Who has downsized from a minivan and still has kids?

[ten6mom]

Hi- my beloved 2007 Honda Odyssey has some life left in it, but I am hoping to hear from others who have downsized from a minivan.

My two "full time kids" are 15 and 12- the older one is in high school marching band and he and his friends occasionally have a LARGE piece of marching equipment to bring home (recently it's been a baritone sax and a set of quad/tenor marching drums). The 12yo may or may not also be doing marching band in a couple more years. I also have a 14 yo step son who rarely rides with all of us.

Does anyone who has downsized their minivan with kids still at home have any feedback? How much smaller did you go and do you regret it?

Thanks!

 

[mnrose]

When my twins were 13, we downsized from a Sienna to a Prius V, which has amazing storage capabilities. Honestly, I believe it fit more "gear" carrying 5 people than the Sienna did. No regrets at all. Our Sienna served us well from two weeks before they were born, until they were 13, but it was time to let it go. For day to day driving, the Sienna was overkill.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I downsized from a minivan to a 4 door Buick and I miss my van almost daily! My kids are 16 and 8. I miss being able to haul just about anything I wanted; the trunk in the Buick is huge, but it's not a practical amount of space for the things you need to haul when you have kids. I now have to beg others for help moving stuff, I have to buy a bike rack because I can't just throw the bikes in the back anymore. I can only fit one or 2 extra passengers in the car. I am hoping to pass my car on to my teenager once he gets his license, then I'll have an excuse to buy another minivan or truck.

 

[Southernmiss]

Still loving my 2008 Sienna. Only have a 17 year old left (out of 4) ar home.

The van has been more useful as they've gotten older than when they were small.

Just sent our daughter off to dorms for a 2 week leadership opportunity. Moving her in and out and hauling her stuff 4 hours away and back was so much easier with a van. Had to haul rubbermaid tub and plastic drawers of her stuff. And a full suitcase. Dh threw the hand truck in and it made getting the tub and a case of waters up to the room so much easier.

Dd has had countless wardrobe changes in the van between activities.

With 3 brothers moving in and out of college has been much easier with the van. And big grocery trips every week are easier.

Even when I get my next auto, I will have at least a small SUV, if not another van.

And when we have grandparents come along with us somewhere it's easier to put everyone in the van than have one car follow the other. Our parents get lost easily! Lol

 

[cvjw]

Downsized from a Honda Odyssey to a Ford Explorer.

Needed more room, so upsized to a Toyota Sienna.

Hated that minivan, so downsized to a Nissan Pathfinder.

Needed more room, and had to lemon it out, so went back to a Honda Odyssey.

Bottom line, my kids are 23 and 19 and we still need the space of the minivan.

Between moving them to college and driving on vacation, it is still great to have the Odyssey

 

[Brett Wyman]

Downsized from a Honda Odyssey to a Ford Explorer.

Needed more room, so upsized to a Toyota Sienna.

Hated that minivan, so downsized to a Nissan Pathfinder.

Needed more room, and had to lemon it out, so went back to a Honda Odyssey.

Bottom line, my kids are 23 and 19 and we still need the space of the minivan.

Between moving them to college and driving on vacation, it is still great to have the Odyssey

We rent a Pathfinder ever year in upstate New York as that’s the only 3 row SUV they have at that airport. God I hate that vehicle. It’s like Nissan is literally trying to market mediocrity. We have a 2016 Odyssey Touring LOVE IT. Our kids are still young and it makes everything so much better easier.

 

[3smithboys]

I have 3 kids, two in HS and one in college and have a 2008 Odyssey. It’s wonderful hauling all of his stuff back and forth to school for sure. Even though he has his car at school with him, there is no way we would be able to get everything back and forth as easily without it.

I also like the ease of being able to take the twins and their friends around right now. They will be driving in a few months, but I still can’t see getting rid of the Odyssey because there will be many more years of hauling in my future. So, until the car gives out, I guess I’m keeping it! And... I’m getting another bigger car... just not sure what because I really do love my Odyssey!

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We moved from a mini van to a ford flex, i love our flex but i still miss my mini van. I miss the sliding doors, i miss the ease of getting in and out. My third row is only for little kids thats for sure, i could put anyone in the van

 

[mmouse37]

Can't answer but I just came to say that we are empty nester grandparents who just purchased a minivan two weeks ago!!! I missed my minivan after our kids grew up and have had a Honda Accord since 2010. Now that we watch 3 of our 4 grandkids almost full time I needed something that would handle 3 car seats (all grandkids are under 4). So happy to have my minivan back!!!

We already did a road trip from NY to Nashville last week!!! So easy to road trip with a mini van!!

MJ

 

[tcufrog]

I didn't downsize out of my minivan but did switch to a VW Four Motion Atlas. It drives better in lousy weather than my Odyssey ever did and it's much more pleasant to drive than my minivan ever was. The Atlas is incredibly nimble for its size compared to my minivan and still has 3 rows. The only thing I miss from my minivan is the flip down mirror I used to spy on my kids.

 

[Neesy228]

I’m still driving my minivan because I need it for hockey gear, kids friends, college moves etc. I’m hoping my Odyssey hangings in there for 4-5 more years. However, my friend just downsized from a Sienna to a Honda Pilot. She loves the car, but tells me almost everyday that she misses her van. Her kids are 16 and 13. She particularly misses it when trying to pack for a trip.

