if it was bought and paid for with someone elses money I couldn't care which car it was.

I could drive a Yugo and be happy as long my money didn't buy it

I once had a mini van and it was the most comfortable vehicle I have ever owned.   Got rid of it for two large SUV's due to need to various needs.

Whatever I did, I absolutely wouldn't go into debt over a vehicle.

why is a mini van considered sensible?  Mini Vans are for guys who have completely given up on life.

Buy a Tahoe or a Suburban or a Land Cruiser or Sequoia..

If you must have a big car buy a Ford Taurus or Chevrolet Impala....

DO NOT EVER BUY A MINI VAN!!

I'll keep my truck.

He hit your bed?

How fast was he going?

I'll take a minivan over an SUV any day. You can actually get 7 people in it without jacking the seats around. My seats fold into the floor for deliveries for our business. They are 10 times more versatile than an

SUV.

SUVs are a stupid choice for a vehicle that will never tow a trailer or leave pavement.

Vans are far superior for the jobs they actually do.

true mine even pulls a boat every so often.

TL;DR

Kinda like the story of the young bull and the old bull - walk down there and f*ck ALL them vs running down to get one.  

Get a fun 4dr sedan and enjoy it EVERY day.

Ok, did forget that one little thing - The Tahoe could tow more than the minivan - but the Tahoe did not seat any more people than my supercrew, so really did not need it.  4x4 Supercrew was (and hopefully still is) a much better tow vehicle than the 2x4 Tahoe.





Supercrew is in the shop - hope I did not blow something in the motor this weekend.  Almost no problems with that truck - but it is at about 150k right now and who knows.

---

My TDI has a good tow rating fwiw - but don't have any desire to put it on a boat ramp.

I have a full size truck and my wife has an SUV.  We have all the versatility we need.  I have never needed a different vehicle than my truck, it does all I need it to.  And who the hell drives 7 people around?

You already drive a mom-box (Ford Flex).

Just get the 4C, forget the mini-van, you already have one.

keep telling yourself that in order to feel better about driving a minivan

i like minivans ok, and id drive one... .... but its mostly because i have back issues, and they are a lot easier to get in and out of.

 
My family owns a Kia Sedona, and a Chevy Silverado 4x4. I drive the truck, wife drives the van, unless we are all together, then I drive whatever we happen to be using. We went from a Chevy Impala to the minivan. The van travels much better than the sedan. It hauls large items, and it carries extra passengers when needed. It's a no brainer for a family. You can keep your 4x4 station wagons as well. I've owned those too. Will never go back to one.

I don't understand the question.  

LOL!!!

You got kids? Do they have friends? bingo...

I have three vehicles, and all three draw their fare share of criticism.

My DD is a 2009 Honda Civic. It's a wrong wheel drive four door with an automatic transmission. Nobody thinks it's cool, and it really isn't. But it consistently gets over 30mpg, the maintenance is dirt cheap, and it hasn't had a single issue in 5.5 years of driving it. I'm about to break the 100k mark, and if I had the will to live with it for another 5 years or so, I'm pretty sure it could easily handle another 100k. Especially since I've taken care of it. If I was going to buy a compact now, I'd probably get a Mazda 3, but if it was 2009 all over again, I'd buy another Civic without a second thought.

My weekend fun car is a 1994 Mazda Miata. It's the best driving car out there without turning to the exotics like Porsche, Lotus, or the Alfa posted in the OP, and I can't afford something like that. I'm okay with that, because I have a cheap, reliable car that is light, has a low center of gravity, 50/50 weight distribution, rear wheel drive, and a manual transmission.  But for every one person that understands the concepts of the Miata, there's another two that are two stupid to comprehend it and make jokes about hair dressers and LGBT people.

And that leads me to my van. It's a 1999 Chevrolet Astro with AWD. I bought it for my aunt in 2006. She drove it daily until she retired in 2011. I've been the primary driver and caretaker of it since. It's not pretty, it's slow, it handles like it's drunk. The transfer case and the transmission don't always seem to know what they're doing, and the build quality is very GM. But, the sheer usefulness of this vehicle is mind-blowing. With the seats out, it's a cave. It's moved almost all of my worldly possessions three times, and it will likely do it again before 2015 comes to an end. It's moved a few friends and loved ones, and it's helped with some random chores. With ramps, I can roll a snow blower into the back without messing with the handles.

With one or both benches in, it changes entirely. With both benches in, it seats 8. Unlike SUVs, full grown adults can sit in the third row with minimal hassle. I've been the designated driver for bachelor parties, NYE parties, concerts, and sporting events. It's an excellent tailgating vehicle. The grill goes on the roof rack, gear and coolers goes in the far back, and when you get there, you pull a bench or two so you have sofas in the parking lot. On vacations, it's the gear hauler on the way down, and it is the party wagon from the condo to the pool, lake or wherever. It's a no-brainer for range trips, unless I'm traveling alone or packing light.

