Anonymous wrote:We love our minivan and second the recommendation to rent one. Minivans differ in quality and driveability, so try to rent the brand you are interested in. You’re not going to get the feel of the Honda Odyssey renting a Dodge Caravan, for example. My only regret is not springing for a higher trim.

What features of a higher trim do you wish you had?

Normally I would say now way, you need to keep it. However, I sold my two year old car for more than I bought it for a few months ago. However - I bought it before the crazy increase in prices. I don't think that would fly now.

We love our minivan and second the recommendation to rent one. Minivans differ in quality and driveability, so try to rent the brand you are interested in. You’re not going to get the feel of the Honda Odyssey renting a Dodge Caravan, for example. My only regret is not springing for a higher trim.

Yeah, rent on Turo the model you want to try. $80 a day or so. Go on a beach trip or something for a weekend with it. Put all the miles on the rental to save the miles on your car. You will know if the minivan is good or not for you. If not, try a different model for another short road trip on Turo.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe this belongs in the car forum but it's more of a finance question. We have three kids under four and need a new car. Obvious answer is a minivan but we're worried we'll hate it. I've always driven cars for 8-10 years so I want to be really sure before we buy it, but there's no way to know. If we buy one and end up hating it and wanting to switch, how terrible is it financially to trade it in in two years? We will be paying cash for it. Thanks.

Don't knock it until you try it. I was like you about 20 years ago. Test drove a Honda minivan and found that it handled better than the car I was driving at that time. 18 years later, I'm still driving that van with about 180K miles on it. It's been on road trips from Montreal to New Orleans and many, many more.. Every few years, I look for a replacement but nothing comes close. Can't beat the combination of size (small enough to fit inside my garage), reliability, trunk space, and seating space of my minivan. Still waiting to find a true replacement. SUVs that can meet all my requirements are monstrous and don't really have a good third row seat.

Can I recommend Turo? Drive the model or minivan you may want. Not much on the lots now, but I am on the waiting list for a new sienna after my prius

Anonymous wrote:2010 mini van with no screens still going strong g here and I love it. We can fit the family and all their stuff for a 3 week vacation (inclouding bikes), no problem. Kids were 5 and 8 when we purchased it and had started carpooling to kids activities. Now, we are loading it up to take our kids to college. Hoping it gets the youngest through college graduation, but not expecting that.

My next car, even with no kids at home, will be a small minivan

No such thing as a small minivan and trust me I’ve looked. My 2011 Odyssey fits through my garage door but just barely. None, not one of the minivans currently on the market will fit through. I absolutely would buy another van but refuse to give up the garage so will have to buy an SUV instead.

Minivans are great for families -- my husband resisted for a long time. We finally bought one and the immediate comment after: "why did we wait so long?"

I resisted buying a minivan, and we have 4 kids. We previously had Honda pilots and Toyota Highlanders.

We take weeklong vacations each year where we drive to a rental. Those were big pain points - getting in and out of the car at rest stops, having space for the kids to play but not fight during the drive, and room for luggage.

We rented a suburban twice - I wanted to like it, but didn’t find getting in and out very easy for the kids, and our family doesn’t regularly need the large trunk space. We tried the large infinity SUV, and we tried a minivan.

Minivan was the best experience, hands down (although I loved driving the infinity the most). We bought one. I am very happy to drive it as my main car, as it drives nicely. I feel dumb sometimes driving it to my work and parking in a downtown DC parking garage, but it’s the best fit for our family.

Rent a minivan/other car for a week and see how it works for you. Then buy what you like. But jus know that the minivan is very family friendly - I have found the features really address the needs of a family with kids.