Hi, Reader!

Minivans are a much-debated topic in the mom car world and my first thought when I hear a mom say they'd never drive a minivan is:

"Have you put all your kids in there, your groceries, your stroller, your multiple beverages, turned on a DVD that linked to wireless headphones so you didn't have to hear it, and cruised down the highway without ever worrying that your kids will ding the door of the car next to you?! Have you!?" ;)

For today's newsletter, I just want to do a run through of FAQs about our current minivan - sprinkling in experience with our other minivans as well as someone whose primary vehicle has been a minivan for 11 years now!

The Journey to our Current Van

1. This is our second Honda Odyssey! In 2015, we bought our very first minivan: a 2004 Toyota Sienna. I LOVED that van. In 2017, we sold that van with 197,000 miles on it and bought a 2007 Honda Odyssey with 134,000 miles on it. In 2021, we bought a 2013 Toyota Sienna with 196,000 miles on it. I knew the high miles were not a problem when it comes to Toyotas. Unfortunately in the summer of 2023, I got in a fender bender that crushed the radiator and a few other things. The van was considered totaled. It had 266,000 miles on it and I know it would have continued to run and run and run. It drove smoother than my current 2018 Honda Odyssey.
2. When we were van shopping in the fall of 2023 to replace the totaled Sienna, I really wanted a 2021 Toyota Sienna Hybrid. The going price for these was $35,000+ at the time. We had just sold the first home we owned and were renting for the time so we had the cash.
3. But the more I looked the more I couldn’t justify spending that much on a van when there are vans that would functionally provide the exact same experience to our family and cost a lot less.
4. I knew that Honda was the only other make of vehicle I was willing to buy, so I started searching for as nice of a Honda Odyssey as I could find for under $30,000.
5. I found our current van about an hour away from home. We bought a 2018 Honda Odyssey Touring with 96,000 miles on it for $29,000 including all taxes, tags, license transfers, etc.
6. It was our first time ever buying from a dealership. Didn't love it. :) I prefer to buy in cash in person from small used car places or straight from the owner. I know I'm the oddball on this. But Joe in his driveway isn't gonna try to force me into a bunch of warranties and protective coatings that I don't need and cost $4,000. On a more serious note, in Illinois the tax on a car you buy private party is a fraction of the tax you pay when you purchase a vehicle from a dealership.

Cost of Repairs so Far

1. We have done a few things to it, but they have all been standard maintenance that comes with wear and tear aside from one.
2. Standard maintenance:
   1. replaced one set of breaks in 2024 and the other set at the end of 2025. ($500 per set - including an oil change each time)
   2. 100,000 mile tune up to replace a few belts, spark plugs, and other car-maintenance type things I don’t fully understand. $300 plus a day of driving a brand new Honda Pilot when the maintenance tech went home for the day with my van key in his pocket lol. :)
   3. Late 2025: a new set of tires. We had been slipping on the ice and struggling to get out of our driveway. The new tires made all the difference in the world. $1,100 including labor and disposing old tires.
3. Non standard maintenance: While driving on a trip, we heard a weird sound all the sudden in the back right side of our van. It happened when we went over a big divet in the highway. After that, we heard that sound and felt the van pull side to side if we went over a big bump. Not great. We took it in to our mechanic and it was a broken strut: something that shouldn’t have happened on a 7 year old car, but it did. It cost about $300 to repair.

Where We've Taken our 2018 Odyssey

1. Outer Banks, North Carolina and Washington, DC in Summer 2024
2. Denver, Colorado in December 2024
3. Gulf Shores, Alabama in March 2025
4. Lots of trips to Chicago, St. Louis, Iowa, Indiana to visit family!

When we go on these long haul road trips, the van is an absolute workhorse in making us comfortable and efficient. I mean what other vehicle besides a minivan could fit 6-8 people and their stuff for a week while also getting 29+ miles per gallon?!

It never feels more like the minivan is doing exactly what it was made to do than when the suitcases are piled to the ceiling, the snack bins are all over the floor, the library DVDs are stocked, and mom and dad are taking turns cruising down the highway!

