Feedback please on Vans vs. SUV

[meowsandy]

When we take a trip now, the kids are packed pretty tightly in our minivan. So we are considering replacing it with either a larger SUV such as a suburban, or a 12 passenger van.

I'd love to hear some real life feedback on these. Stuff such as fuel efficiency, dependability, comfort, etc..

And if it matters, I have 3 in car seats, two big kids, and two adults.

TIA
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Sandy Homeschooling Mom to 5 great kids
GiftsofNature

[Seun Designs Inc.]

I don't have any experience as an adult, but growing up, there were 7 kids in my family.

As the family grew, my parents went from a suburban to a 9 passenger van, to a 15 passenger van, to an expedition (as kids started moving out).

The 9 passenger van was squishy with 9 people and we always fought over the bucket seats. The 15 passenger van was roomy, but I know my mom didn't looove parking it. The expedition was squishy with all 9 of us, but it was really nice

That's probably not too helpful, is it?
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Margaret

Seun Designs Inc. on Etsy

[meowsandy]

[jwpsgurl]

So, I only have 3 kids & have a Tahoe, but I would lean towards the Suburban if we had more kids (which we are not planning on). The gas mileage is not good at 12-15 mpg...but, I personally just am not a fan of vans.
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Jessica~WAHM to Julianne 5-19-07, Jocelyn 8-10-08 & our new sweet baby Jacqueline 12-30-10
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[happy2Bjustmommy]

Currently we have 6 kids in a suburban. I am actively shopping for 12 passenger van. I NEED more space in my car. The suburban has been great. it has 181K miles on it and only needed one trip to the shop so far for a repair, and it was 600 dollars. It might have a small oil leak and something with the waterpump, but hopefully these items can wait a little while.
In my suburban we have 3 fill car seats and one backed booster, and the other 2 kids squeeze in between the car seats. It works, but they are getting bigger and they are not happy about it.
We are looking fora diesel engine van, with 4WD, and I dont want new, so it will be hard to find. But i am determined! LOL When we get the van, we will keep the suburban, as we are currently a 1 car family, and it will be nice to have options.
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[ZanyZebraMama]

Our 7 passenger minivan died and we bought a 5 passenger SUV from my parents. I'd have preferred another van but we couldn't beat the price. There's 6 of us in the family but luckily we still have the 1988 Astro van for when we all need to go places together.

Personally I'd rather have 2 vans - long trips with suitcases and such is more of a challenge but for everyday driving around town there's more room.

OTOH, some models of our SUV have a 3rd seat, but we can't retrofit because the framing isn't there. So I guess my final vote would be for our SUV with 3 sets of seats, which would seat 8.

Confusing enough!
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[junko]

I'm having sort of the same dilemma. There are only 2 kids here but they will be 18 in two years. However, I will still need a LOT of cargo space for shows. I don't know whether to go with a crew cab truck, an SUV (would have to be something like a Suburban or Expedition) or just get yet another minivan (yawn). But the minivan route looks to be the least expensive and more comfy for long trips than a truck.
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~June

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[bbailey]

The thing you need to be careful with.....is back storage. I know lots of newer vehicles have stow and go, but my suv does not. I have bucket seats in the middle (with the two littles in car seats) and the bigger kids sit in the back bench with boosters. When we go to get groceries, I have NO room whatsoever for groceries. I have a 1ft space in the back to store things (like ym stroller) and end up piling groceries in teh front passenger seat.

If we would have went with a suburban, we would have a lot more back space to store groceries (or even gear on trips).
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Brittany~nursing student and SAHM to Cole 3/1/03 (autism), Jaden 8/31/04, Cameron 4/8/09, and Skyelar 11/8/11

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[meowsandy]

Thanks for all the input. We test drove a suburban last night and we do like it. But three kids will still be in the bench seet in the back, and it's not any bigger than the one we have. WHen we travel we also have to bring a large dog with us so we have to find room for her somewhere.

There is a TON more room in the back for groceries/luggage than we currently have in our minivan.

I checked out the passenger vans onlline last night and they are a lot cheeper. But they are huge.
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Sandy Homeschooling Mom to 5 great kids
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[whidbeymom]

I used to drive a 15 passenger van for work-full of kids, and they really aren't as big as they seem when you're driving. As long as you can avoid parallel parking I didn't have any problems. It did seem like kids were almost having to climb over the seats though to get to the one they wanted because there really wasn't much room for moving around. If you can take out some of the rows though that would help a ton.

Now I have an Expedition and I agree with the fact that there is no room for storage with 4 kids. We don't use the middle seats unless we have to and when that happens it's squishy with 2 in boosters and 1 in car seat. I would rather have a Suburban or Excursion at this point because of the extra storage room. The gas mileage is a killer though, our 2001 is down to 12 mpg, on road trips it did get up to 16 mpg last summer though.
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Kelly Mom to JM (10-6-02), JR (1-25-05), JT (11-9-06), DR (11-25-09)

[MountianMama]

I don't have personal experience but my Dad and his wife went SUV. They have 4 yo triplets and the carseats don't fit in anything. With their SUV they can fit the trips across in the middle row and then my DS and I fit with room for another adult in the third row plus we could get the triplet stroller and my stroller in the back. That thing was massive but not more cumbersome to part than a big truck (oddly enough triplet carseats also fit across the backseats of a dodge ram. It's the extra large navigator (don't know what that model is called) but they quit making them for a bit during the whole gas thing but people with large families needed them still so even though they are being made again they are in demand and hard to get a good deal on them.


I'm going through the whole SUV vs car debate right now. Do I really want to spend the extra? But there is usually just myself and my DS in my "clown car" for a eco car it's HUGE. It's just hard to store my bike in there for after work bike rides and I won't leave my bike on a rack during the day. But I regress. Hope you figure it all out and get a smkoing deal!
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Megan

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[JNW]

[MountianMama]

[rtnsgirly]

I vote for the Chrysler Town & Country. It is the plush version of my Plymouth Grand Voyager. I easily fit 3 car seats and 2 older kids, plus 2 adults, 2 dogs and camping gear/clothes/food/fire wood for 3 days in it. I love it, Now I am down to 2 teenagers and it is still working.
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[sparkynfiesty]

I have a 12 passenger van and though it's not "pretty" wouldn't trade it for anything. Ours is the Ford f-350 and is lovingly referred to as the B-bus or Betsy.
We have 2 in car seats, 2 in boosters, 4 big kids plus dh and I and we all fit with a bit of room to spare. Occasionally we take our dogs as well (great dane and english bull dog). The gas mileage is horrible, but that seems to be the norm for any larger vehicle. There is not tons of room in the back but I can fit about 2.5 shopping carts worth of groceries back there if I'm careful. You can also stash luggage and such under the seats since they sit fairly high up.
Someday I imagine I'll have a smaller everyday vehicle but honestly I think I'll always own a big van too. My kids estimate that we will have 22 grandchildren so if that comes true I'll need it!!
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