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Minivans - Domestic or Foreign

3798 messages,  Last post on Mar 31, 2013 at 5:37 PM

You are in the Vans & Minivans Forum.

What is this discussion about? Toyota Sienna, Dodge Caravan, Chevrolet Venture, Mazda MPV, Kia Sedona, Honda Odyssey, Chevrolet Uplander, Nissan Quest, Hyundai Entourage, Van

Messages Page 191 of 381

#1896 of 3798 Looking for minivan by knt007

Mar 16, 2006 (1:59 pm)

Hi everyone,
 
I'm Canadian been reading a lot on this site, but first time posting message. Even so there is many posts regarding minivans, some of them few years old and I would really appreciate your feedback.
  
My current car is now too small for our kids, and yep, my wife almost convince me that we need a minivan. I am looking for a 7 passenger minivan with next essential options for me: ABS, second row separate chairs, third row split..
 
A few details:
 
* we do about 20 000K a year
* looking to buy 2005/2006 minivan within next 1-2 months
* been looking in a rowe at Chevy Uplander/Venture, Dodge Caravan, Kia Sedona, Mazda MPV; Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey are cool but still big price even for 1-2 yr old (at least in Canada).
 
So now we are in first round- test driving, we found Uplander drive not very impressive , Dodge is normal, Kia Sedona was the best what we drove, but her fuel consumption (almost 15/100 km in city and 10/100 km hwy) when gas price today in Ottawa 95 cents made us little bit scary. The -MPV, Sienna, Odyssey are in our list for test drive.
 
Honestly I am not really sold on any of them (I personally like sedan - impala, sonata,...), but practically I agree with my wife the one car should be small for her daily driving, and other one should be family one which will be driven by me. I also knew different story about Caravan's quality, GM problems, etc.
 
I found a lot of material for US customers, especially how quickly you guys can find information about incentives, holdbacks, consumer rebates, etc.,
 
If anyone can point me where I can find same information - incentives, holdbacks, consumer rebates for Canadian dealerships in Ottawa area would be GREAT!
 
Any help/feedback would be highly appreciated,
 
Thanks

#1897 of 3798 Re: Looking for minivan [knt007] by 97xpresso

Mar 16, 2006 (7:01 pm)

Replying to: knt007 (Mar 16, 2006 1:59 pm)
Your post will most likely be moved to "minivan shopping" I would not even consider buying a 2005 Sedona. Terrible MPG, and spotty reliability. The 2006 is supposed to be much improved, but it is the 1st model year of the re-design, so I would be hesitant there also. GM and Ford also leave much to be desired. When mini vans are being discussed, basically you just hear about Honda, Toyota and DC vans. As you said there is a lot of research to do, don't listen to the "my van is better than yours" crowd.

#1898 of 3798 Re: Looking for minivan [knt007] by hansienna

Mar 16, 2006 (9:15 pm)

Replying to: knt007 (Mar 16, 2006 1:59 pm)
Read in the Problems Forum for each brand to learn what current owners of new or almost new minivans are discussing. Many of the "problems" are trivial items that should be of no real concern.
     (Ignore posts by people who do NOT own the brand you are reading about).

#1899 of 3798 Re: Looking for minivan [hansienna] by esto

Mar 16, 2006 (11:56 pm)

Replying to: hansienna (Mar 16, 2006 9:15 pm)
Read in the Problems Forum for each brand
 
I did that, and now I don't want to buy any of 'em.

#1900 of 3798 Re: Did ya read about the gen3 buckle case? [temp409] by claires HOST

Mar 17, 2006 (12:29 am)

Replying to: temp409 (Mar 16, 2006 1:27 pm)
Tammy, I wish your daughter a speedy recovery. If your intent is to go on record so that others know about your experience, your best bet is to file a complaint at the NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation. Repeatedly posting about it here only means that the same people will repeatedly read about your experience, but you can report it to people that are in a position to do something about it at the link above.

#1901 of 3798 Re: Buying a minivan in the next couple days.... [gurneyhalleck] by mrblonde49

Mar 17, 2006 (7:04 am)

Replying to: gurneyhalleck (Mar 16, 2006 6:53 pm)
"We talked to mechanics all over town and they just trash the Dodge Caravan and Kias. They say those two are their number one minivan "patients."
 
Mechanics around town are probably "treating" very old patients. Anything relatively new is under warranty and wouldn't be going to them anyway. Both companies have greatly improved reliability. My T&C has been flawless in 2+ years and 25000 miles

#1902 of 3798 Re: Did ya read about the gen3 buckle case? [temp409] by rorr

Mar 17, 2006 (7:20 am)

Replying to: temp409 (Mar 16, 2006 1:27 pm)
"I know Im probally freaked out but I live for my kids they are my life I would die for them just so they could live another day and she was just hurt so needlessly."
 
Same here. I've got two girls myself (ages 4 and 6) and if I were in an accident in which it seemed as though there were a mechanical failure leading to the injury of my children I would be looking for the cause.
 
But I would want to know the REAL CAUSE. It has been pointed out, repeatedly, that you CAN'T TEST if the belts are working correctly or not by jerking on them. You are ASSUMING that the rear belts can be tested that way.
 
Do you REALLY want to find out the REAL cause of your daughter's injuries, or is it fine with you to make that kind of assumption and just go on down the road? If the 2nd and 3rd row belts in ALL '01 Dodge vans 'fail' the jerk-test, wouldn't it lead you to believe that these belts have a DIFFERENT type of locking mechanism and that there may well be another reason why your daughter was injured?
 
Or is it simply more convenient to look for the simple explanation, even if it may be wrong?

#1903 of 3798 Re: Buying a minivan in the next couple days.... [mrblonde49] by badgerfan

Mar 17, 2006 (8:17 am)

Replying to: mrblonde49 (Mar 17, 2006 7:04 am)
Given the fact that up until about 1999 when Honda finally came up with a worthy competitor, the Dodge and Chrysler minivans had almost all the market to themselves, so their are a lot more on the road. They still sell a lot more than any other brand. A lot on the road means any mechanic is going to see a lot more in their service bay independent of their overall reliability.

#1904 of 3798 Re: Well all I know is Front has different catching mechanism than rear [thegraduate] by cpsdarren

Mar 17, 2006 (9:05 am)

Replying to: thegraduate (Mar 16, 2006 12:13 pm)
"Different mechanisms. In the rear, they are likely designed differently for carrying baby-seats (stretch them out all the way, then they lock as you let it back in), as opposed to the fronts, which aren't supposed to carry baby-seats."
 
This is indeed the case in some vehicles, especially since 1996 when a lockability requirement was added to the federal motor vehicles standards. This required rear seats in almost all passenger vehicles to have some method to securely lock a child restraint. It is possible to find various seatbelt systems in different seating positions of the same vehcile. We see this all the time at child seat events.

#1905 of 3798 Re: Don't want ANY minivan after reading problems forum? [esto] by hansienna

Mar 17, 2006 (9:06 am)

Replying to: esto (Mar 16, 2006 11:56 pm)
Exactly. Reading in any problems forum will scare all but the most fanatic defender of any brand.

Messages Page 191 of 381

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