Get mini van now or later

[Anonymous]

Never. People with two kids don’t need mini vans.

[Anonymous]

Do you live in the suburbs? Then definitely.
Do you live in DC? No way.

Life choices are life choices. Choose your path.

[Anonymous]

I would not get a minivan as a family of 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Minivans are great, but we are family of 5 and only had SUV b/c it is a little smaller than minivan so easier to park.

We had no problems with swing doors with kids and accessing the car seats was a snap. 3rd is harder to get to, but kids manage.

The time a family of 4 needs a minivan/8 seat is when you carpool. Has that started for you??? Travel sports?

Or have elderly grandparents they drive around. Particularly if the grandparent uses a wheelchair or walker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do it now. Sliding door is a huge plus with kids in car seats plus if your mini suv is a Honda CRV or Toyota RAV4 or Subaru you’ll be able to get decent value for it if it’s three years old

+1. We are also family of 4. I really wish I had a minivan when kids were in car seats. But we had similar situation where we ended up buying two compact sedans, and then it didn’t make sense to sell a new one. So, We opted to wait. Now that kids are both in elementary, we realized we can do with SUV. The need (for us) for a minivan has passed. So for you, now is the time you may benefit the most for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never. People with two kids don’t need mini vans.

Bullcrap. Family of 4 here, and I love our minivan. With 2 in car seats, you literally can’t take anyone else in the car. That really sucks when you have visitors. This past weekend we had three family members visiting, and we all piled in the minivan to go places. We carpool every weekday with four extra kids. Couldn’t do that without the minivan. We go out of state to visit family a couple of times a year, and load the car up with tons of gear, no problem. As a family of four with two kids, I love our minivan and we couldn’t do without it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never. People with two kids don’t need mini vans.

Or an SUV either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few years ago, both I & DH got new cars right after we had our first kid. DH changed from 2 door sedan (good for a bachelor, sucks when you have a baby) to 4 door compact sedan. I changed from 4 door compact sedan (space was tight with 1 car seat in) to a mini SUV. Now, we have another one (our last baby), I wish that I had purchased a mini van a few years ago. I want the sliding door feature (easy to take kid in & out), more space (I can imagine myself being inside the car dry/warm putting kids in/out carseat when it is raining/windy/snowy outside) & more seating. We don't do carpool, so we don't really need more seating for now. I definitely will get a mini van one day, but my current mini suv is still really new (purchased new 3 years ago). I am undecided if I should get a mini van now (sell the current mini suv), or get a mini van a few years after. We are a family of 4.

Now! We got ours when our first kid was less than a year old. He's now 17, we still have it. Once you get used to a minivan, you'll never want to drive another vehicle.

[Anonymous]

Hands down a minivan is a winner! My daughter has three small children and drives a giant SUV and it is a tank and so difficult to get in and out of. My son has three little children and has a minivan and they love it.

[Anonymous]

We got the minivan when we had our second, and it was so, so much easier to deal with the carseats with the sliding doors than with the swing doors on the other vehicle (mid-sized sedan). It is also nice when our parents visits because we have space for everyone. We have also hauled so much stuff in it - appliances, furniture, you name it.

Now that our kids are middle-schoolers, we'll probably trade it in for something else when the time comes, but it was great with two small kids in carseats

[Anonymous]

We got ours when we had our second and have loved it for 10 years. Plenty of room for travel and plenty of seats for kid carpools, grandparents, etc.

[Anonymous]

Family of 4 here and we got along fine with a sedan and a small SUV when kids were little. Didn't even think about getting a minivan until they were 7 and 10--mostly because we were starting to take longer road trips and I wanted everyone to be comfortable. (My kids are really tall and there was hardly any room for their legs when our CRV was packed for a trip.) Many people reacted like "why on earth would you get a minivan NOW?!", but it made perfect sense to us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Family of 4 here and we got along fine with a sedan and a small SUV when kids were little. Didn't even think about getting a minivan until they were 7 and 10--mostly because we were starting to take longer road trips and I wanted everyone to be comfortable. (My kids are really tall and there was hardly any room for their legs when our CRV was packed for a trip.) Many people reacted like "why on earth would you get a minivan NOW?!", but it made perfect sense to us.

Agree. I’ve had a minivan since my second (and last) child was born. Now that she’s almost 9 people assume we are desperate to get rid of it! Nope! Plan to buy another one!

[Anonymous]

We got a minivan after we had or 2nd and last (so family for 4) and we live in the city. Yes it's a little harder to park but that's what back-up cameras are for. It sometimes does seem like a lot for only 4 of us but it is nice to cram visitors into one car to go places and extra clutch on road trips. The sliding doors (when they work) are also a game changer. Not sure we should talk about brands on this thread or not but we have the 2018 Honda Odyssey and it actually is kind of terrible. The doors are always breaking and we've been in for 3 recalls in a year...so maybe don't get an Odyssey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never. People with two kids don’t need mini vans.

Or an SUV either.

Yup.

Our over programmed family of four does just fine with a mid sized car and always had - even when we had two car seats it was no big deal even if we had a 5th passenger in the car.

It fascinates me that people would buy an oversized SUV/Minivan all to avoid the very minor and short term hassle of getting in and out of a car.

Of course we actually care about our carbon footprint and the world our kids will inherit so we drive as little as we can.