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I'm a middle age guy who lives alone. I'm moving from a large city with good public transportation to a small city in the middle of nowhere. The fun part of driving is just not there anymore for my age. If I had the option, I would rather let someone else do the driving, or just utilize the public transportation.
Since practicality is the only consideration I have. Is minivan the best type of vehicle for me? I have zero need for off road, a SUV just doesn't make sense. A minivan allows me to carry bikes, mattresses, small furnitures and up to 6 passengers. I had owned Accord, Mazda 3 and Saturn L200 in the past. There's nothing wrong with sedans, but I'm thinking of getting married and raising kids within two years, which justifies the purchase of a minivan. However, it could be a little bit too extravagant since I won't have kids in the first year or even two. But I'll need a vehicle anyway.
Any thought?
Also, I'm primarily interested in Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey.
Location: In a perfect world winter does not exist
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I agree with this, if it was not for the not so great MPG I would only buy minivans from now on.
Mazda MPV, Kia Rondo those types of cars are really practical.
Practicality depends on the individual. For my family a minivan would never work. But for your purposes it could work just fine.
Being 30 and not married gives me a lot of panic attacks. I feel the urge to start a family as soon as possible, too bad my girlfriend just graduated from college and she wants to wait for another year.
Sometimes I feel a minivan is an over kill, but I really don't know what kind of vehicle works best for a family with one kid(okay, I don't have even have one kid yet, but I will). Sedans, even the large ones, don't seem to be easy enough to get in and out.
Driving a minivan while looking for a wife may make it difficult to accomplish the latter.
If you have a largish family or big dog(s) with a normal family, and if you plan to road trip or go camping a lot, a minivan may be too small. They are basically for taking the kids to their soccer games and piano lessons.
They are really really no fun at all to drive. Not horrible, just bland and boring. You will not miss it? My kids are grown and in college (most of them) and I still long to do real driving when I can.
If you go with a minivan if you are going new, I would suggest Dodge. Their convenience/designs are the best out there. However they do considerably less well on reliability/durability.
I might be reluctant to get a worn/used one or if I intended to keep it for more than 10 years or about 140,000 miles.
Whatever you get, get doors on both sides. Sliding doors are far better than hinged doors.
A wagon is definitely better than a sedan, but the selection of wagons is very limited.
Most sedans in US market are too small for my taste. I'd appreciate a Camry wagon or similar.
Are there wagons that will hold a 4' sheet of plywood or sheetrock (drywall)? One thing I love about minivans (most of them) is they are designed to they can hold a stack of plywood or sheetrock without damaging it. I thought most or all of the modern wagons are too narrow for that.
Last edited by Coldjensens; 06-14-2017 at 09:56 AM..
Being 30 and not married gives me a lot of panic attacks. I feel the urge to start a family as soon as possible, too bad my girlfriend just graduated from college and she wants to wait for another year.
Sometimes I feel a minivan is an over kill, but I really don't know what kind of vehicle works best for a family with one kid(okay, I don't have even have one kid yet, but I will). Sedans, even the large ones, don't seem to be easy enough to get in and out.
Just a note, because I don't really care what you drive or your angst about driving, 30 is not "middle aged".
You also need to stay where you are with public transportation.
Are their wagons that will hold a 4' sheet of plywood or sheetrock (drywall)? One thing I love about minivans (most of them) is they are designed to they can hold a stack of plywood or sheetrock without damaging it. I thought most or all of the modern wagons are too narrow for that.
Wagons are probably not designed for that purpose.
Minivans are, by definition, small vans.
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