DW and I are ~empty-nesters, with 2 kids out of college, and 1 still in.
DW's 2014 minivan is getting older, more mileage (~115K). Could obviously keep it a while, but at some point we'll be shopping for a replacement. My primary is a convertible, which I'm also tiring of. We have a 3rd vehicle - small sedan for the in-college kid.
DW has indicated that she wants some kind of SUV, probably something in the Honda CR-V size range, post-minivan. I think I'd also like something like that for my own next vehicle (though I'd also be open to a decent-sized sedan). FWIW, our garage is kinda tight.
But...
While we don't ALWAYS need it, we do SOMETIMES use the space of a minivan. Three kids, sometimes all in-town at the same time. One kid has a fiance who usually comes to town with her. My elderly parents are in-town and sometimes we take them out. I like the flexibility to load up the back of the minivan from the HW store (long boards, or plywood, or ???) There have recently been a lot of moves to/from college and post-college apartments, and we've helped the kids move their stuff around. (Maybe the latter dies down in the next few years?)
Ditching the minivan only to get a ginormous SUV like an Escalade doesn't really seem like a win. When I've looked in the past, larger SUVs generally seem to be *less* efficient at converting exterior measurements to usable interior space.
I have minimal experience with/exposure to 3-row SUVs. Climbing in to the backseat seems like it could be rough, and ~all individuals concerned are adults now, not 8 year old kids, so, while tight fits in back *could* work, they're not ideal.
How do SUVs do as minivan replacements? How do folks navigate life with lots of people involved, at least some need to haul stuff, without a minivan? Even when I was a kid, ~pre-minivans, folks had large station wagons, which were similar to modern minivans in some ways.
What specific models of SUVs represent a nice trade-off of not-too-big on the outside, but lots of functionality space/utility on the inside?
DW's 2014 minivan is getting older, more mileage (~115K). Could obviously keep it a while, but at some point we'll be shopping for a replacement. My primary is a convertible, which I'm also tiring of. We have a 3rd vehicle - small sedan for the in-college kid.
DW has indicated that she wants some kind of SUV, probably something in the Honda CR-V size range, post-minivan. I think I'd also like something like that for my own next vehicle (though I'd also be open to a decent-sized sedan). FWIW, our garage is kinda tight.
But...
While we don't ALWAYS need it, we do SOMETIMES use the space of a minivan. Three kids, sometimes all in-town at the same time. One kid has a fiance who usually comes to town with her. My elderly parents are in-town and sometimes we take them out. I like the flexibility to load up the back of the minivan from the HW store (long boards, or plywood, or ???) There have recently been a lot of moves to/from college and post-college apartments, and we've helped the kids move their stuff around. (Maybe the latter dies down in the next few years?)
Ditching the minivan only to get a ginormous SUV like an Escalade doesn't really seem like a win. When I've looked in the past, larger SUVs generally seem to be *less* efficient at converting exterior measurements to usable interior space.
I have minimal experience with/exposure to 3-row SUVs. Climbing in to the backseat seems like it could be rough, and ~all individuals concerned are adults now, not 8 year old kids, so, while tight fits in back *could* work, they're not ideal.
How do SUVs do as minivan replacements? How do folks navigate life with lots of people involved, at least some need to haul stuff, without a minivan? Even when I was a kid, ~pre-minivans, folks had large station wagons, which were similar to modern minivans in some ways.
What specific models of SUVs represent a nice trade-off of not-too-big on the outside, but lots of functionality space/utility on the inside?
Statistics: Posted by psteinx — Tue Dec 19, 2023 8:55 am — Replies 5 — Views 252