we had a 1990 Aerostar with 150k on it, only needed one trans, sold it in 1997 and as far as i know its still running strong in the "hill country" of texas
and a 1998 Windstar with 192k on it when we did "air check texas" for a new fusion. Had one transmission, couple AC lines, and started consuming coolant when we decided to dump it

Whats the stats on the exploder? I might could be in the market for one. Email me about it

 

and on the contrary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOKNJ14wxq8

 

Wife is on the second Honda Odyssey after driving Expeditions,Suburbans and a few conversion vans over the years. They are hard to beat for running errands and for going on trips. No problems with the 06 or the '10 so far. I don't like the wind noise at highway speeds from the sliding side doors, both vans have been noisy but other then that they've been great. A loaded out new one is close to 40k, yikes!

 

I say Kia or Hyundai.

Last year my aunt rented two minivans for a trip. I drove the Kia Sedona and she got the Dodge Caravan. Both were fairly new and didnt have alot of miles. The Caravan's air conditioning barely worked and she said she wished she had the Kia instead of me. For a minivan the Kia seemed to have decent power and it was fairly comfortable.

My mom had a Caravan and it was constantly needing repairs and the transmission went at 47k. The Voyager she had before it needed a motor and transmission before hitting 100k. My mom doesnt really drive hard and really just drives to work and back.

We've had a few Voyagers at work and they feel like death traps. The current one is an '01 with over 100k and the one before it was a '99 with over 200k. I dont know how it made it that long and it was a 4 cylinder. My boss bought them both for practically nothing with over 100k on them so who knows what was replaced along the way.

 

I looked into Kia's today, and from what I can tell based only on online reviews is that they put out a fairly good van. I don't know of anyone that drives one personally so I'm open.

Also haven't totally eliminated Ford, it seemed when I compare apples to apples I could get a lot more in the Dodge for the money. Add the fact Ford doesn't make them anymore tells me a lot about the position of Ford in this market. I just need to look into them a little bit more.

Yes, used Honda's are very hard to come by. There seem to be a few more Toyota's out there. There are a handful of the Honda's with 70,000-80,000 miles in our price range.

This is all new territory for me and it's painfully overwhelming.

 

oh and we've had a rental vans over the years, the worst by far was the '10 caravan that had a noticeable slipping transmission at approx 20k on it, worst was slight uphill in reverse with light throttle, you could feel the converter spin up, transmission engage for a second the slipppppppppp

 

Everybody who I knew who had a minvan, ended up trading them in on a large SUV or truck, because they missed what they used to have (all traded in SUV/truck for van thinking it'd be better).

I've put several thousand miles on a 2007 Town and Country. "Big" V-6, Limited, every option. It was a turd. It'd get 18 MPG with me in it on the highway at 75 MPH. Sound system sucked, it wasn't comfortable, no power, brakes sucked. I always thought the transmission was slipping.

 

Other than that, it was a great little Fiat.....

 

my cousin had two Honda Odyssey's and did like 200 k on one and 80k on the second and never had a problem! if the old one would have been able to tow his boat he'd still have it!

 

Get a hitch and put the kids in a trailer, better still leave the kids at home!!! Personally though if I had to buy one I would go for the Toy Motor, I don't think u will have any real worries with an import, I have driven/owned quite a few 'foreign" cars and can't say I ever found a real bad one!

 

if you need access to the third row to haul 3 baby seats in an excursion then you might want to stop reproducing...

 

Our 06 Grand Caravan has been pretty good. Nearly 50K and we had only minor repairs covered by the warranty. Stuck injector causing misfire that I diagnosed before them but the service guy wouldn't believe me until they tried plugs, wires and coil, 02 sensor failed and airbag sensor failed. Steering rack had a leak so they replaced the whole unit on my extended warranty with 100 buck deductible. Brakes and tires have been done as well. It is a short trip grocery getter.

 

Thanks for the replies, I think this weekend we might take a look at a few we are thinking of.

 

My old lady and I had this conversation a bit ago, then she saw a lifted Excursion and gave me a huge thumbs up on that- God bless her sometimes. Seriously she said maybe a Challenger or Mustang because 2 kids is the limit. Anyways, Honda over Toyota for fun, and why not a 2006ish Ford Freestar? Dodge's have been good to those I've known with them. Tough call there Jon Gosselin, maybe a Dodge Sprinter?- Diesel?

 

Or its twin, the Mercury Monterey, made from 2004 - 2007.

Saw a loaded Monterey the other day for sale, and it looked like a pretty decent ride for soccer mom. I'd expect them to sell for well less than the Hondas and Toyotas.