Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
I think DCX should have built a SWB Dodge Caravan, but I don't know if they were losing money on the current SWBs.
The Kia SWB's look like they'll be the only game in town...
The Sedona has a VERY SMALL 12.9 cu ft cargo space vs 23.5 cu ft of Caravan. (Minivan leader Sienna has 43.6 cu ft). Many sedans have more cargo space in the trunk than the Sedona has behind the 3rd row seat. :shades:
If the Caravan/SWB T&C is discontinued in 2008 it will be very sad news for minivan buyers. :sick:
To be fair, the LWB Sedona has 32.2 cu. ft. behind the third row, which is not shabby at all!
As far as the range is concerned, Kia is currently the king in the van class, with Rondo, Sedona SWB, Sedona LWB all part of the lineup - impressive!!
I am sure some of you remember me asking questions on here,and some of the other forums last month.I wanted to update you guys on what we did with regard to buying a van.On January 2nd we struck a deal on a certified pre-owned 2006 Toyota Sienna LE w/pckg #1 in Slate metallic.The van has 17K miles on it,and has a 7-100k miles powertrain warranty.We also opted for the platinum coverage which extends the bumper-tobumper coverage to the same 7-100k.
So far we love the van,and can't get over how much room is in the rear for storage.Also I can't believe how quiet the van is when driving on the freeway.It is almost as if it isn't revving.In our search for a van we test drove almost every model,and almost bought both a Chrysler,and a Kia,but ended up with the Toyota mainly because we could afford more van with this one being certified,and Toyota offering 0.0% financing for 60 months,which we of course chose.
I wish I could go into the story of our first trip to a Toyota dealer,which almost turned me off to buying a Toyota,but I don't have the time right now,and it is probably against forum policy to bad mouth a dealer.This is the classic story of high pressure sales,and treating the buyer like a piece of meat.If you want I can go into it more in detail later,but for now I need to get to work.Thanks for the help,and I hope we made the right decision with the Toyota.
Chris
Glad your happy with the van its one of the roommiest inside. And its a toyota you cant go wrong.
Dave
I also think it was a mistake for GM and DCX to drop AWD from their lineup too, as that leaves Toyota as the only AWD game in town...
Glad to hear you finally found one. I remember you agonized over this decision and you were operating on a tight budget.
It's hard to go wrong with a Toyota. I did a lot of shopping and the Honda and Toyota were my final two choices. I ended up buying the Honda, but I'm sure would have been equally happy with a Toyota.
I think Stow N Go is more popular with typical minivan buyers than AWD. There's a ton of new CUVs coming out if you really need AWD. The new GM CUVs look fantastic and are within inches of my LWB DCX van.
I believe you'll see a variation on the DCX minivan, that'll be smaller etc...but they'll try not to call it a "minivan".
I think they have one, and call it "Pacifica."
Smaller inside but guzzles fuel. :shades:
I remember seeing something a few years back about Dodge's production plans on the Kahuna... I'm not certain though.
I am NOT a tall person but my head hits the ceiling if I sit in the 3rd row and there is about the same cargo space behind the 3rd row of the Pacifica as there was in a Volkswagen Beetle front trunk. :sick:
Where did the space go? Inefficient design of Crossover Utility Vehicles compared to Minivans.
There is an even bigger loss of interior space when comparing the Honda Pilot to the Honda Odyssey or Toyota Highlander to the Toyota Sienna. :sick:
Where did the space go? Inefficient design of Crossover Utility Vehicles compared to Minivans.
There is an even bigger loss of interior space when comparing the Honda Pilot to the Honda Odyssey or Toyota Highlander to the Toyota Sienna."
T&C is much taller vehicle, too
The T&C is 68.9 inches in overall height according to my 2007 T&C brochure while Edmunds lists the Pacifica as being 68.5 inches in height. (The SWB T&C is 68.8 inches in height).
The T&C has 144 cu ft cargo space behind driver and front passenger while the Pacifica has 92 cu ft. (The SWB T&C has 129 cu ft). These numbers dramatically illustrate the more efficient design of a minivan vs a crossover utility vehicle.
Were you factoring in since the Pacifica is higher off the ground, it would lose interior room there, even if they are the same height? Looks like it has more clearance...
I'd like to see a measurement from the floor to the roof inside each vehicle...
Also, is there any 8 seater with integrated car seats. I have them on my Caravan and they are great.
Thanks for the help!
The 8th seat in the Odyssey will not fit a typical carseat. The Sienna 8th seat appears to be better, but only comes in cloth/lower end models which might be a good thing.
But as mentioned Odysseys/Siennas aren't all that cheap either.
Is the integrated car seat only on the caravan?
The cheapest Odyssey that comes with the 8th seat is the EX and invoice is around $26,500. You can get them for invoice but you might have to shop around. The Siennas have cheaper 8-passenger models and $24 is probably possible if you keep the options on the light side.
You could probably get into a Suburban for $20,000 but you'd have to drive a pretty hard bargain on a private sale. The good news is a 9-passenger version (front bench seat) is not very desirable and you might find someone desperate to move it. The bad news is they didn't make many. I had a 9-passenger Tahoe and found quite a few towards the end of the model year. The one I bought had sat on the dealers lot almost a year and only had 8 miles on it. I got a killer deal and did fine on the trade-in for the Ody. I think it would have been a tough private sale but the Honda dealer probably didn't know better.
