You're not an SUV lover are you.....

I thught the whole point of a minivan is that they're an expression of the effectiveness of one's genitals (OK, so not directly related to size, except in my case, obviously).

/a minivan owner writes

I was comparing the "compensation factor" vs owning a big Expedition / Yukon etc...he does expressly seem to want a large one...

If you regularly have a horsebox to tow and 4 kids and a labrador to take to a gymkhana I can see the point, but its generally safe to say that SUV stands for Stupid Useless Vehicle in most cases.

And if you do have some serious towing to do, then I cant see why you would want to own one for the other 360days a year, so just do us all a favour and rent one on the occasions you actually need the capacity and drive something sensible the rest of the time.


I should say for the record that Ive been there and done the SUV thing (back when gas was only 50c/liter), and learned my lesson the hard way about ride, handling, dynamics, thirst etc. My Subaru handles the snow better, and I never went off road in the bloody thing anyway to test the 4x4 capability. Glad to get shot if the thing.

I was initially a bit like the OP... I thought I wanted a 7 seater SUV.

Once I had a look at them though, I realised that the only sane decision was to go for a minivan. They're significantly cheaper to buy, they're much more spacious, I don't actually need off-road capability, and the fuel consumption is better. The sliding doors are a real bonus too.

So in the end I bought a Dodge Grand Caravan, the Stow & Go version in which all the rear seats can fold flat into the floor.

Overall, I'm very pleased with it, and the savings over the SUV means I had plenty cash left over for boy-toys... see my avatar!

Ditto, Ditto, Ditto - comfortable - good space, great for kids and a dog and little fridges, BBQ's, ski's, tons of space - and with the tow-bar now fitted, takes the four bikes easily.

Boring? probably.
Practical? very.
Good looking? not so much.

But anyway, the Jones' have one too

The roads in Calgary are awful especially in winter and you need an SUV just to navigate the pot holes and ramps around the city. It makes me laugh when I see someone in a sports car with super low profile wheels driving around town riding the bumps and raised covers. If the roads were kept in better condition then I would swap my SUV in tomorrow.


In reply to your post:
I would recommend Chrysler Aspen / Dodge Durango both come with 7 or 8 seats Dependant on model. Standard you can get stability control and selectable 4 wheel high low and AWD.

BTW I also have a Dodge Grand Caravan S&G very good MPV also recommended.

Complete and utter bullshit.

No Steve_p, I don't know it!...................its general knowledge that the roads around here are in a bad state in main due to the temperature changes.

Not arguing the state of the roads it goes as you say with the weather.

I call bullshit to the comment that you "need" and SUV to get around.

That is utter crap unless it's you who's driving is so poor that you need one, because a large majority of us get around just fine in ordinary two wheel drive cars.

I think the OP may have been a bit put off by all this.

Just as well, s/he's a bit hard to take.

Do we allow Jones's to immigrate at all these days?

We have an smallish SUV (probably termed a crossover) and a mini minivan. Both are really good and we don't regret buying either. Both we looked hard at fuel consumption as I reckon some of these minivans are dead thirsty too . So we have an outlander which is really our skiing car- yes sure you can go in a car and loads do but we have hit some terrible conditions and we feel more comfy with AWD. We skied 23 days last year and I would recommend anyone who wants to ski a lot getting AWD as some of the roads etc can be bad especially if you are deliberately going after a biggish dump. It has other features such that make it really handy for skiing- like sitting on the fold down back after a day and taking yours and the kids boots off. Our minivan is a 6 seater mazda 5 and its fab and also far more fuel efficient than loads of things. I love it and would really recommend it, if you need more luggage space get rails and hire a roof box for those one off events.

Minivans do seem an odd culture when you first get here- so I can sympathise in some ways, but they are very very practical and when its minus 25 things like slidey doors that my 5 yr old can shut from the inside whilst seatbelted in, being able to do the kids belts from the inside rather than the outside can all be a real bonus. Go to our local school and nearly everyone has a minivan of some sort or other. Are they all naff and boring? No.


Gryph

Well I'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has provided help and advice on this seemingly thorny issue, all points appear worthy of consideration and I'll give it all it's deserved consideration.

I get the impression that there may have been some of you who may have misunderstood the tongue-in-cheek tone of my posting, which I was hoping to avoid with the use of the Smilies to assist the communication of my message. Apologies for that, I was just being sarcastic, and really couldn't care less what other people think of what other people think of me. A valid point was made about my perception of Kia though, my opinion of the brand was indeed formed in the UK and was based on the fact that they are low cost but also low quality / power / performance over there at least.

Anyways, lesson learnt and hope others got some info out of this thread too.

Ken

"Its deserved consideration" not "It's" -whoops

Actually I just noticed a duplication of some words in a sentence of mine in my posting too so apologies again. It's Friday night and my brain has switched off.

As an afterthought, any of you who have seen "Fun with Dick and Jane" with Jim Carrey, will understand my sense of humour, especially regarding the "I've got a better BMW than you" running joke in the first part of the movie....


Ken