We are in the process of researching mini vans for when kid #3 arrives. We are looking at the Toyota Sienna or the Honda Odyssey. We are torn between the all wheel drive option that the sienna offers or having seating for 8 - we live in MA.
Here is why we're torn: - Both DH and I teach. DH teaches at a regional school district so his school cancels a lot for snow. In the off chance I had school in wintery weather and needed to get there, I could drive DH's truck. Or if we're stuck in a blizzard and need milk, again, we can take DH's truck.
- We plan to have this van for as long as possible. In the future, with 3 kids, I'd like for each of them to be able to bring a friend wherever we are going and then still have seating for both DH and I. It also seems like it would come in handy for driving around with relatives and close family friends that also have their own son (right now we all take separate cars pretty regularly).
WWYD and if you have an opinion between the Honda and the Toyota that would also be appreciated.
Post by onetruething on Jul 3, 2015 13:10:28 GMT -5
I'm in MA and drive an Odyssey. It handled this winter really well. This is actually our second Odyssey, and both times we were deciding between those two vans as well.
A friend of mine has an Odyssey and lives in MN. She got slammed with snow the last few years and has said that she never really needed an AWD option on her car as long as she had her Blizzak tires on it. She said that they handled everything that the weather gods threw at them the last several years without any problem.
We bought a minivan a month ago. We have 2 kids and spend a lot of time with my parents. I was sick and tired of taking 2 cars anytime we went somewhere together. We considered the Odyssey and Sienna (both used), and ultimately ended up with a Sienna. They were very similar in terms of features, colors, and pricing. I liked the look of the Sienna better, and was brand loyal to Toyota since I really liked the Prius I traded in towards the Sienna. We wanted one with AWD but they were VERY hard to find used, and were at a price premium as a result. We didn't think living in VA that the AWD was worth an additional $3-4K.
If you have any specific questions about the Sienna let me know! I LOVE MY SIENNA. I cannot describe how much it's increased my quality of life.
Post by mainelyfoolish on Jul 3, 2015 15:36:59 GMT -5
Get whichever one you like the best and buy a set of snow tires if you want to drive better in the snow.
I have a FWD Sienna in Maine and I don't even bother with snow tires because I'm a SAHM so I have no need to drive in a snowstorm. Once the roads are cleared, I can get around fine.
Does the Sienna not have seating for 8? When I was looking a few years ago I thought it did (although I liked the ways I could slide the seats around and the LATCH options in the Odyssey much more). I drive an Odyssey and it is pretty roomy, but even so, with the width of car seats and boosters these days it will be a while before we can use every single seat belt. i have three kids (all in some kind of car seat) and we could squeeze two more small adults in our car, or could put one more car seat and one adult, but I don't know if we could do more than that even though it does have the seat belts because the third row is a bit narrower than the second row.
The Sienna has seating for 8 without AWD, with AWD the seating is for 7.
Can you tell me more about how the seats slide around in the Odyssey?
Post by MixedBerryJam on Jul 3, 2015 21:30:02 GMT -5
I have a 2003 Odyssey and still love it like the day I brought it home. Super, supremely, reliable. In fact, it's about to take a cross-country journey after which I'll probably sell/donate it if it's still in shape (a smoker is going to be driving it and while I love the car I'm not going to tell him he can't smoke in it.) I would buy another Odyssey in a hot second if I were in the minivan demo anymore, but I've downsized to a Civic, which I also love love love.
Post by penguingrrl on Jul 4, 2015 13:21:13 GMT -5
I bought a Sienna in December and have been incredibly happy with it. I have the absolute base model, so 7 seats and no AWD and had no issues all winter in Nottheastern PA. We didn't have as much snow as you, but we still had a lot and it worked out fine.
We went in looking to buy a newer used model and ended up paying several thousand less for a brand new base model than any of the 3-4 year old Siennas or Odysseys that were available in our area because they were all really fancy trim levels.
We have a Sienna and love it, but my biggest regret is not getting the aWD. It gets stuck a lot coming up the hills in or area when it snows so we choose to squeeze into my small SUV now if there is any snow. Sienna is a great car and we've had ours for 5+ years and it's great, but if you think you may need the AWD, definitely get it. My friend bought hers the same time I got mine and did get the AWD and is much happier with hers.
I got the Sienna for the AWD. I haven't put snow tires on it and it isn't great in the snow, but I'm a SAHM so my need to drive in the snow is limited to the times I get caught out in a random squall. Mine is a 2013 and only has 3 top tethers and LATCH anchors for car seats, but the newer ones have more. My only complaints about it are the gas mileage (I average about 17mpg around town) and the anchors. I love it otherwise and recommend it all the time.
Post by wildfloweragain on Jul 6, 2015 6:45:18 GMT -5
I have a 2007 Sienna, without AWD in upstate NY, and we definitely found the tires to be the bigger issue than AWD. Now that we have good winter tires, it handles very well. (Not well at all with the tires that came on it.)
We have 3 kids and often have a friend in the car and find it roomy enough. 7 seats only in ours. Love the trunk space.
H is a firefighter and has issues with us driving anything but the safest cars, plus can't deal with us in a car where he's been to a bad crash in.
So we were down to the Sienna and the Odyssey and the deciding factor for us at the time was speaking to our car repair guy. We asked what he is seeing more of, more expensive repairs, etc, and at the time (2007) the Sienna was doing a bit better than the Odyssey.
We will ask again in a year when we go to buy another.