... my husband and my friends say they can't hang out with me if i get a minivan

i want one! i have two kids - one is in a rear-facing car seat (which omg, i just realized will be forward facing VERY soon!) and one is in a huge booster ... which unfortunately for his ego he will be in for a very long time (he still fits into the five point harness ... and it's so much safer! i'm gonna strap him in it as long as possible ... all of his prek buddies are in seat belt half boosters so he thinks he should have one, too)

i rode with my friend in her minivan and the kids had so much room ... and she could take (hello) EXTRA passengers like my kids and i with her without totally rearranging her vehicle!
(i can take MAYBE two extra people with me and the one in the back seat better have a skinny booty or he ain't gonna fit!)

do y'all have minivans? what do you say for or against them?

I had one years back when my daughter was little, and I did a lot of voluntary work at the school. I couldn't wait to get out of it. That being said, however, they are very handy for carting around kids, and vacationing. And today there are a few out there that are a little "cooler" than the older ones.

What about an 8-seater SUV?

Bottom line: Do whatever makes you happy. Never mind what your friends say. You have to drive it every day.........

my hubby keeps saying we'll look into an suv ... my friend has a yukon and while it's big - it has a really closed in feel to me ... minivans are so open! lol i guess i'll need to get the flex as a compromise

what makes my husband unhappy will make me unhappy ... unless he says for me to do what makes me happy even at the expense of his happiness ... then i'd do it lol

I have four children, so my choices were a mini-van or an SUV. I couldn't afford an SUV, so I went with a used Ford Windstar SEL (2001). I have a love/hate relationship with it.

Pros: AMAZING space! I have four captain's seats and a third row bench seat that seats three, for a total of 7 passengers. I'm still in the process of clearing out my apartment as we just moved back into the house, and I was able to take out the bench and second row captain's chairs, and fit a queen size dresser, two twin mattresses, and the bunk beds. Next trip I took another 4-drawer dresser, an oval coffee table, the drawers for the queen size and 4-drawer dressers, and a rocking chair!

Gas: not as bad on gas as an SUV.
Daily cargo capacity: plenty of room for the groceries, four kids, and the two Staffordshire Bull Terriers that weigh 60lbs each.

Handling: more stable than an SUV, but not as good in the snow.

CONS:

Handling: No AWD means in the snow I have to park at the bottom of the driveway, which is an 8th of a mile away from the house. It doesn't handle snow well, and our road is very winding and mountainous. I've actually slid backwards on our road, and had to take the long way back around to the other end of our road, an additional 2.5 miles out of the way.

Fun to drive: it's not! The damn thing always sounds like something is clunking in the back end, and from what the mechanic says it's a common thing with mini-vans (Fords and Dodge especially)

Summary: with only two children, if you aren't planning on having another baby in the next 4 years, don't get a van. They suck. They have their conveniences, but they still suck. The best car I ever had with my family was a 1990 BMW 525 (E34 body style, ranges from about 1989 to 1994). No passenger side airbag in the front (which means a child can be seated up front), the rear safety belts by the door connect at the door instead of in the middle (no having to reach across carseats!), trunk was HUGE, great on gas (I got about 28 MPG), and it was soooo much fun to drive!

GMC Acadia!

It's a full crossover SUV that can sit up to 8 passengers but the back rows can go down for storage when you need less seating!

I had a Mazda 5 that I loved!!! It is like a minivan but not as big. We could sit 6, the two front seats, middle seats were buckets and then a bench seat in the rear that folded down for a ton of space.

Both doors in the rear slide open.

It is very affordable as well!

I had a jeep grand Cherokee an dodge durango. Having a third it was clear we needed a van. SUVs are cooler and more stylish but they're huge and suprising not that huge inside, mpg sucks, and they're tippy, that scares the crap out of me. I have a 2006 dodge grand caravan and although I don't love it, SUVs we're too small. What people without kids fail to mention about SUVs is the back row is only accessable while putting down or sliding the second row seats down so that means NO carseats in the second row AND in SUVs if you have the third row in, you sacrifice trunk space. If you want a vehicle to tote things and people around easily, a minivan is way easier than a suv. SUVs are a PITA with multiple kids. I have four and three are in car seats.

My SIL has 3 children and loves her Sienna van. Call me crazy, but the body feels like foil to me, doors are so light, that bothers me to tears.. besides, I look like a giraffe driving hers, not sure what it is...windows are taller/doors lower on the ground? I look wird. Another punch, kids [& dh] tend to bring 'all' kinds of stuff with them.
I love SUVs look/ hevier bodies [more gas $] with two children, we have plenty of trunk space.

I'd probably pick something more like a Tahoe or Suburban, or Expedition or Excursion, for the frame under them. On one of the truck boards, there's mention of a head-on collision between Chrysler mv and a Tahoe. That van had crumpled up. The more I drive my 4WD ton trucks, the more respect I have for them and the more disdain I have for front wheel drive cars and minivans. The trucks are higher in fuel costs, perhaps, but they are SOLID and seldom need repairs.

My sister has had 2 Suburbans now. Some friends had a Chrysler minivan for years, but switched to a Tahoe after they wore out the van. Anything with a frame, even consider a Ford Crown Vic or a Mercury Marquis, is my vote.

Okay, excerpts from that thread, the van hit the Tahoe head-on, but there are no pics:
Tahoe:


more Tahoe:



The Chrysler minivan vs. Tahoe:

minivan.

I have 4 kids, and we have a Honda Odyssey and a Nissan Pathfinder which has 3 rows of seats . The minivan is so much easier with the kids getting in and out. The doors slide open and are totally out of your way where with the suv in parking spaces it's a pain to squeeze the baby and myself between the door when getting him in/out of the carseat. There is sooo much more room for them to spread out and all their stuff. Whenever we go anywhere as a family we take the van... I do miss my Mitsubishi Eclipse, but us moms are always sacrificing for our kids...right?