Flashpoint:
Lets not forget the retirees who cart around their grandma with bad knees.
Last summer my friend’s mom asked me to help her shop for a minivan and she got a brand new town & Country.
Damn thing had EVERYTHING including a card table and 180 degree rotating seats.
I wouldn’t be caught DEAD in a minivan, but, if I ever needed one, I’d take a T&C over a goddamned Toyota or Honda.
The correct answer is none of the above. Mazda5, please.
Mazda5 is too small. For older folks, smaller doors are harder to get in and out of. Caravans have grab handles everywhere, easy to reach seat belts, and a seat height close to that of a kitchen chair. These are things people my mom care about (and I am catching up). There are other vans out there that are similar, but none offer what the Caravan does at the price point.
Squeeks and rattles? Sorry, I have rented them several times and not picked up on that, although the bone-stock vans that are usually offered will certainly pick up more road noise. In general, there are quieter rides in some other vans, but that is not the only thing that I care about in buying one.
Mazdas are cool but they are WAY too small for me. And they are definitely too sporty for old people with bad knees. too low to the ground for them.
Minivans will ALWAYS serve a purporse for the very young or the very old. Especially since they can be equipped with handicappable accessories easier than many SUV's can.
The trick is, to make a good minivan that people want to drive. Chrysler should make a Town and Country SRT8 lol limited edition. I'd almost consider that when I reach senior citizen status.
The correct answer is none of the above. Mazda5, please.
The Mazda really is very small; the Kia Rondo is a better fit in this class, excepting the lack of sliding doors, and even the Rondo is small for family truckster duty.. For the record:
* the Mazda's trunk space is notional at best. Four cubic feet versus the 35-45 in most minivans, if the rear seat is up. It's strictly passengers _or_ cargo, not both. When you consider that cargo could include a stroller, it's game over for the little Mazda
* You cannot fit a rear-facing car seat behind a tall driver or front passenger
* There are issues fitting more than one carseat, or certain front-facing seats, in the third row.
I don't normally agree with Flashpoint on his take on what fits tall folks, mostly because I'm taller than he is and seem to fit fine in most cars, but the Mazda5's front-seat knee room really is cramped. The height of the vehicle is fine, but it needs an extra three inches of rearward seat travel. Again, this is not a problem with any other van, or with the Rondo.
I do think that, if you are going to spend money on a minivan, that the top-trim Chrysler is not a good choice: the Oddy and Sienna are somewhat more nicely appointed, better-engined and the Sienna rides much better than either. Now, the Stow-N-Go or Bench Caravans with the base engines are solid values: they're not fast, and they're not nice inside, but by god, if you have to move a lot of people they're as cheap as it gets and they're reasonably well-appointed, too.
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Mazda5 is too small. For older folks, smaller doors are harder to get in and out of. Caravans have grab handles everywhere, easy to reach seat belts, and a seat height close to that of a kitchen chair. These are things people my mom care about (and I am catching up). There are other vans out there that are similar, but none offer what the Caravan does at the price point. Squeeks and rattles? Sorry, I have rented them several times and not picked up on that, although the bone-stock vans that are usually offered will certainly pick up more road noise. In general, there are quieter rides in some other vans, but that is not the only thing that I care about in buying one.
Mazdas are cool but they are WAY too small for me. And they are definitely too sporty for old people with bad knees. too low to the ground for them. Minivans will ALWAYS serve a purporse for the very young or the very old. Especially since they can be equipped with handicappable accessories easier than many SUV's can. The trick is, to make a good minivan that people want to drive. Chrysler should make a Town and Country SRT8 lol limited edition. I'd almost consider that when I reach senior citizen status.