Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no problem parallel parking my SUV and I'm short. I rely on my sensors and cameras. Without them I'd be screwed!

I'm with PP above- old people are always honking when a big SUV is backing up - get with the times, we have cameras!

No, it’s mostly people in newer and expensive cars. Men in their 30s in sports cars get very nervous. It’s a fun feature of the back-up camera.

It is pretty common for a big SUV to back into a small car behind it. I can’t tell if you see me on your back up camera or not and I am not going to take a chance

I'm short (5'1") and drive an Odyssey. Previous car was a Kia Soul, which I quite liked, but we needed more space because a second kid was on the way so we upgraded to the minivan. It was difficult to park at first, but once I got used to the larger dimensions of the car, it's NBD. As others have said, the backup cameras and sensors help a great deal.

I’m your height, PP, and have owned an odyssey for 13 years without any parking sensors. You just get a feel eventually for the location of front end. It’s a lot shorter up front than it seems, and I used to leave huge gaps in front of my car.

Between the backup camera and front and rear sensors I haven’t had a problem.

Anonymous wrote:You will get used to it, but the nuggets problem with parking a minivan is that they are so long and the turning radius is so wide that you can hardly ever turn right into a spot without either backing in or going back and forth a few times. Just get used to looking for spots without other cars next to them.

Along with this, I drive a compact SUV and hate coming out of the grocery store and discovering that a minivan or SUV has parked right next to me. It may be technically parked within the lines, but leaves me with almost no room to open the driver’s door and squeeze in (and I’m thin). On a couple of occasions I’ve had to Jimmy/squeeze/maneuver to get my infant’s car seat in or out of the car (rear facing convertible car seat behind the passenger seat keeps me from trying to enter/exit on that side). Cars aren’t getting smaller, so why don’t parking space sizes reflect the actual size of cars while still allowing people to get themselves and their kids in and out?

Why not buy a small suv w/ 3 rows? I have 4 kids and would rather walk than own a minivan. With the 4th we use the third row in our cars regularly but when we had 3 kids we only used it w/ a grandparent or nanny so a minivan would have been overkill. A couple of times I’ve been stuck a/ a minivan as a rental and have yet to drive one (even w/ all the gadgets) that wasn’t awful to park. They seem TK have bad visibility of the front corners and large blind spots. We had an Escalade and one point and it was easier to park than a minivan.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You will get used to it, but the nuggets problem with parking a minivan is that they are so long and the turning radius is so wide that you can hardly ever turn right into a spot without either backing in or going back and forth a few times. Just get used to looking for spots without other cars next to them.

I’m on my 3rd Odyssey (had one for 15 years) and have never had this problem. I don’t back in or have to go back and forth.

Are we talking regular parking or parallel parking? Even if the space is generous,
I always parallel park by backing up - it’s just the convention.

Regular parking because the person I was quoting/responding to was talking about regular parking.

You definitely need to back in for parallel unless there are no other cars around, but that's true for all size cars, not just minivans.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You will get used to it, but the nuggets problem with parking a minivan is that they are so long and the turning radius is so wide that you can hardly ever turn right into a spot without either backing in or going back and forth a few times. Just get used to looking for spots without other cars next to them.

I’m on my 3rd Odyssey (had one for 15 years) and have never had this problem. I don’t back in or have to go back and forth.

Are we talking regular parking or parallel parking? Even if the space is generous,
I always parallel park by backing up - it’s just the convention.

Anonymous wrote:You will get used to it, but the nuggets problem with parking a minivan is that they are so long and the turning radius is so wide that you can hardly ever turn right into a spot without either backing in or going back and forth a few times. Just get used to looking for spots without other cars next to them.

I’m on my 3rd Odyssey (had one for 15 years) and have never had this problem. I don’t back in or have to go back and forth.

You will get used to it, but the nuggets problem with parking a minivan is that they are so long and the turning radius is so wide that you can hardly ever turn right into a spot without either backing in or going back and forth a few times. Just get used to looking for spots without other cars next to them.

parallel is fine, but it's pulling into a spot that gets me.

i'm a back up parking pro, but cannot pull in straight unless i'm able to continue to the next spot in front of me.

Anonymous wrote:I have no problem parallel parking my SUV and I'm short. I rely on my sensors and cameras. Without them I'd be screwed!

I'm with PP above- old people are always honking when a big SUV is backing up - get with the times, we have cameras!

No, it’s mostly people in newer and expensive cars. Men in their 30s in sports cars get very nervous. It’s a fun feature of the back-up camera.

We just bought a new Sienna and that thing beeps when backing up and pulling forward-and will slam on the breaks for you if you get too close to something. That, and the camera will help you park.

I won’t buy a car where I can’t see the end of the hood. I doubt you can see the bumper in any car. Does Toyota have cameras? My car has cameras that show on the screen whenever I pull into a parking spot.

Can’t comment on a Sienna, but literally took me less than a week to get used to my Odyssey. So easy to drive.