Mini Van Poll

Minivans are ALL a pain in the arse to work on. So, anything out of warranty, will cost an arm and a leg to get repaired and even some basic maintenance (esp. plugs).

I prefer a crossover to drive AND work on.

Also, most newer minivans are an electrical nightmare.

I have a 98 Grand Voyager and I love it, but it will be 13 yrs old in May and we're going to have to replace it soon.
A Town and Country is what I want next but my husband thinks we should do something else. I love that I can haul all the taekwondo sparring gear and weapons without problems, and I love all the gardening stuff that fits in it.

We have a pretty plain model of Grand Caravan (2003). It has two bench seats, and I wish we had captain's chairs instead. It also doesn't have self-closing doors. It's funny to see the teachers at the school drop-off zone. They just assume that they close themselves, and are baffled when they don't. I really don't miss having them, but maybe they'd be nice. I worry about fancy features because more is likely to go wrong.

We had our brakes go out last month, and there's an oil leak. But it's 8 years old, so those aren't unexpected issues. Also, we have an oil pressure light that comes on and "dings" when it's cold, but it's not an actual problem, so we just live with it.

I love all the space, especially with all the seats out. I moved an 8 ft couch in it with the tailgate shut. Another time, with the middle bench seat in, with two kids riding on it, I fit two wicker love seats, a wicker ottoman, and a wicker chair in there! Crazy amounts of room. It's great.

Oh, and we bought the van with 90K miles. We're now up to 120K, I think.

One thing I HATE about my van is the locks. It has power locks, but no clicker key fob. We tried to buy one, but our particular van is not equipped (like the sellers told us it was. ARG!) They lock automatically when you hit 20 mph, and you can't unlock all the doors with the key (with my first car, a 1998 Camry, you could just turn the key two times and all the doors would unlock. Same with my Altima and my Jeep). So I unlock one door, open it, use the power lock on it to unlock the rest of the doors, and then we can get in. This is a pain with two kids and a baby and all the stuff that comes with them. We've gotten used to it, eventually, but go for a clicker!

I love my minivan. I have a Chrystler T&C and got it when I was annoyed by having to get the baby carrier in the car with the door open trapping me and dinging the car next to me.

Pros - easy to get in and out of. Easy to drive (although it takes some getting used to), seats fold down allowing us to move and haul stuff. Kids are easy to get to on road trips.

Cons - it is not stylish, some maintenance issues - rack and pinion replaced just recently, but everything has been covered by the extended warranty, not real good gas mileage.

A few suggestions get the seats that fold to the floor, get bucket seats in the middle and make sure that all drives fit in it comfortably. My husband is 6'5 and couldn't fit in the Odyssey or Sienna comfortably.

I have put about 40k miles on mine since I got it 3 years ago. When I replace this one, I will get another mini van as long as I am hauling around kids.

Dont' drive one and never will :)

We have a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan that we bought in December of 2009. It only had 32,000 miles on it when we got it, and currently we have put almost 60,000 on it. We have had zero issues so far, but do have an extended power train warranty on it (that only cost us $350) through Dodge. I have been told that they do have transmission problems, so we figured it was worth the $350 chance since a transmission costs much more than that!

We love our stow n go seats (meaning all of the middle and rear seats fold in to the floor). We are constantly on the go, and love that we can change the seats around as needed. We love our automatic doors and trunk. It is SO nice when my hands our full to not have to put stuff down or let go of my son's hand to open a door! I also love all of the space that a minivan provides. I swore up and down I would never own one, but honestly, now that I have one, I don't want to ever get rid of it! (At least until my kids are MUCH older!) Hope this helps!

I have a 99 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport. I've had it for almost 3 years now and have done nothing to it besides change the oil and new tires. I love love love it! It had 89,000 miles when we bought it and now it has 120,000. I've only ever owned this one though, so I really have nothing to compare it to...but, I'm not complaining either, lol. My friend is very partial to the Caravan too. She recently bought a Kia Sedona after her last Caravan finally died for good and she hates the Kia. She says it runs like a Mac truck and its a gas hog.

I think its safe to say that ALL types of minivans will have a transmission issue at some point. Not saying that each vehicle will have a problem, but no matter who the manufacturer is, there's gonna be vans that will have a transmission issue. For some reason, they just can't make one w/o the transmission issues!!!

We bought a 2005 Chevy Venture two and a half years ago. Bought it because it had higher safety rating and better gas mileage than any other van from that year, and was HALF the cost of the sienna and odyssey. It hasn't let us down yet! I think we will get a manual SUV next, though... I always hated automatics:)

OH- I HAVE to add that I ONLY have a minivan cause I have four kids. Bought it only a couple weeks before #4 was born. HAHAHA... Before that we all crammed in our bmw sedan:)

So funny you should ask...I've always always always have been an advocate of Honda. We drive Honda's only. BUT...recently our 2007 Honda Odessey has been giving us some transmission issues. We took it to our shop to find out what the problem was and to make a really long story short....HONDA ODESSEY'S ARE KNOWN FOR TRANSMISSION AND TOURK CONVERTER ISSUES!! I obviously didn't do my research before we purchased, and when we looked it up online we found that it has been an ongoing issue for Honda Odessey's since 1999. Every year they say they've "fixed" it and come to find out a few years later, it's not really fixed. Thank God we've gotten the dealer offered extended warrenty when we purchased it and they will have to cover the replacement if necessary but they are going to fight it tooth and nail. Therefore I no longer recommend the Odessey. BTW, the problem started at about 36,000 miles.

LOVE my HONDA. I have had it over 7 years and it has 90000 miles on it. No problems, just replacement of the wear and tear parts. Great room for people and stuff.

