I finally made the leap and officially joined the mom club...on Saturday I traded my sporty cross-over SUV -my Toyota Rav4 that I LOVED, for a Minivan. I'm not going to lie, I struggled with this in a big way! But the reality is that with two kids and a socially active 5 year old, we needed more space!! We ended up with a sporty 2010 Kia Sedona LX. It's black with tan interior and is about as sporty as you can get with a van :) So far in the 2 days I've had it, I really like it!
Here is what I found when shopping for a new vehicle, we drove several different ones and ended up with the Sedona.
Vans:
Our Top 3 choices on vans came down to what was ranked the highest in safety, reliability, features and price. The Kia Sedona, the Honda Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna were the only 3 vans I would look at based on safety and reliability reviews. I've always been a car snob and have never had anything except for Toyota (yes, people laugh when we are all gathered at my parents' house because it looks like a Toyota car lot over there! We ALL have Toyota's) The reliability and the history we have with Toyota has been nothing but superb (as indicated by the 1996 Toyota Camry that has survived commuting by my dad, me and now my husband. It has 270,000 miles on it and is still going strong!)
Because Safety, Reliability and Features were all equal on the three choices of vans, the next thing it came down to was price. We could get more features for a better price by going with the Sedona. Standard on the LX is the Sirius Satellite radio, MP3/USB hookups, 6 disc CD changer, Roof Rack, Rear Air/Heat, Back up Reverse Sensors, 2nd Row Bucket Seats, Stow-N-Go 3rd row with 60/40 split bench, power rear windows, security system, key less entry, extra cargo space, tons of extra storage cubbies and cup holders throughout and an overall nice design on the inside. Other options you can get include the DVD system, heated seats, automatic climate control, power sliding doors and windows and other luxury features found in both the LX and EX models. The Kia warranty is also the best out there - some are 5 year/50,000 mile bumper to bumper, all of the way up to 10 year/100,000 mile warranties.
Other Vehicles:
A few other vehicles we looked at were SUVs and Cross-Over SUVs with the 3rd row. The main problem I found with all of these is lack of rear cargo space and difficulty getting access to the 3rd row. With older kids this isn't as big of a deal, but when you still have car seats latched in, it's too much work to take the entire car seat in and out to fold up the seat just to get in and out of the 3rd row seating. Most of the 3rd row SUVs were not designed for car seats...meaning you can't even use the extra seating with smaller kids.
a few we looked at and liked:
The Honda Pilot: Very nice, loaded with tons of great features. Not great on gas mileage, but great safety reviews. 3rd row didn't have much leg room, was not equipped for car seats and took up most of the cargo space in the back. I couldn't fit a full sized stroller in, only a smaller McLaren stroller fit back there.
GMC Acadia - Liked the look of this a lot but it didn't get great reviews on reliability and it was very heavy. Decent cargo space even with the 3rd row, can have car seats in the 3rd row as well. Some models come with 2 captains chairs in the middle, which made access to the 3rd row much easier with small kids.
Chevy Traverse - By far my favorite of the SUVs we looked at. If we hadn't gotten a van or if our kids were older, this is what I would have gotten. Tons of interior room, great cargo and storage space. Good reviews on safety and reliability. So/So on gas mileage. Drives a little lighter than the Acadia. Still harder to get in and out of the 3rd row if you have car seats.
Toyota Highlander - I've always wanted a highlander, but would only do it if I knew we weren't having any more kids and only had the 3rd row for occasional guests. It's not functional for everyday use with 3+ kids. The 3rd row takes up the entire cargo area, I couldn't fit any strollers back there with the 3rd row up.
So there are a few ideas if you are in the market for a new car! I loved my Rav4 and highly recommend it if you are needing a sporty little fuel efficient SUV. But we are on to the more practical phase of life where the reality is that a minivan just makes like SO much easier with small kids :) Our find, the Kia Sedona offered the most "bang for our buck".
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