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To the best of my knowledge, there are only two SUVs available with second row captain's chairs. They're standard on the 2013+ Hyundai Santa Fe Limited and they're optional on the Dodge Durango.
Ford Explorers, Toyota Highlanders, Ford Expeditions, and I believe the Yukons all offer second row captains chairs.
OP, I have 3 children now in their teen years and have owned 4 different mini-vans and a full-size SUV over the years. Currently own a 2015 Odyssey and a 2005 Expedition. My wife loves the higher up driving position of the Expedition but drives the Odyssey because it is newer and cleaner.
The Expedition is great - 170K miles with minimum repairs (but regular maintenance). It is a tank, will drive over everything. The 3rd row actually will fit an adult and is easy enough to adjust cargo capacity with the fold in the floor 3rd row (it's competitors didnt fix this shortcoming in their models until the 2015 model year and are very expensive). Gas mileage is poor, but people should know that going in for a vehicle of that size.
The Odyssey is nice, convenient, flexible, doesn't depreciate, etc. My 3 complaints are: 1) everyone in our area has one, 2) the front row needs more legroom for taller drivers (think the 2nd row might have more legroom than front row) and 3) our model, EXL, only has 2 power ports/cigarette lighter outlets (the Expedition, which is 10 years older, and a lower trim level has 4). Very inconvenient when 4 people in the front 2 rows need/want to charge 6 devices at a time. [First world problems I know]
Also, had a 2002 Mazda MPV, which had some reliability issues and fixing anything on it was extremely complicated due to its compact size. Had a 2008 Odyssey which we sold before 3 yrs because the transmission seemed like it was going. On the plus side it only cost us $100/month to own it, because they don't depreciate. Also had a 2010 VW Routan which was woefully underpowered, would occassionally cutout at highway speeds and had very sensitive sliding door buttons on the remote, so would frequently walk outside to a sliding door being open when we thought the van was locked up tight.
Thank you for the reply cheapdad.
Reading through many posts, we definitley will not put our kids in car seats in the third row. We want them in the safests part of the car. Not sure what is better, a bench seat in the middle row or pilot chairs. Seems almost all vans come with pilot chairs.I've seen a few that looked like maybe they had pilot chairs with a colapsable third seat maybe in between.
Also, reading through the posts, it seems that the Odyssey is maybe actually the cream of the crop of mini vans. Not knowing a lot about them, i just assumed it was the Sienna.
Almost, Saturday, looking forward to getting over to the dealerships and seeing what they have to offer.
We were shopping for a new one earlier in the year and there were great deals in the Odyssey. We decided to keep our Sienna for another couple years, but we were getting quotes for the 2016 Odyssey SE for $25,300. We were going the new route because, as PP mentioned, they don't depreciate that much so instead of getting a 2014 for $24,000, you can get a 2016 for $1.5k more.
The Odyssey also offers a 2nd row bench with foldable/removable center (I think).
Odyssey 2nd row is two stand alone bucket seats. The middle piece is another singular piece that is either a hump seat or folds down to a cupholder. All three pieces can be easily taken apart & rearrange in any order you wish.
I'd give consideration to buying a new Kia Sedona or Dodge Caravan, just because from new you don't have to rely on the previous owners maintenance and upkeep. Those two, but specifically the Dodge, can be had at great doscounted prices.
Dodge is very generous with their service department, if that's your justifiable hang up. Chrysler invented the minivan, they do it better than anybody else.
My wife has a Hyundai/our beater, and after 2 years and 55,000 miles it's a pretty decent car, I don't see why that wouldn't carry over to Kia.
Odyssey might seem like the cream of the crop, but it isn't. They're all good vehicles. Just about any of the minivans will meet your needs. The Dodge, though, gives you more for less money, and the stow and go, an exclusive on Chrysler/Dodge vans, made it the winner for us.
We have the 15 Sienna and love it, the dope saying they are slow has never driven one.
They are quick, even carrying 8 adults but are rather noisy at full throttle.
Previous generation Pilot was a dog, avoid like the plague.
Previous generation Sedona was let down by horrible transmission programming, but had very impressive brakes and could turn on a dime.
I personally would avoid a Dodge/Chrysler vehicle now because they were designed when the company had no money to do proper development, I think this is going to hurt reliability long term.
We have the 15 Sienna and love it, the dope saying they are slow has never driven one.
They are quick, even carrying 8 adults but are rather noisy at full throttle.
Previous generation Pilot was a dog, avoid like the plague.
Previous generation Sedona was let down by horrible transmission programming, but had very impressive brakes and could turn on a dime.
I personally would avoid a Dodge/Chrysler vehicle now because they were designed when the company had no money to do proper development, I think this is going to hurt reliability long term.
The Dodge/Chryslers have been in development so long that if there were any expensive problems they've been mostly worked out. You don't buy a car the first year its redesigned for that reason.
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