How long did you need your minivan for?
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Anonymous
| 2 under 2 and looking for a minivan. Want to buy used bc, well I don't want to drive it forever. Yes it's nice and roomy but I'd rather not. Tell me when you finally got rid of the minivan. |
Anonymous
| Never bought one. You don't need a minivan. We had a station wagon for ten years and then switched to a Pruis. Two children and an upright bass. |
Anonymous
| When you're done with car seats you can ditch it. |
Anonymous
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I got rid of the van a few months ago when my oldest DC turned 16 and started to drive!
Prior to that, I constantly had a bunch of my kids in the van for carpooling, and we did family road trips. The van I just got rid of was my second van, I tried to downsize when the kids got out of carseats but we didn't last very long in one of the mid-size SUV's with 3 rows. However, I have 3 kids, with 2 kids a mid-size SUV would have been fine. |
Anonymous
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Two boys, two sports each season, lots of gear, lost of carpooling. Quite often I have 4 or 5 kids in my car.
Glad I can participate in carpool, saves me a ton of time and energy. Nobody is in our carpool who cannot schlep around a mess of kids. I don't see us ditching it until we have a 16yr old driver. |
Anonymous
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OP it doesn't sound like you need a minivan-at least not now. Your kids are under the age of two--so you are not currently driving carpools of kids to activities nor are you hauling ice hockey equipment.
Wait until you are at that stage before deciding if you need a minivan. If you decide to buy one now, don't go in with the mindset that you won't have it long---if you truly NEED a minivan with only two kids (due to carpools or hauling sports equipment, etc.) then you will NEED it until they are far into their teens. |
Anonymous
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I love my minivan, it's like a living room on wheels. We do homework there, nap during sports tournaments, tail gate...
Two boys ... football, lacrosse. So much equipment. Day trips, pumpkin patches, beach, hiking, museums ... it's nice I can drive my friend and her 3 kids instead of taking 2 cars. Once the kids are teen they are huge humans and kids go to parties that end at midnight, you want a carpool instead of multiple parents doing pick up late... except by the time your kids are 15 you will probably do Uber. I would say, you will need it until they are 16 and they can drive themselves (and they can't drive friends... it's the law). If you are a homebody or your kids won't do sports you will never need a van. |
Anonymous
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Our kids are teens and we are still driving around a minivan. I don't see that changing any time soon.
We simply need the room to haul stuff/people and if our dogs come along space is at a premium even in the spacious minivan. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
This! I wish we had bought a mini van but instead got a Honda CRV for our 1 kid family and have regretted it now that she is in elementary. I wish we had more room for carpooling, etc. |
Anonymous
| I was over the minivan once my 2 kids were in ES, but they aren't super into sports (1 rec sport per season per kid). We initially downsized to a small wagon but found we did miss the capacity for when my parents visit or the occasional carpool. So, when our 2nd car needed to be replaced, we got a Mazda 5. That has been a good compromise. I occasionally miss the minivan for a long roadtrip but if I really want one for a trip we could always rent it. Most of the time when I'm parking in our narrow driveway, squeezing into parking spaces in my office garage or parallel parking on city streets, I'm really happy we have a smaller car. |
Anonymous
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This is a good thread. I'm pregnant with my 2nd and my DH is itching for a van. I'd rather wait a few years, just because we already have a paid off car that will die in 3-5 years most likely. Sounds like elementary age through high school is the most useful. That's perfect. We can buy it when my oldest is 6 or so and it should get us through.
I'm secretly excited, mini vans really do seem like the perfect family car... |
Anonymous
| Like others, we ditched the minivan when our eldest was 16 and learning to drive. It was exactly what we needed when the 3 kids were younger, but I was glad to get rid of it! |
Anonymous
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Mini vans are awesome from the baby age until kids don't need booster seats at all, until maybe fifth grade, and when your oldest can sit in the front. When these things happen, you gain the use of two seats in a regular car, the passenger front seat and the middle back seat. Then you can fit four kids in a regular car and then don't need the third row seat of s minivan.
I love our minivan, but we don't really need the room anymore. |
Anonymous
| We have 4 kids an will probably use a minivan until they are all tweens/teens and switch to an SUV at that point. |