It's better in bad weather than it has any business being, too. It's sure footed on the patchy stuff, and I've driven it through the deepest snow I've ever seen in this part of the country. I've pushed through bumper deep snow like it was no big deal and rescued stranded family members. I then loaded up my snow blower and made some money clearing snow. The only time I ever got it stuck was when I got it high-centered on a street side plow pile. It was stupid to even try it, but I wanted to push the limits. A little chopping to break it down, and I was on my way.



Do people give me shit for it? Hell yeah... "Soccer mom van, rape van, molester van, hippy van," you name it, and I've probably heard it. But you know what? I don't care. This vehicle has proven its worth to me time and time again. There isn't much I'd trade it for, and there aren't many options I could trade it for without making a compromise. No vehicle on the market today can match the capabilities of this van. GM used to make an AWD version of the Express, but they discontinued that. Other than a half-assed setup in the Sienna, no other AWD vans are on the market. A Suburban comes close, and it's probably what will replace the Astro, but it's not as maneuverable, and it doesn't have as much usable interior space.

The TL;DR version is, I drive what I want to, and I don't give a damn about what others think. I'm single, and I have no kids. I can drive anything I can afford. My boring "econobox," my "hairdresser's" roadster, and my "mom" van are the vehicles I think best meet my wants and needs and that I choose to drive. Zero fucks given.

I used to kayak - minivans and trucks with campers were the king.  We went where there was water - and usually slept on site.  Mini vans (and trucks with campers - would generally get a loft - gear went under it and a mattress when on top.  Fuck camping in a tent - we hauled base camp in our back seats.   You could travel with 4 adults and only stop for gas.  Amazing how fast you can eat up America like that - and with the bed in back, you got to where you were going fairly well rested.  Poor bastards in the SUV looked like hell - lots harder to sleep in a sardine can w/o a bed.



That said, will pay homage where it is due - the king of the vehicles was a Diesel Ford Excursion with 2 rows of seats removed and bunk beds.  It slept 4 while 2 road up front - they trailered their gear - and it never really noticed it was towing.  I don't recall how they set up ferries - but bet a motorcycle was in the trailer.  

New Alpha is Hawt

Define "stupid".  If you NEVER took an SUV off road or towed a trailer with it, in what way is it deficient at everything else that a van does?

There's nothing stupid about having and not needing.

Seriously?

Buy a mini van and then you get a go kart on steroids?  For the price of that thing you could buy cars that are so much more fun.

Only if I could sell the other stupid car afterwards.  I have no use for either, though the Van could be worked on to make use out of it.

Good God ARFCOM...

My brother died at 48 years old, with a 7 figure bank account and driving an old Nissan Maxima. His last words to me were "Ronnie, enjoy your life"

Life is short- buy whatever the fuck you want and have fun.

Pricing-
If you compare vans to crossovers built on the same platform, you're paying a couple thousand dollars extra while taking a huge loss in interior space. If you compare vans to SUVs with similar interior volume, you're comparing vehicles that start in the mid to upper $20k range with vehicles that start well over $40k.

Efficiency-
If you compare a van to a large crossover, you're taking a loss of around 3mpg, sometimes as much as 5mpg. That doesn't sound like much, but that's a difference of 15%+, and it only gets worse if you jump up to one of the big V8s.

Accessibility-
Little kids can get into vans with minimal assistance. They've got to grow a bit more to make the climb into a SUV. I'm 6' tall, and I can get in the back row of a Caravan or Sienna without much trouble, even if I don't like it much. SUVs? No thanks.

Handling and Maneuverability-
Vans aren't as long, they have a lower center of gravity, and they're often lighter. All of those things make them easier in parking lots and out on the road.

For some families, a vehicle like a Tahoe or Suburban is needed for day to day life, or wanted as a means to do the things they love to do. And if you someone buys an SUV for the "just in case" factor, I get that too. But many big SUVs and almost all large CUVs aren't bought for their capabilities... They are bought because they are less uncool than a van.

Accepting the added costs and compromises for "image" is a terrible idea.

But, it's not my money being flushed, and that's where heavily depreciated Suburbans come from, so I'm cool with it.  

I have a buddy who drives a 10 year old Toyota Highlander with 200K miles.  His weekend car is a Ferrari 430 that he bought used.  

I say Hell Yea!

If it were free, yes.  Who cares what you drive then.

No.  I would get in way too much trouble with the ride on the bottom.  I'd get too many tickets and get it stuck too many times on dirt roads.  Also, the other thing on the top is too big and not enough ground clearance for me as well.

I never understood why people thought getting a particular vehicle because you have a family is a bad thing.  It's for your children.  All of my friends would both kill and die for their kids, but somehow driving a minivan for them is hard to deal with?

The Flex is a mini van.

I will never own anything except a truck so I voted no.

Nope, I will keep my Canadian minivan and you can keep that station wagon and the overpriced Fiat.