I finally bit the bullet and bought a new mini van. We have three small kids and usally have a minimum of 5 in the van at all times.
We started out looking at a Nissan Quest due to a very low price advertised in the paper. We looked at a base model that was 16995 before taxes. We researched online and found out the Quest had questionable reliability. Nissan also recommends premium fuel. For a minivan? Who ever came up with this should be fired. The Nissan dealer experience was horrible. At three different stores we ran into nothing but jerks and morons.
We considered a Dodge/Chrysler van but passed because of the horrible resale value and that the purchase price was close to a Toyota Sienna that has very good resale.
We ended up with a 08 Sienna.
It has great MPG with a motor that is not a dog. I think it has the best MPG in class with @265 hp. The van drives nice but the best part is the interior room. It seems way roomier than the other vans we looked at. My only complaints are poor dash materials and a few rattles. Several of the Toyota's I have been around have cheapy interiors and lots of interior rattles. My Dad has a Tundra that has a noisy interior worse than anything ever made by the big three. We had a 05 Camry that did not have the rattles but 08 Sienna has them.
We are happy with the van. We most likely would have strongly considered a Ford minivan due to our previous Ford Windstar being a great vehicle and being pleased with the other previous Ford vehicles. But Ford got out of the minivan business.
IMO the newer Ford interiors are much better than Toyota and that might have swayed our decision. Too bad Ford quit making vans.
I would recommend the Sienna to ohters. I wished the minivan market had some better options. The mazda is not large enough. Ford and GM are not making or designing new vans.
Your only true choices are Toyota, Honda(local dealers wanted MSRP), Chrysler/Dodge, Nissan, and Kia.Hyundai. That is really just 5 vans.
We started out looking at a Nissan Quest due to a very low price advertised in the paper. We looked at a base model that was 16995 before taxes. We researched online and found out the Quest had questionable reliability. Nissan also recommends premium fuel. For a minivan? Who ever came up with this should be fired. The Nissan dealer experience was horrible. At three different stores we ran into nothing but jerks and morons.
We considered a Dodge/Chrysler van but passed because of the horrible resale value and that the purchase price was close to a Toyota Sienna that has very good resale.
We ended up with a 08 Sienna.
It has great MPG with a motor that is not a dog. I think it has the best MPG in class with @265 hp. The van drives nice but the best part is the interior room. It seems way roomier than the other vans we looked at. My only complaints are poor dash materials and a few rattles. Several of the Toyota's I have been around have cheapy interiors and lots of interior rattles. My Dad has a Tundra that has a noisy interior worse than anything ever made by the big three. We had a 05 Camry that did not have the rattles but 08 Sienna has them.
We are happy with the van. We most likely would have strongly considered a Ford minivan due to our previous Ford Windstar being a great vehicle and being pleased with the other previous Ford vehicles. But Ford got out of the minivan business.
IMO the newer Ford interiors are much better than Toyota and that might have swayed our decision. Too bad Ford quit making vans.
I would recommend the Sienna to ohters. I wished the minivan market had some better options. The mazda is not large enough. Ford and GM are not making or designing new vans.
Your only true choices are Toyota, Honda(local dealers wanted MSRP), Chrysler/Dodge, Nissan, and Kia.Hyundai. That is really just 5 vans.