In the summer we put boards on the roof and kids kayaks inside the car so all 4 of us can paddle. Hitch mounted bike rack makes life easy.

    Congrats on the twins. Its going to be crazy ride.
    Last edited by 2nd mate; 06-22-2020 at 03:50 PM.
    A woman reported to police at 6:30 p.m. that she was being "smart-mouthed."

  8. #58
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    The Fish
    Posts
    4,715
    Just get the Sienna man.

    Thinking about this 2" lift for ours.
    https://traxda.com/toyota/sienna/906025.html

    Im hoping if I install that I can go another day or two without clearing the driveway...
    a positive attitude will not solve all of your problems, but it may annoy enough people to make it worth the effort

    Formerly Rludes025

  9. #59
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Paper St. Soap Co.
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    3,303
    Get what the wife wants :-). And yes, having her in back with young kids is needed for a road trip.

    I was leaning toward 3rd row suv despite not liking how the few large unibody suv I have driven, drive, maybe new ones are better. But wife is anti third row suv and wanting a minivan. I really liked the sienna evdog and I rented for a mountain bike road trip. Toyota announcing the hybrid awd sienna has us sold. Other rig is a 4 door Taco, it works well for 2 kids in car seats, but would not want two rear facing car seats at the same time. Unless you already have a truck, might be worth looking at a 4 door f-150...not sure about carseat space.

  10. #60
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Bottom feeding
    Posts
    10,828
    2 words:
    Automatic hudge sliding doors.
    Well maybe I'm the faggot America
    I'm not a part of a redneck agenda

  11. #61
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    8,965
    The auto door mechanism was great with the littles. The auto sliding door of my sienna eventually broke. It’s a known problem of that older generation. I removed the cable. It’s manual now.

  12. #62
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Sun Valley, ID
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    2,527
    Quote Originally Posted by aragon View Post
    Some real good discussion in here - lots of good points every direction for suv/van/pickup/etc.

    We have 3 kids (9, 7, and 4) and bought a Pacifica Hybrid in 2017 due to crazy (at the time) gov't incentives, and a bit of a windfall on a VW dieselgate wagon we outgrew at the same time. I would NOT advise it for your intended use (fwd, low clearance, electronic everything, etc) but it has worked really well for us.

    My point of posting is to say that just because you are having kids does not mean your vehicle needs to turn into a pig sty. We have the weather-tech mats and have had all the traumatic "kid" events - puking, pooping, milkshake upside down, etc. But with a bit of maintenance and staying on top of cleaning, our van still looks decent (and we have white (HORROR) leather seats). We bought seat covers to go under the car seats, and I am always amazed how pristine the seats look when I remove the covers to clean underneath. Point is that you don't need to turn your vehicle into a garbage dump just because you have kids
    Just checking in here with a word of caution. Kids car seats should generally not be used with a cover under. YMMV. I chose not to.

  13. #63
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Magically whisked away to...Delaware
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    3,608
    Another vote for minivan.

    We have a Kia Sedona and, basically, we can fit our house inside. We went to VT for a week with 3 kids (14, 7, and 1), 4 suitcases, two gear bags, three pairs of skis, a big cooler, and still had a small area for for the dog and his blanket.

    The back has been used to hold a crib while we tailgated, a breastfeeding station, a changing table, and everything else.

    The high ceiling and low floor make for a great combo. When the kids (and wife) grow out of it, I'm gonna keep it for my bike camping vehicle.


    Oh yeah...like other have said: we got leather...b/c: sponges work well on leather.
    It makes perfect sense...until you think about it.

    I suspect there's logic behind the madness, but I'm too dumb to see it.

  14. #64
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
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    PNW -> MSO
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    7,889
    Quote Originally Posted by smartyiak View Post
    3 kids (14, 7, and 1)
    rest of the post seems ok but this is insanity. what were you thinking bro?

  15. #65
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Gaperville, CO
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    Quote Originally Posted by Norseman View Post
    rest of the post seems ok but this is insanity. what were you thinking bro?
    No shit.

