Tell me about your minivan

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Originally Posted by gravitylover

I need as close to 8' inside as I can get and a flat floor is important. I rarely need more than one seat in the back so they need to be easily removable. A 4' high rear door opening is important, I hate having to take the front wheel off bikes to put them inside.

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8 feet on one or both sides? The Transit Connect is only about 6'2 with the to the driver/passenger seat backs, the passenger seatback is hard so you can easily put longer things on that side. The current gen's rear seats are super easy to unbolt and take out. I usually have them out when we're traveling. The middles probably come out too fairly easily, but I've never done it and the floor isn't completely flat like in the back. I usually have one middle seat folded up and roll my XL Ripmo in and lean it against the middle seat with no issue, but it's hard to get more than one bike in when I'm using one middle seat (well if one of them is my mountain bike. No issues with my wife and son's bikes going in together).

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Originally Posted by gravitylover

I need as close to 8' inside as I can get and a flat floor is important. I rarely need more than one seat in the back so they need to be easily removable. A 4' high rear door opening is important, I hate having to take the front wheel off bikes to put them inside.

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We have a 2013 Sienna, which is the generation previous to the current one, and you can put a 4x8 sheet in the back with the middle seats out. Though as someone else mentioned, the tracks for the middle seats are still there so it’s not a flat floor.

Some of the boxes I move approach 8' so I'd probably go to the roof if I had to but dry and cozy is better. If that's the only miss with whatever I get to replace this pos I'd live. I should clarify, it doesn't need to be flat like plywood because I can always lay a sheet down, I just don't want a couple of inch shelf or exposed seat hooks if I can avoid it for the times when I don't have a floor in it. That 6'2" is the bare minimum I could work with, the 10x10 tent I use for my biz events is 6'2" when it's folded. Again, it could go on the roof if absolutely necessary but damn that's a gas sucking lump of shit up there. I'd hate to feel like I need to go back to a ChryCo van to get the couple of important features I need, I'm so tired of constant maintenance and replacing parts over and over. I'm replacing the motor mounts for the fourth time in 55k miles on Thursday.

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Originally Posted by gravitylover

Some of the boxes I move approach 8' so I'd probably go to the roof if I had to but dry and cozy is better. If that's the only miss with whatever I get to replace this pos I'd live. I should clarify, it doesn't need to be flat like plywood because I can always lay a sheet down, I just don't want a couple of inch shelf or exposed seat hooks if I can avoid it for the times when I don't have a floor in it. That 6'2" is the bare minimum I could work with, the 10x10 tent I use for my biz events is 6'2" when it's folded. Again, it could go on the roof if absolutely necessary but damn that's a gas sucking lump of shit up there. I'd hate to feel like I need to go back to a ChryCo van to get the couple of important features I need, I'm so tired of constant maintenance and replacing parts over and over. I'm replacing the motor mounts for the fourth time in 55k miles on Thursday.

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It will be interesting to see how long this new small van is. The Transit Connect was 190in, whereas the smallest current Transit is 220 in. The Maverick is 200in, with a larger hood and rear overhang than most vans. I could imagine them ending up around 195 in, with a shorter hood and less rear overhang.

I'm only approximating on 6'2" as when I had a sleeping platform in it, I had to slide the front seats up just a bit to sleep. With the seats slid up, it's probably a bit more, but the center console doesn't slide so that's the limiting factor if you have something big enough that if can't go to one side of it.

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Originally Posted by J. Barron DeJong

We have a 2013 Sienna, which is the generation previous to the current one, and you can put a 4x8 sheet in the back with the middle seats out. Though as someone else mentioned, the tracks for the middle seats are still there so it’s not a flat floor.

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Yep. Done it many of times.

As for the seat tracks - I bought some 1in thick foam floor tiles and cut out shapes to fit over the tracks. With a rug over them it works like a flat floor.

Square rear opening would be nice. It does irk me how Toyota made a nice roomy van but decided to artificially restrict what you can put in it. I'm all for box shaped vehicles.