We traded in our 04 T&C last week for a 2004 Navigator Ultimate Edition (upscale Expedition). Ours has the 2nd row bench, and we've already carried 8 people confortably (with 2 carseats in the 2nd row, too)
I've wanted to upgrade to more safety features for awhile no (we had no side airbags or stability control). Also didn't have the fold flat 3rd row. The wife soured on the minivan idea the last few months, so this is what we wound up with. Great, luxurious ride that also handles really well for a vehicle it's size. And I can't think of a feature that I would want that we don't have. Just have to pay a heavy MPG penalty. But we knew what we were getting into...
First used car we've bought in about 10 years. I think we'll go that route from now on
The Mazda Club Chat is on tonight. The chat room opens at 8:45PM ET Hope to see YOU there! Check out the schedule
It probably has comparable to the 04 T&C but not nearly as much as the 99-07 Ody, 05-07 Sienna, or 05-07 T&C/GC. :shades:
It probably has comparable to the 04 T&C but not nearly as much as the 99-07 Ody, 05-07 Sienna, or 05-07 T&C/GC."
It doesn't have the deep well, but the distance from the back seats to the liftgate is about the same as minivans. You are also able to fold the seats up a bit, to be more upright and have a little more luggage room. And since the 3rd row room is more than any minivan I've seen, it's not a problem to be more upright
http://www.chrysler.com/town_country/2008_build_price.html?CMP=AFC-Autoshow
I can't help but wonder how long these prices will remain at this level, and when they'll drop to invoice and below... it is only a matter of time for all vehicles.
Is the 4.0L only available on the limited model?
Then again, minivans rarely sell at MSRP for more than a few months, save for the 1999-2002 Odyssey, or the 2004 Sienna...
It is a Touring and doesn't have leather, roof, nav, or DVD, but it does have all the "useful" or "bang for the buck" options like all 3 doors are powered. It even has stuff that is technically fluff but still used day-to-day like Homelink.
I'm a terminal "buy the model below the premium" car buyer. Things like GPS and DVD are nice, but can be added at a price 10-20% of what the OEM price is. And, if you're making payments, it adds up to even more than that with interest.
Anything over $30k for a minivan is ridiculous, especially if you're like me and will be ferrying your kids in it from infant stage up through elementary school. By the time we sell it, it will have PLPD on it because it will be WORTHLESS.
I can see where luxury minivans would appeal strongly to empty nesters, though. Heck, my mom didn't buy her first minivan until she was 55, and we were all moved out!
The T&C with the cool Swivel 'n Go seats seems to have the least leg room of most of the minivans. It's hard to tell for sure, but when the seats swivel towards the back, 4 people might not have enough leg room to not have to touch each others legs. Another negative.
Haven't really compared the other levels of trim, however, the T&C base LX at $22,195 plus option package 2, comes to $28,567. I'm interested in the "Top of the Line" at this point. T&C needs to have incentives as soon as they're on sale or/and redo the prices. The prices on their website are not etched in stone. They are estimated prices. And you still have to pay an extra $165 for Light Sandstone Metallic or Clearwater Blue Pearl or $247 for Inferno Red. They are pricing themselves out of the market IMO. Not a good thing if the minivan is their bread and butter. And then you also have to consider if/when Chrysler gets sold, how will that effect quality, service, etc.
The Sienna $41,637 includes:
FWD, 3.5-Liter V6, Limited 7-passenger, 5-Speed, most expensive Option H $5527
Honda Odyssey includes:
2007 Odyssey
Touring with Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation and DVD Rear Entertainment Systems Automatic Transmission (Standard Features)
Base MSRP: $39,095
Destination & Handling: $595
MSRP including selected accessories: $39,690
Nissan Quest includes:
Base MSRP $33,900
Packages and Options
TECHNOLOGY PACKAGE $800
FOLD-AWAY SEAT PACKAGE $750
NAVIGATION AND PAX PACKAGE $2,650
3.5 SE NISSAN DVD ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM $2,000
Subtotal $40,100
Destination and Handling $650
Total Configured MSRP $40,750
Hyundai Entourage Limited:
Fully loaded (no NAV available on website) Total MSRP : $32,495
Feedback and detailed pictures would be appreciated.
One would think, since Chrysler invented the minivan market, that they'd know how to price out these new vans taking into consideration the competition. It would be nice if they'd price them realistically instead of relying on gimmicks such as rebates!!! But I'm not holding my breath for that to happen!
The vans look attractive, but the minivan market is not exactly a growing one, and any new customers are going to come either from fleets or converts from other minivans, and not necessarily new minivan shoppers.
Backseat Sirius TV for 2008 DCX Minivans
The Sirius tech is definately cool, and we do have built-in Sirius in our van, but I wouldn't be interested at all in the TV option.
That said, I have wondered for years why they don't make regular car head units that can tune TV stations, but produce audio only? Many, many shows would work just as well with no video like the news, talk shows, and comedies. I don't care about the kids in this respect, I would just like to be able to listen to TV as the driver! :P
The 20+% is pretty huge for one month though. I think it'll level out when this big "crossover" thing cools off.
Sienna: (Jan/Feb) -11.5% / -10.5%
Odyssey: (Jan/Feb) +4.5% / -0.3%
So, Sienna (despite the new bigger engine and CR's rec as the new top minivan) continues its decline, but Odyssey is much worse than before.