CP

Jonathan,

I cannot stress this enough, but pay close attention to the comfort of the seats. Unfortunately, it is not something you would feel in a even 60 minutes test drive.

Personal experience is that I would have muscle tension, and throbbing right knee with long (8+ hours) drives in my Odyssey. We were in the Sienna for more than 12 hours in one stretch and we were very comfortable. That made the difference for me.

The worse experience was in a Chevy Blazer. We rented it twice, in Colorado, and Hawaii, withinh 30 minutes, my side muscles (both left and right) would be tense and throbbing. I can NEVER buy an American product. Quite sad.

CP

renn911

For what it’s worth; my wife and I went for a Honda Pilot over the Odyssey as I needed the towing capacity that the SUV offers. The Pilot is my first Honda and I've been extremely happy with it. My wife’s sister has Sienna and absolutely loves it. Can’t go wrong with either the Sienna or Odyssey IMHO; good luck with your decision!

mrsullivan

my wife's current vehicle is an 03 Honda Pilot... she has loved it, we cant say enough good things about it...she just wants something a bit more roomy and easier layout for baby duty...

Edward

Jonathan,

FWIW, I'd think about the AWD as a tipping point: avoid it if you don't need it as it'll just add in weight and eventual cost in maintenance/repair, OR it's a plus if foul weather is something you'd encounter regularly. I'd pick the Odyssey as it drives/handles more like a car, but the Sienna IS a superb vehicle and a very close second. Win-win, eh?

Edward

Salespunk

We just went from an Escalade ESV to an Odyssey Touring. I resisted and fought my wife, but I have to say it is a much nicer car than the Escalade. Drives great and a much better size than the ESV. The SUV's with a third row suck without captains chairs. Without them everyone has to climb over the second row.

curveraider

This is off topic from the original question (sorry), but does anybody know the tow capacity of the Toyota and Honda? Has anybody towed with either?

Thanks,

ed devinney

I've looked before, they're both around 3500lbs, I think. Grassroots Motorsports has towed a lot with their Odyssey, but neither minivan looks to be a good candidate for towing a full sized car or larger boat.

Jastx

Congrats, Jonathan, for seeing the light of the minivan. Like TD in DC says (and I said in my previous post), "It is a purpose built vehicle, and it serves its purpose extremely well."

My only comment is everyone concentrates soley on the Japanese alternatives, and just ignores the Chrysler products outright. I felt the same way back in 1992 when we shopped for our first minivan. We test drove the Honda (having owned two Accords) and were surprised to find it extremely noisy with a premium fuel requirement, so we drove the Chrysler and were impressed. Our Town & Country served us well for 9 years until we purchased our current 2001 Town & Country. It, too, has been first rate. It's design is clean, it's performance is excellent -- quiet, accelerates well, amazingly small turning radius, reliable. The dealer is just a couple of miles away and their service and treatment is as good as I have ever experienced with any brand including Porsche and BMW.

Now it's 2006 and all the brands have improved. Chrysler has this Stow and Go seating. Have you seen it? ALL of the rear seats (the 2nd and 3rd rows) can fold flat into the floor, you never have to remove ANY of them for anything. All the brands now have this for the rear seat (Honda started it), but for for the middle seats I think Chrysler is alone. When not folded you can use the stow wells in the floor for additional storage. To me, this is the "killer app" for these purpose built vehicles. I think it's very cool and know how useful it would be.

The Toyota and Honda are good, no doubt, but they're not perfect -- I have seen gripes about quality and service just like with other brands. The Chryslers are good and not perfect as well. All three are made in America. The point I'm making is don't discount the Chrysler product just because it's a Chrysler and not Japanese-based. It is an excellent alternative and probably the best bang for the buck -- freeing up more bucks for Porsche spending .

For practicality, Chrysler offers a good 7-yr extended warranty, has dealers in every little burg you're likely to ever visit, and I am sure (but haven't checked) the most competitive pricing and financing out there. At least check it out. You may be impressed.

I have no affiliation with Chrysler. I am just a car enthusiast and experienced Chrysler minivan owner who has had a very positive experience with their minivan product for 14 years.

InTheAir

Guys, one of the most popular threads in the 993 forum ~can't~ be the Minivan thread!!

mrsullivan

i know, right?...

i have been very pleasantly surprised.

i "let" my wife read through this entire thread yesterday and she was very complimentary about the board and the people on it... she too is now a rennlist fan

slider172

My wife drives a Sequia, and we both like it alot. No problems with the vehicle except i wish it had a backup camera system. It is hard to park, and rear visibility is not good. We bought it because we have a now 8 month old ,and a 14 yr old thats bigger than I am. We could not find a sedan that my 14 yr old could sit comfortably in next to a center mounted car seat.
As long as you just have little ones, go for a sedan . We would much rather be driving a bimmer! In a few years you wont have much choice, but dont rush it.

95cab

Sometimes, like when you get home at 11pm with the kids asleep from a weekend away and there's been 24-30 inches of snow, the plow's gone by, te snowblower's still in the garage and its 0 degrees F outside, the Sequoia works real nice...

mrsullivan

thanks for the tip brian, although not a lot of that going on in dallas, tx..

petermartin

Didn't read the entire thread, but has VW entered the thread? Were they not the mini van pioneers? Think synchro. They make some seriously practical rigs. Superior engineering and not inexpensive.

Bradford

Also late to the party here but has anyone owned (sorry if this has been discussed already) the Lexus RX Hybrid or the Toyota Highlander Hybrid? Just curious what the impressions were of those 2 smaller SUV's.