a good minivan for my family?

[heyheyhey]

My family is a family of 7(including me in that)

so a minivan may be the right choice for us for good gas

is there one that sits people comfortably and gets atleast 22 MPG or more?

[Hockey4mnhs]

some body with a mazda gets great mileage with his minivan i dont think it can sit that many people tho

[TANGOJETTA]

Have you consider a Ford Freestyle, I have one with Awd have gotten 32mpg with it and Fwd version would even get more. We replace our 2000 Mazda MPV minvan with the Freestyle(now called Taurus X). It seats 7 adults fairly well.

[rh77]

I hear good things about the Mazda 5 (available with a 5-speed manual).

Thread. (http://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=3492)

By the way -- welcome!

RH77

[SL8Brick]

My family is a family of 7(including me in that)

so a minivan may be the right choice for us for good gas



Wow, those words were refreshing to read. Most folks now-a-days in your situation are asking which SUV they should purchase.

Like rh77 said, the Mazda5 is really nice....my Dad has one. It can comfortably fit 6(4 adults, 2 children)...but 7 might be pushing it. Maybe one of the 'minivan gurus' here could make a more logical & educated suggestion.

[Snax]

I would say that even if you managed to find a 7 passenger Eur-Asian version of the 5, it would definately be a tight fit with 7 people. I honestly wouldn't even recommend it for a family of 6 barring at least 2 small children not requiring a booster or car seat - making the rear most seat of very limited use. A single child or young adult would likely be perfectly happy back there alone however. And with all seats full, cargo capacity is about 5 cubic feet!

We really like the Odysee and Sienna, but I think the Kia is worth a good look as well given the price savings. Anybody who's paying attention knows that mini-vans don't hold value well no matter what, so it's worth evaluating if you are really getting what you are paying for. I doubt it matters too much which you pick in terms of fuel economy however. They are all pretty close.

[TANGOJETTA]

Kia has crappy mpg, the 3.8 motor is really thirsty. I would get the Honda because it has cylinder deactivation on the engine and rated 28mpg on the highway. BTW we test drove all the minivans mention so far. The only thing I didn't like about the Honda is the quality. On newer Hondas the quality has gone down hill. That's just my 2cents

[Mentalic]

I had a 95 supercharged Toyota Previa that got 23mpg consistently, even better at higher altitudes. It was a great car when our kids were smaller and we were driving all over the US. I had the second seat captains chairs and it still seated 7 with no problem.

Wish I had a scangauge back then because to get the best MPG out of that thing took a lot of trial and error. You have to accelerate quite quickly and get into the higher gears for best MPG. Another interesting thing about that car was it got 10% better MPG on premium gas than regular, enough so it was actually cheaper to run premium gas.
Still see lots of Previa vans on the road around here, but most of them are taxi cabs. Thats got to tell you something about there reliability.

[Bill in Houston]

Our '99 Ody is awesome. Room for 7, 28 mpg on the highway. In town, the mileage is not as good, but I can't really say what it would be for you. For my wife, who drives 2 miles at a time, and is always either on the brakes or gas, it gets 17 mpg. But the poor thing is never even really fully warmed up...

I would expect a newer Ody to do better since the transmission has more speeds, so it is probably taller, and it has the cylinder deactivation thing.

[popimp]

I would look at the pricing also. The Big 3 usually offer good rebates. I got a 5500 rebate on my 06 Grand Caravan. The Stow-N-Go seating is really good for the strollers and groceries. Good luck on the search.

[lovemysan]

I've a friend who has an 02 odessey, he gets 24-25mpg on highway trips with 4 aboard. I don't like the odessey because of its transmission failure history especially the 5 speeds. The odessey was far and away my favorite before I fell into the honda tranny trap. Now I'd say go for a sienna.

Honda automatics suck!

[heyheyhey]

thanks everyone, do you think that a Chrysler Town and country 98 can get atleast 22 MPG?

[rh77]

thanks everyone, do you think that a Chrysler Town and country 98 can get atleast 22 MPG?

Depends on the engine: there was a 3.3L and 3.8L available in '98 on those.

New EPA figures suggest:

3.3L V-6: 16/22
3.8L V-6: 15/22
(oddly, same CO2 pollution score)

If you hypermiled it (and it was in good running order, I can see 22+ combined). As always, YMMV.

RH77

[heyheyhey]

What's "YMMV"?
it has maybe around 160k miles on it and it's been in an accident(it was under $2200 though)

It may need (a) new O2 sensor(s)




offtopic: rh77, have you watched a Wii commercial?

[Gary Palmer]

For what your looking for, I'd recommend a Chrysler Town & Country, stretched, with a 3.8L engine. You can get it with bucket seats in the front and middle and a bench seat in the back. It get's good mileage, has comfortable seating for 7 and with the 3.8 it has enough power to pull it all up hill's without unduly straining itself. We have a 94, which is waiting for me to canabalize the parts I want off of it and a 98 that we were able to pick up used, for $3500, with about 95,000 miles on it. My 94 is at about 190,000 miles and I'd rebuild it and keep using it, but the 98 was available, so I'm not.

On mileage, it gets 21-22 mpg, loaded, A/C on. I put a temporary grill block in and I got 24 mpg. Those mileages were driving it at 70-75 mph.

For comfort and family harmony, the middle bucket seats are a wonderful addition. It makes it so everyone can pretty much have enough space, be comfortable and not get on each others nerves, We used to have a middle bench and a back bench, but when we got the middle buckets, it was massivly nicer. The 98 has sliding doors on both sides, which is also a great addition for everyone, for getting in and out of the car.

[popimp]

160K is a lot of miles. Make sure it has all the maintenance records and be prepared to fork out some cash for an overhaul of the tranny or engine. Also keep in mind that a Town & Country is a twin of the Grand Caravan. The T & C is a luxury minivan, but if your gonna go strictly on price then you could probably pick up a newer Grand Caravan for about the same price, but it will have less features.

[rh77]

What's "YMMV"? ...
offtopic: rh77, have you watched a Wii commercial?

YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary.

To the offtopic: Yeah -- I stop by random houses and teach hypermiling :p

Regarding the T&C, it has a lot extra stuff (that could potentially fail) -- especially at that number of miles. I like popimps idea of a newer Dodge.

I'd check Consumer Reports for reliability issues in those years. I hear some things about the digital instrument cluster and rear a/c being problems (if equipped).

But Chrysler wrote the book on Minivans (drove an '88 Plymouth Voyager V-6 for a few years in high school -- I know, real cool -- parent's ride :rolleyes:) It did the job well for over 250K miles (rebuilt tranny tho).

I'm renting a Van this weekend to take the fam to a Cardinals game in St. Louis. I'll slap the SG on it to see what it does loaded down. I agree that the Kia is thirsty but FAST (too much power). Ford tried but has given up, and GM -- well, sigh.

Nobody's mentioned the Nissan Quest yet, or Dodge Sprinter Diesel (thinking of the less-commonly mentioned models)...

RH77

[Bill in Houston]

When I see the Dodge Sprinter Diesels, I automatically think of converting one to a minicamper, and spending the rest of my days just drifting from place to place...

[popimp]

If your set on the T & C do an Edmunds.com pricing. $2500 might be too much for it being in a wreck. Check it out you have all the details.