I think when my van dies, I’m going to buy a gigantic SUV - like an Expedition or a Tahoe.

 

[ten6mom]

Thanks for all the replies!

 

[RUDisney]

I downsized my minivan years ago for a Saab 9.5. I did so because I had a van and other parents EXPECTED me to drive their kids all over without ever delivering or picking my kids up.

Even if you give up your van for a small SUV, you should be able to stow the equipment you need. I had a Ford Escape that held fewer people but had more storage than my van. I gave that up last September for an Edge because now I'm moving my kids here, there and everywhere. I needed more space for their baggage.

DD will be moving to Philadelphia later this summer. It'll take at least my Edge, her X5 and my DH's F150 to do that. DS doesn't know that he may be needed with his Sequoia, too.

 

[lifesavacation]

I miss my Odyssey. I only have 1 left at home. The other 3 have graduated college. Because we are still involved in carpools, I can’t drive my car, which I love for myself but it doesn’t work for hauling kids around. I have to swap with my husband and drive his huge quad cab pickup. So my advice is to make sure you have at least 1 vehicle that can still be used for hauling kids and their friends around.

 

[mjkacmom]

Both DH and I drive Odysseys, our 5 kids range from 16 - 22. I’m planning on buying a newer odyssey, my kids are begging for a pilot, nope, more money, less room. Moving our 3rd kid to college in August.

 

[HeatherC]

We downsized to a car when my kids all got there licenses a while back. Then we realized we love minivans since we are always lugging stuff and do a lot of road trips so we upsized again!

We now have a Kia Sedona and it is great. We bought it last March and did a cross country trip and back in it last summer, have helped my kids move stuff and will be moving my parents this weekend. My mom also uses a walker so I can just throw the thing in the back and not worry about it fitting or having to fold it. I don’t think I will ever want a car again. The minivans are just so spacious and easy and fit our lifestyle.

 

[tzolkin]

With hauling friends and gear (for band or sports), I would hold off on getting rid of the Odyssey. Nothing else has the same room for passengers and "stuff" as a van. Since that's what you're used to, you will likely regret anything else you get at this time.

We are a similar situation, oldest has moved out, other two kids are 15 and 13. However, they do not play any sports or carry any large gear and usually it's only maybe one extra kid that I'm driving around. I drive a tiny Corolla, so all of our daily driving is done in that. For four passengers and a few backpacks, any regular/small car is fine.

We moved from a mini van to a ford flex, i love our flex but i still miss my mini van. I miss the sliding doors, i miss the ease of getting in and out. My third row is only for little kids thats for sure, i could put anyone in the van

We also went with a Flex as a replacement for our Odyssey. It seems to have more room than any other 7 passenger SUV and it's lower profile makes it easier to get in and out of (especially with an older very large dog to hop in/out)

My husband absolutely loves it. It's the model with all the upgrades so it's very nice on the inside (leather seats, color changing lights, etc), but he can also use it like a truck and tow a trailer or whatever. And, let's be honest, it's just "cooler" than driving a minivan. (Somehow the van wound up being his main vehicle and I use the small car)

That said, its not a van. It's convenient if the kids have friends and we need to drive 7 people, but it would not be functional if you regularly had more than 4/5. And when you do have to use the third row there is less storage space than a van. We did do a 12 hour trip using three rows (oldest came to Disney with us over spring break), but it was definitely a much tighter squeeze than travelling in the van and it was annoying having to flip the center seats to let someone out to use the bathroom especially when others were sleeping. Not a big deal because it's rare for us to have that many people and that much luggage, but if we were going to travel frequently with 5+ we would probably want to go back to a van.

 

[Darcy03231]

When I downsized from a mini-van I went to a mid-size SUV that had folding rear seats to give extra cargo room. I was happy with it, but my kids didn't have a lot of big equipment to lug around and by that point they all had their own cars.

Personally, I'd stick with the minivan until you don't have to transport band equipment and your youngest has his/her own car.

 

[Hikergirl]

I went from a mini-van to a mid sized SUV and it was hard to get used to at first, the van definitely had more interior storage. I think my kids were 10, 13, and 15 at the time so I was still carting them and their friends around alot. I never had to worry about large marching band or sports equipment, just regular size stuff so it wasn't really an issue during my day to day driving.
For family trips we just throw our Thule bag on top and fill that, keep part of the third seat down and that gives us plenty of storage space.
I know I made the right choice, no way would I want to drive a mini-van around with just one of my kids (and I LOVED my mini-van). I knew I was going to be driving my SUV for a long time so I picked something for me, not for "the family".

 

[bigbabyblues]

I am on my second Sienna in 12 years and I love it. We have 2 kids. DS18 will be going away to college this fall, and I know we'll need it to move him back and forth. DS16 will get his license in a few weeks. We are considering a 4-Runner when we get rid of this van, but I need the third row seat AND the space behind the third row seat for vacations and other times during the year. I'll probably get another minivan when we're done with this one.

DH has a new Camry, and it is a nice car but there is no way I could drive it all the time, and no way we could take it on a long trip (we don't fly anywhere). There just isn't enough room for 4 of us or even 3 of us.