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Originally Posted by riser4

Square rear opening would be nice. It does irk me how Toyota made a nice roomy van but decided to artificially restrict what you can put in it. I'm all for box shaped vehicles.

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Yeah, I mean, we've already accepted that we drive a minivan so why not go for all-out functionality? It kinda doesn't matter what it looks like, you cant see it when you're in it.

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Originally Posted by doebedoe

Odyssey if you're road tripping with a family at all. That thing rules for eating up miles.

My sister and bro in law's garage is Odyssey + Ford Maverick (well, that and a farm truck cause they live on a small farm.) So much utility between those two cars.

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Most of the time it's just 2 of us in the car. My friends and I take turns driving to go skiing (when Magic isn't open) so there could be up to 5 of us but the RL does just fine with 5 (2 are smallish women). I've got grandkids but I'm not buying/mounting car seats that only get used 1 or 2 days per year. My kids all have the necessary grandkid-mobiles.

The reasons I'm considering the Odyssey over the RL are:
* It's less expensive...to the tune of more than $2,500.
* I can sleep in it.
* When necessary, I can haul more than 4 friends with ski gear.
* I'm fine with FWD. I already have Blizzaks on separate rims for the RL and it's the same wheel. If it snows deep here in VT, I'm walking to the lifts anyway.
* You can actually haul more cargo under cover than with the RL which has a really shallow/short bed.
* Did I mention that it's less expensive than the RL?

Only thing it falls short on is a stock trailer hitch to launch/pull out my boat. Once per year each...

Isn't the RL the minivan of trucks anyway?

Picking up a 2024 Odyssey on Wednesday. Got the EX-L which is the bottom of their trim levels next year (2025). Mostly because it has the same size wheels as the Ridgeline I'm getting rid of; have Blizzaks on rims that will go on the minivan in the winter. I like a heated steering wheel but I have to give them an extra $10K to get it. Fuck that. Honda's nav sucks and don't need that either since all trim levels have CarPlay and Android/Auto.

I think you can retrofit the the heated steering wheel on Honda odyssey. I watched sone diy bits it’s probably $1k at the dealer.

https://www.hondapartshq.com/oem-par...ed-8u97thr111a

Nv2500?

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Originally Posted by 4matic

I think you can retrofit the the heated steering wheel on Honda odyssey. I watched sone diy bits it’s probably $1k at the dealer.

https://www.hondapartshq.com/oem-par...ed-8u97thr111a

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Thnx for the link. Will check that out.

I’ve never bought a new car. Wife and I were looking on carvana yesterday and saw used current gen awd sienna le’s for more than what Toyota quotes for new when I “build” an LE on the Toyota website. I think I’m missing something but not sure what I’m missing.

Maybe try cars.com

https://www.cars.com/shopping/result...ivetrain_slugs[]=all_wheel_drive&include_shippable=true&keyword=&l ist_price_max=&list_price_min=&makes[]=toyota&maximum_distance=100&models[]=toyota-sienna&monthly_payment=&page_size=20&sort=best_mat ch_desc&stock_type=all&year_max=&year_min=&zip=980 29

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Originally Posted by bodywhomper

I’ve never bought a new car. Wife and I were looking on carvana yesterday and saw used current gen awd sienna le’s for more than what Toyota quotes for new when I “build” an LE on the Toyota website. I think I’m missing something but not sure what I’m missing.

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It is probably because there is/was a 6 month wait to get into a new one at msrp. My dad jumped on a waiting list in December, ordered it in the spring when his turn came up at the dealer, and received it mid June. White, awd, only option was a roof rack. Low 40's.

That wait has probably dropped some. But a six month backlog takes a while to burn through, especially when Toyota seems happy to keep production low in order to not have to put incentives on vehicles, and their dealers are sitting on high demand products producing guaranteed income so their complaints about supply are pretty muted.

As with Toyota and Subaru for the last 25 years, buying new is often nearly as good a deal, sometimes better, than a newer used version.