I have a 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan...

it's a LOVE/hate relationship. It's older. We bought it brand new - but it's been showing it's age lately and needs some maintenance. It didn't help that our "trusted" auto shop did damage to it though!!

I'm a SAHM so I have put 80K miles on it in 10 years. Not the norm...but overall can't complain!
I love the space!\
I love my split 3rd row seat so I can still put 5 people in the van and have space for STUFF.
I LOVE the way it handles!! It's got pick up and zoom!!
Love the sound system (we chose NOT to get the DVD player in it)
LOVE that I can push a button and open a side door (it worked sooo great when I had a baby in a car seat!!! Now I don't have to worry about them banging someone's car!!)
LOVE that I can push a button on my key chain to open doors and the rear hatch as well as the button inside the car.
LOVE that I can separate my children when needed!!
LOVE that I can take 3 or 4 other kids with me if needed!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the storage space in the back!! I could fit my stroller AND groceries!!

I LOVE my Odyssey!!! It's a 2008 that we bought in Dec. of that year. Now I covet the new '11 model! lol!
It's got 27,000 miles.
The issues I've had were promptly fixed by Honda. The seal on one of the sliding doors started to come off, they replaced it. The inside handle on a sliding door would stick. Didn't affect the door being safe, but they replaced it.
I love the power sliding doors, the mirror for seeing the back rows, the fold down 3rd row. I have the 8th seat option - it's great! the kids' toy car organizer sits on it. I've also used that seat when carting church youth kids around. Everyone who sits in the 3rd row says it's comfortable and they are fine on foot room.

I'm totally new to a minivan, so we haven't had any maintenance or service issues since getting the car in late December. We went with the '11 Odyssey, and I love it. The automatic sliding doors alone are reason enough to me! I can open the doors as we're approaching, and my boys (preschool and toddler-aged) can run ahead and climb in. It makes it so much easier to get them in and out of the car in tight parking spaces because you don't have to deal with not being able to open the door fully. My husband hasn't driven the car much, but when he does he always says that it's a very nice car by the way that it handles, general layout of the interior, etc. and he doesn't qualify the statement by adding "...for a minivan."

This car is not available in all-wheel drive. I was told that with the stability features, front-wheel drive and general weight of the car, getting stuck wouldn't be an issue. We had a blizzard in early Feb (18" snow), and I was able to plow right through. Granted, I did have to go back and forth a few times to get into parking spaces and such, but it was like driving a bus.

The guy who cuts my hair didn't get a minivan until they had their 4th child, and he swears now he'd get one if they only had 2 kids. He has been shopping for a newer model and told me that used minivans even with a lot of miles still have great resell value.

Hi. I have a 2003 Honda Odyssey and DO NOT recommend it. I've had a number of issues. I have always properly maintained my car at the Honda dealership where I bought the minivan, so neglect was never an issue. 2 years ago, at 60,000 miles, I needed a new transmission (after the dealer's service department charged me hundreds of dollars for repairs on the transmission that were not necessary since I needed to get a new transmission in the end). That was $3,500. Right after that I needed a new engine mount - there are 3 mounts at about $500 a piece at the dealer. 6 months ago I needed a new steering pump, about another $500. That was at about 70,000 miles. Last month, I needed a new steering hose and switch (didn't the dealer notice that in November when they put in the new pump?). That was the last straw for me with dealing with the Honda service department. Took it to my friend's mechanic and was charge about $300 there, versus $550 the dealer wanted to charge. I am waiting for the next problem on this car.

My recommendation is that whatever minivan you purchase, to always maintain extended warranties. I never believed in warranties until a few years ago when I started having problems with this minivan. I had the chance to purchase one and didn't. Last year my husband bought a new car, and we did purchase the extended warranty.

I have a 2002 Chevy Venture. I'd like to hate it, but it does have it's redeeming qualities. I like that the middle seat is a bench seat with third-row access on the side, which is hard to find in new models. The integrated car seat is pretty handy. It's very roomy, and we have almost 200K miles on it and it's still going strong. I was hoping that it would have died on us a couple of years ago but alas, it's still there. I actually am hoping to get another year or two out of it because it's paid off. That said, it seems that Chevy fixed their engines so that they go well over 100K miles without major issues but everything else is falling apart. The sliding door doesn't work, the passenger window doesn't work, the driver's window gets stuck, the rear wiper doesn't work, the headlights are awful, the directionals short out on a regular basis so we're always replacing bulbs, etc.

My next van will be an Odyssey. It's what everyone else I know with a minivan drives and they're so, so nice. We always buy used so I'm hoping to get one for $10-$15K when the Chevy finally dies. Die Venture, die! (just kidding, I need it a while longer...).

I have a 2009 Town and Country and I looove it.
All the seats fold down into the floor. You can separate the back bench seat and only put down half if you choose. There is an extra mirror above the rearview mirror so that I can watch the kids in the back. Both side doors and rear door can open via a button on the key. There are cupholders all over the place. I love it.
I just got a recall notice about a possible issue with the side door that they will replace for free, but we haven't had any issues yet. No other maintenance issues either. *knock on wood!*

I LOVED my Honda Odyssey! I had no maintenance issues, whatsoever. We had to replace the brake pads, and tires, but other than that ----- that's normal stuff. We put 160,000+ on it!! The transmission went out, but we are putting in a rebuilt one and selling it. The engine still has plenty of miles left, I'm sure.

I drive a Suburban, now. While I miss my van, I have to say that the suburban is definitely better on snow/ice. I got stuck in my own driveway 3 times one winter with the van! If I could get the Odyssey in a 4WD, I would sooooo go back to it!! LOL!!