Thinking of putting down a minivan owner? You may want to think twice. Minivans are among the most useful vehicles on the road. Take a look at some of these reasons why owning a minivan can be a life-enriching experience.
Everyone’s been in front of their car door or trunk, with the same dilemma. With your hands full, how are you going to open the door without dropping everything to get your key? Well, vans like the Nissan Quest require one touch to open the side doors or the back hatch. Thanks to innovations like Nissan’s smart-key technology, you won’t even have to take the key out of your pocket! It’s the next best thing to having your own doorman! (Check out our review of the Nissan Quest here)
Many cars come with a cooled compartment for holding drinks, but minivans can go the next step. In a van, you can store a significantly greater number of drinks (or whatever else you want cooled) in its compartment than the average car. A perfect option for road-trips. Even “cooler” (get it?) is the sliding center console that can distribute contents to both the front and second row passengers.
Everyone needs their personal space, and with a minivan you can change up the seating arrangements any way you want. The Honda Odyssey allows you to put two child seats in the second row and still have room for more passengers in the back seat. Additionally, you’re able to move the center section of the second row so you, or your passenger, can tend to a child quickly. When they get older, kids can get social with Chrysler’s Swivel ‘n Go seats that face each other with a table in the middle, or for some personal time, relax in the Toyota Sienna’s second row with pop-up footrests.
Whether you need to haul around tools, lumber, or ladders, the minivan is well equipped for the job. Built to handle kids, they can take a pretty bad beating and still look top-notch. Here, a Nissan Quest hauls equipment for landscaping in its cargo area. Other minivans can hold plenty of equipment. The Dodge Grand Caravan has enough space for a 4×8 foot sheet of plywood, while the Honda Odyssey can fit 10-foot 2x4s.
Now you can entertain the rowdy backseat crowd with your high-definition hook ups. With the new Honda Odyssey you can connect an Xbox or Playstation via HDMI so you can distract your passengers while you take care of a few personal errands around town. Consider having a mobile gaming truck with the optional 5.1 surround sound back there! Say ‘Good-Bye’ to the ‘Man Cave’ and Hello to the ‘Swagger Wagon’.
TVs for the second row are available in all minivans now and some even offer a third row screen as well. Or take Honda’s split-screen (above), that allows for viewing of two separate programs at the same time. (Check out our review of the Honda Odyssey here)
Putting child seats in a regular sedan or even a SUV can be a pain. But look at the Minivan owner. Not a single bump on his noggin from hitting his head on the roof, while securing his kids child seat. Minivans make installing child seats and getting your kids in them easy. Plus, the new Odyssey even lets you put three child seats in the second row. Don’t have three kids? No worries, it’s the only van that can handle a middle-seat child seat, allowing easy access to the third row.
As we’ve mentioned before, minivans are among the cheapest vehicles to insure. In fact, the Toyota Sienna was #1 in our Top 10 least expensive cars to insure list. Why? They contrast to flashy cars that are meant to attract attention. The average minivan is more about safety than flash – even if Toyota will tell you the opposite. As a result they are some of the cheapest vehicles to insure, and the savings in insurance could add a few more options to your van. More LCD screens maybe? (Check out our review of the Sienna here)
Minivans are equipped with many of the most progressive safety features of any vehicles. Airbags can seemingly pop out of every surface, protecting passengers in the case of a crash. Plus many vans come with options like backup cameras, blind-spot assist and sonar based parking assist. Additionally, unlike SUVs, Minivans have a lower center of gravity making them less likely to roll-over.
With a minivan, no grocery haul is too huge to get home. While early minivans had seats that could be removed, new minivans also have seats that can be stored right in the floor. No hassling with heavy benches. Even if you’re not storing the back seats in the stow-away area, you can fill that space with more stuff. And with all that space, nothing is outside the realm of your van’s cargo space.
Sliding doors and minivans go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly. Sliding doors are simply easier to open and close than regular car doors and better for putting kids, and other things in the back seats. Additionally, kids are less likely to get fingers caught in the doors, and many vans with power sliding doors have safety measures in place to prevent them closing on someone’s limb. The Honda Odyssey, has a strip on the door’s edges that can sense obstructions, and stops the door from closing on one of your fingers.
Convinced a minivan might be the right choice for you? Check out our New Cars section, to help you decide which Minivan is right for you!