Yeah ugly, I have a 2021 Prius and a 2018 BMW and I mean I know the Toyota is basically like an appliance, but it’s like an appliance that constantly works and is pretty OK. I drive it like I stole it and I get 47 miles to the gallon. My wife who drives well like an old lady gets 55 mpg. The new Sienna had just come out when we went to get the Prius and there were zero anywhere, but in California.

^^ My son had a similar experience with a Sienna in Syracuse. Was on the waiting list and they called him and said, "Somebody ahead of you on the waiting list turned down our offer because the van is white. You have 2 hours to come sign the paperwork or we're moving on to the next person on the list." Crazy. I'm happy with the Honda Odyssey after 5 days of ownership. Already ditched that middle seat in the 2nd row and now thinking about a DIY roof rail and crossbar installation.

I perused the Odyssey Owners Club forum and the people on there are as bad as the ones on the Ridgeline forum. These knuckleheads are spending thousands on wheels, tint, LED underglow, etc. It's still a fucking minivan (NTTAWWT). I was looking to see if anybody had tackled the steering wheel upgrade/replacement.

On the ChryCo minivan forums that's not so much of a thing, we're all too busy getting advice on our mechanical problems :rolleyes2

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Originally Posted by MyNameIsAugustWest

^^ My son had a similar experience with a Sienna in Syracuse. Was on the waiting list and they called him and said, "Somebody ahead of you on the waiting list turned down our offer because the van is white. You have 2 hours to come sign the paperwork or we're moving on to the next person on the list." Crazy. I'm happy with the Honda Odyssey after 5 days of ownership. Already ditched that middle seat in the 2nd row and now thinking about a DIY roof rail and crossbar installation.

I perused the Odyssey Owners Club forum and the people on there are as bad as the ones on the Ridgeline forum. These knuckleheads are spending thousands on wheels, tint, LED underglow, etc. It's still a fucking minivan (NTTAWWT). I was looking to see if anybody had tackled the steering wheel upgrade/replacement.

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Not for the meek but totally doable.

https://www.collegehillshonda.com/in...eringwheel.pdf

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Originally Posted by johnnyg82

Anyone know much about the Metris vans? 2.0 turbo, and rwd. How are they not yet a one make race series for dads?

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I picked up a 2020 about two
months ago. I like the drivetrain. The 2 liter turbo requires a light foot not to sling everybody around.

Mine has a camping configuration and some suspension modification (lifted a couple inches) so I don't know how similar it handles to a stock passenger van. I can't say it's an enjoyable vehicle for spirited driving because it's not. I take it pretty easy in mine as I have a feeling it could get away from you pretty easily. Lots of sway and dive if you over drive it. But, I love it as a daily driver mostly due to the ease of adding and subtracting toddler from the car seat.

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Originally Posted by uglymoney

As with Toyota and Subaru for the last 25 years, buying new is often nearly as good a deal, sometimes better, than a newer used version.

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But the Subaru warranty is only 3/36 new and is 7/100 on CPO cars. That bit me in the ass once and caused me to trade a car with a minor problem that was disastrously expensive less than two years after purchasing it and saved me thousands on the CPO car I traded it for.

Subaru warranty is far too short. Same with VW. And I wouldn't really consider driving either one without. They have far too many weird problems.
Unless I'm hooning a high mileage beater for fun. And profit.

Toyota has like a 8-yr warranty on hybrid batteries, right? What’s the story with longevity on their batteries?

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Originally Posted by bodywhomper

Toyota has like a 8-yr warranty on hybrid batteries, right? What’s the story with longevity on their batteries?

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Anecdotally, forever. I have a buddy that's owned 5 Prii, and they've all gone well into the 200ks on original batteries.

Sienna still at the top. I've always been a fan of the Odyssey, but no denying that the current gen is getting old and is long overdue for a Hybrid powertrain and AWD.
https://www.caranddriver.com/ranking...-vans/minivans

260k on our 2012 Prius V, purchased brand new, still on the original traction and 12v batteries. Easy DIY when it finally goes.

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