  16. #66
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    you see a tie dye disc in there?
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    4,652
    Quote Originally Posted by plugboots View Post
    2 words:
    Automatic hudge sliding doors.
    got a chuckle out of me this morning, thank you

    edit: Never had a mini van but sales rep I work with, late 60's years old, ex cop swears by them. He speeds all over NY state in his minivan. Cops do not see silver minivans.

  17. #67
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Bottom feeding
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    The auto sliding door of my sienna eventually broke.
    Mine too. $38 part and YouTube and done. Because there are so many minivans out there, they're easy and cheap to fix, (another plus).
    Well maybe I'm the faggot America
    I'm not a part of a redneck agenda

  18. #68
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Almost Mountains
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    1,883
    Quote Originally Posted by 406 View Post
    Get what the wife wants :-). And yes, having her in back with young kids is needed for a road trip.

    ... Unless you already have a truck, might be worth looking at a 4 door f-150...not sure about carseat space.
    Just getting into the whole kid thing (ours is a month old today), but the rear seat of a crew-cab F-150 is great as far as space goes. Our rear-facing carseat fits with enough room to spare that I didn't have to remove the plastic trashcan already hanging off the back of the passenger's seat.

    The downside is that, depending on your height and how tall the carseat base is, you may be lifting the carseat up to chest height (or higher) to get it in and out. Remembering this when parking (i.e. don't face that side downhill if parking on a slope) is helpful.

    The wife's car (Subaru XV) is next up for replacement. I'd like to wait until it's got at least 100-120k on it, but If we decide the first kid should have a sibling, size is a real issue. A hybrid Sienna is the obvious answer, especially given her very short commute, but she's anti-minivan. I used to drive a Suburban, and it's a good solution in terms of space for four people with gear (and would still have room for the dog), but the damn things are ludicrously expensive and we already have one dreadnought-class vehicle.

  19. #69
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
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    PNW -> MSO
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    Quote Originally Posted by anotherVTskibum View Post
    dreadnought-class vehicle
    heh

  20. #70
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
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    In a van... down by the river
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    Quote Originally Posted by anotherVTskibum View Post
    <snip> but If we decide the first kid should have a sibling
    This would be an extremely poor decision.

    Don't ask me how I know.


  21. #71
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    159
    Quote Originally Posted by CaliBrit View Post
    Just checking in here with a word of caution. Kids car seats should generally not be used with a cover under. YMMV. I chose not to.
    Interesting. I took a look on Google and could not find any hits, including Transport Canada's relatively thorough coverage regarding child seats ... Lots of information on other issues with 3rd party parts, but nothing on seat covers. Do you have a reference?

  22. #72
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Posts
    378
    Get the Toyota Sienna

  23. #73
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    8,965
    Quote Originally Posted by plugboots View Post
    Mine too. $38 part and YouTube and done. Because there are so many minivans out there, they're easy and cheap to fix, (another plus).
    Thanks. I’ll look into that more. For mine, it was the motor and the cable. Yours, too?

  24. #74
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Bottom feeding
    Posts
    10,828

    Another What Car Thread: Big-ish SUV's (or Minivan?)

    It was the roller glide thing that the cables attach to. The rollers had corroded away. A couple years ago it was acting up, and it was causing a parasitic draw that caused it to run the battery down so I had a mechanic put a switch to disconnect the battery when we leave it for more than a week. Probably now we don’t need the switch any more. Anyway I bet you could’ve bought the motor and cable and look up the YouTube and fix it pretty easily. If you wanted to. My friend with the Triumph uses parts geek all the time.

    https://www.partsgeek.com/gbproducts...RoCdzEQAvD_BwE
    Well maybe I'm the faggot America
    I'm not a part of a redneck agenda

  25. #75
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    CA
    Posts
    2,903
    Quote Originally Posted by toast2266 View Post
    heh. thanks. I'm so fucked.
    Only for the first year. Then, as compared to parents of kids two different ages, you're stylin'. They're on the same page, have a playmate, same grade level, etc., etc., etc. Only problem is no hand-me-downs from big sis/bro. Holler if you need twin help -- get a Double Bob stroller; always feed them at the same time; best of luck to you and spouse. I got nothing on large vehicles, but will be in the market myself in the fall.

    - Dad of 7 year old fraternal twin girl rippers.
    sproing!

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