Anonymous wrote:I drove a Ford E350 12 passenger van for over 10 years.it was great for our family snd when we go on a road trip now we all miss those days. Yes parking was hard at times. I never went anywhere new without researching where I was going to park. The 2 years I worked downtown were the hardest. I parked at meters and had to move my van every 2 hours. But I am now an incredibly good parallel parker! Day to day I got 13 mpg. Highways 15-18mpg.

I now drive a Ford Flex with 4 teens. Day to day it is good but road trips are horrible because we don't have enough space for anything more than one small bag per person.

E350’s were absolutely fantastic vehicles. After you become familiar with driving them and develop a spatial awareness of the vehicle, you can put them in surprisingly small parking spaces. I would routinely put ours in spaces that someone with a sedan just passed up because it looked “ too small”. With a back up camera, you’ll never touch another vehicle.

It’s a real shame Ford quit making the Econolines.

Sprinters are garbage. We had a couple as work trucks and they were constantly in the shop.

The Transit has to be better, simply because there’s no way it could be as bad as the Sprinter.

We traded out both the Sprinters and went with older GMC 2500 cargo vans instead. Way few maintenance issues, and cheaper to fix. That’s not really an option for passengers though, so I’d point back to the Transit.


In any case, don’t get a Sprinter.

The Nissan NV is no longer made in the passenger version. It was discontinued a couple years ago. That would have been my recommendation.

I drove a Ford E350 12 passenger van for over 10 years.it was great for our family snd when we go on a road trip now we all miss those days. Yes parking was hard at times. I never went anywhere new without researching where I was going to park. The 2 years I worked downtown were the hardest. I parked at meters and had to move my van every 2 hours. But I am now an incredibly good parallel parker! Day to day I got 13 mpg. Highways 15-18mpg.

I now drive a Ford Flex with 4 teens. Day to day it is good but road trips are horrible because we don't have enough space for anything more than one small bag per person.

Anonymous wrote:We have a Mercedes Sprinter that we only use for road trips. I wouldn't recommend it for day to day driving. We have a mini van and a 3 row SUV for daily commutes.

Congratulations!

What was the MPG on the sprinter. Do you have the diesel or gas version.

We have a Mercedes Sprinter that we only use for road trips. I wouldn't recommend it for day to day driving. We have a mini van and a 3 row SUV for daily commutes.

Congratulations!

I second the Nissan NV. Reliable and has the space you need.

I would no longer recommend an Odyssey after owning four since 2006. They are lackluster in design and have mediocre quality. I would recommend a hybrid Sienna instead.

^ sorry, you already have a minivan.

2023 Honda Odyssey? It seats 8 (2-3-3), but perhaps not 3 car seats in one row.

Parking will suck, just like driving an F-150 sucks. Annoy everyone else in the parking lot, sticking out from the spaces. Take up too much space and resources.

Sit down and figure out how many times you will actually have everyone in the vehicle. The few people I know who bought large vehicles regretted it because it is hard to drive and find parking spaces.

If you have older ones they can stay home, run errands, take the bus, exc. Buy the oldest a car when they have a license if you need to.

For the rare exceptions you can take 2 cars.

The large families we know all seem to have that big Nissan one, I don't know what its called but I see several in our neighborhood.

As should be obvious, you'll get poor mileage compared to smaller and lighter vehicles, will find it difficult to park in many situations, and will experience relatively poor performance since you're driving a commercial truck, i.e., acceleration, handling, braking. Safety features on such vehicles are lacking compared to more mainstream products. C'est la vie under your circumstances; the only alternative is to drive two smaller, more efficient vehicles on those occasions when everyone needs to go to the same place at the same time. That approach gives you more sensible vehicles to choose between the rest of the time.

Even the largest SUVs will be a tight fit for 8 people, assuming any actually have seating (seatbelts) for that many.

Family of 7 soon to be 8. Currently in minivan. Does anyone have experience with Ford Transit or Mercedes Sprinter. Or full size suv.