Help me pick a car please.....
#48
Re: Help me pick a car please.....
This is where I see it being less illusion and an actual tangible difference between an MPV and and SUV - any MPV I have been in felt soft and wallowy through corners. Like driving a mini bus whereas many SUVs do not feel bus like at all.
The Toyota 4Runner is a seven seater (in Ltd trim) and is very far removed from a minivan. So if you need the size and space i don't see the "you might as well be done with it and get an MPV" point.
Also the 5, RVR and vehicles of that size can hardly be classed as vans, they are barely bigger than a car.
The Toyota 4Runner is a seven seater (in Ltd trim) and is very far removed from a minivan. So if you need the size and space i don't see the "you might as well be done with it and get an MPV" point.
Also the 5, RVR and vehicles of that size can hardly be classed as vans, they are barely bigger than a car.
As for size and space, I was sufficiently intrigued to do a quick Google.
For the 4runner, the cargo space (in cubic ft) behind the first/second/third row of seats is 88.8/46.3/9.0. For the Odyssey the same dimensions are 148.5/93.1/38.4. So you can be 5-up in the Odyssey and carry more than a 4runner with only 2 seats in it. And you can be 8-up (yes, it seats 8) in the Odyssey and carry almost as much cargo as 5-up in the 4runner. Not really much of a contest, is it?
I say again, for the umpteenth time: if you need interior size and space, a SUV is absolutely not, ever, the best solution. It's a design compromise to pander to some mythological minivan-cooties thing.
#49
Re: Help me pick a car please.....
I've recently driven the Toyota Van, some Caravans and a Yukon SUV. Each offers similar interior capacity but the Yukon guzzles like a truck, an SUV feature, while the Toyota uses seat technology equivalent to the original Caravan of the eighties, by the standards of the current Caravan it's a desperately primitive thing. Given that moving lots of children and equipment around is inherently boring, there's no fun version of SUVs and vans, price and practicality should rule. That means getting the Caravan, if there are funds get something interesting as well.
#50
Re: Help me pick a car please.....
Whereas, conversely, every SUV and truck I've driven has felt like, well, a brick sh!thouse going round corners. I had a brown-trouser moment a few years ago while trying to drive round a gentle curve on a highway ramp in some Ford truck thing I'd been "upgraded" to by a rental company.
#51
Re: Help me pick a car please.....
Oh, absolutely. If I needed a truck to cart garbage and hay, I'd buy a truck. As I need to cart kids and kid-clobber, I have a van. I mostly drive on paved surfaces and the occasional gravel road; I see no purpose whatsoever for a SUV. Come to think of it, only one of the letters in SUV is less than misleading. They're not very sporty, and not all that utile.
#52
Re: Help me pick a car please.....
As for size and space, I was sufficiently intrigued to do a quick Google.
For the 4runner, the cargo space (in cubic ft) behind the first/second/third row of seats is 88.8/46.3/9.0. For the Odyssey the same dimensions are 148.5/93.1/38.4. So you can be 5-up in the Odyssey and carry more than a 4runner with only 2 seats in it. And you can be 8-up (yes, it seats 8) in the Odyssey and carry almost as much cargo as 5-up in the 4runner. Not really much of a contest, is it?
I say again, for the umpteenth time: if you need interior size and space, a SUV is absolutely not, ever, the best solution. It's a design compromise to pander to some mythological minivan-cooties thing.
For the 4runner, the cargo space (in cubic ft) behind the first/second/third row of seats is 88.8/46.3/9.0. For the Odyssey the same dimensions are 148.5/93.1/38.4. So you can be 5-up in the Odyssey and carry more than a 4runner with only 2 seats in it. And you can be 8-up (yes, it seats 8) in the Odyssey and carry almost as much cargo as 5-up in the 4runner. Not really much of a contest, is it?
I say again, for the umpteenth time: if you need interior size and space, a SUV is absolutely not, ever, the best solution. It's a design compromise to pander to some mythological minivan-cooties thing.
I also personally prefer the styling of a nice SUV vs a mini bus I totally get it of course. Some people are car lovers and like aesthetically pleasing or high performance vehicles etc and for others buying a car is a functional requirement first. Not knocking either - each to their own.
#53
Re: Help me pick a car please.....
It's marginally more suitable for driving across a field than a Dodge Caravan but isn't likely to be used off hard surfaces where it'll perform like a leanier Dodge Caravan. It's a van. It may be a good looking van, in some eyes, but it's not functionally any different than the Caravan.
http://www.off-road.com/aimages/arti...87/Rubicon.jpg
#56
Re: Help me pick a car please.....
Wow - has no idea they had so much space However in my situation we don't need that much space but do want more than a car so an SUV does make sense.
I also personally prefer the styling of a nice SUV vs a mini bus I totally get it of course. Some people are car lovers and like aesthetically pleasing or high performance vehicles etc and for others buying a car is a functional requirement first. Not knocking either - each to their own.
I also personally prefer the styling of a nice SUV vs a mini bus I totally get it of course. Some people are car lovers and like aesthetically pleasing or high performance vehicles etc and for others buying a car is a functional requirement first. Not knocking either - each to their own.
#57
Re: Help me pick a car please.....
That is one big truck. We struggle to transport 30 square bales in a two horse trailer, one whose internal dividing wall can be attached against the side of the trailer.
#58
Re: Help me pick a car please.....
Fundamentally, buying an SUV (in my not-so-humble opinion) says a great deal more about how one wants to be perceived by one's neighbours than it does about one's passion for automotive excellence.
#60
Re: Help me pick a car please.....
Now come on - that just isn't true. The 4Runner has always been quite an accomplished off-roader - body-on-frame, high clearance, locking diff and terrain management system and has skid plates so saying it is marginally more suitable is simply ridiculous and proves you don't actually know what you are talking about
I have a field. I drive on it several times a week. I've driven a Caravan on it this year. If it's dry the Caravan, or indeed, the pastel Beetle convertible, will go across it as well as either Toyota and neither needs a tractor chugging along behind with a trailer full of jerry cans.