Minivans. Do you? Would you? Should you?

[mgil]

@BostonRugger i have a Passport and my wife has a Ridgeline. The Passport is basically the 5 person version of the Pilot (a few inches shorter and way cooler). All of the “big” Honda vehicles ride on the same chassis design.

If you consider the Pilot, there are running boards that’ll help the little ones get inside. I do agree that Minivans reign supreme in this arena.

I had a Ford Transit Connect Wagon as a minivan for a while. Way too bare bones compared to the other offerings.

Once my kids were big enough, I got rid of the TC and a Forester (I had it lowered on coil over suspension) that I was swapping back and forth between while my wife drove the Ridgeline.

[JonA]

If you think AWD is a must, then Toyota. Minivans are usually heavy enough and long enough that FWD is usually okay. If FWD would suffice, then Honda.

We have a Honda Odyssey minivan. It's been absolutely fine driving on rural gravel roads in the winter that are plowed irregularly. We had original thought to get a Toyota AWD, but I'm rather glad we didn't now. I had intended to get a decent set of snow tires for it, but never bothered.

The only problem we have with it: it's charcoal gray. At any given time, there are exactly 17 exactly like it in the Target parking lot.

[mgil]

Another pitch for Honda:

My Passport is listed as something like 19/24 for fuel economy. I routinely get 27-28 mpg on a 80/20 mix of highway and city roads. I’d imagine the Odyssey gets similar. Plus that thing can be loaded up with TVs and shit.

[Philbert]

Another pitch for Honda:

My Passport is listed as something like 19/24 for fuel economy. I routinely get 27-28 mpg on a 80/20 mix of highway and city roads. I’d imagine the Odyssey gets similar. Plus that thing can be loaded up with TVs and shit.

The 2wd Odyssey should outdo the Passport in MPG. The only situation I have seen where AWD is significantly useful is if she needs to negotiate icy hills or a lumpy icy driveway. Offroad activities also benefit from AWD, but offroading in a minivan is generally not advisable due to clearance. For everything else, you are better off saving the initial cost of AWD, using that money to buy a spare set of rims and good snow tires, and using some of the money you save on gas with FWD instead of AWD to pay to have the tires on rims swapped out in the spring and fall.
Either way, I agree with others here, buy Japanese for any personal vehicle except a body on frame half ton truck.