Rapidfire Features and Experiences

1. Honda made Apple CarPlay standard in vehicles in 2018 (another perk over Toyota who didn’t make it standard until 2021). My car has wired CarPlay, but I bought an adapter to plug into the van’s usb port and now my phone connects wirelessly to carplay as soon as I get in.
   1. I LOVE CarPlay. It’s completely unnecessary and I also love it. I love being able to use google maps right on the screen, listen to my podcasts, etc.
   2. Did I drive a vehicle from ages 16 to 32 without it? Yup. Do I imagine i’d be sad if I went back to a vehicle without it? Also yup.
2. Average Miles per Gallon: For my daily driving (mostly in town), the van averages 23-24 miles per gallon. On a road trip with flat highway cruise miles, we can get 29-30 miles per gallon!
   ​
3. Braking Assistance and Warnings: While this startled me at first, I am glad for it. The dash will flash BRAKE in all caps if I'm approaching a stopped vehicle too quickly, then it will go from flashing to beeping if I'm getting really close, and finally if I'm dangerously close or dangerously fast, the vehicle will actually engage the breaks on its own. It has only had to engage the brakes twice while I've been driving, but I've been very thankful for that feature every time.
   ​
4. Things I Don't Like:
   1. The seats aren’t as deep as my previous Toyota Sienna. As tall people, we noticed that right away.
   2. Hondas just don’t glide or accelerate like butter the same way Toyotas do. Not necessarily something I dislike about this van, just something I notice having primarily been a Toyota driver.
   3. Related to the previous point, I just feel like it’s not going to last as long as my Toyota did and data backs that up. The van currently has 131,000 miles on it which is half the miles my previous van had.
   4. Lane assist: I have this feature off in my van. The touring line of Odyssey in the 2018 model can sense when the van is crossing a lane line and guide the van back into the lane. However, I have found that especially at night this isn't accurate or helpful. If one of my tires even touches the lane line, the steering wheel will shutter and the car will beep telling me to stay in my lane. But I am! So I don't use this feature.
5. Myth Busted about Interior Space and Leg Room:
   1. When I went on the Carpool Podcast, I mentioned that I currently drive a minivan but being as tall as we are and having 3 sons who are projected to be even taller than Kyle and myself, I guessed we’d have to swap for a 3rd row SUV at some point. Kelly showed me the data on interior space including leg room and I stand corrected!
   2. The space a 3rd row SUV takes up may be larger because it has more headspace and more space side to side, but the Honda Odyssey has more leg room especially in the 3rd row which we will be using for many years to come. So while an SUV may sit up taller and have more room for your head/arms, your knees will be in your face in your face if you’re tall - in a way that wouldn’t happen in a minivan. I can attest that I can comfortably sit in the 3rd row of our Honda.
6. What would my next car be after the Odyssey?
   1. I’m not really sure. I think about that sometimes: if this van needed to be replaced or started to break down frequently what would I do? I would definitely test drive non-minivan options and bring my kids along to see what it would be like.
   2. I really wish Toyota made an extended 3rd row SUV that didn’t completely lose it’s trunk if the 3rd row is up. :)
   3. One thing we might do in the next year or two is replace Kyle’s car (2010 Lexus Hybrid with 149,000 miles) with a vehicle that can fit all 6 of us. We’ve run into a few situations where the van was in use or getting maintenance and our family couldn’t all go somewhere. This would give us the chance to see the real daily differences in SUV life and van life.
7. Is buying used always what I'm going to do?
   1. We are in a MUCH different place financially than we were when we bought our first minivans. We paid $9,000 for our very first minivan and it felt like I was giving away every penny I had. But I turned around and sold that van for $7,500 3 years later. Because vehicles drop their value rapidly in the first few years and then very, very gradually as they get older. So really driving that van cost me a net of $1,500 or $500 per year when many people have a monthly car payment that’s at least that much.
   2. So I’ve played the mental hypothetical: would there be a time in our lives financially when I would buy a new car? And honestly I think the answer is “A LOT would have to change in my life to make me willing to ever be the one who takes the hit on that rapid depreciation in the first few years of a car’s life.”
   3. I can see myself buying a car that’s 2-3 years old (which would feel like a luxury in itself. The newest car I’ve ever bought was 6 years old). But I would only do that if I had been saving the funds for it in advance and it was an anticipated purchase.
   4. If my current van died unexpectedly today and I had to replace it ASAP, I’d use whatever I could get for it (probably $10,000 if it had major issues), add that to $10,000 from my emergency fund, and buy a reliable running Toyota or Honda for $20,000.

I'm sure there's a lot more I could say, but hopefully this gives a real look into my life as a 4x mom and 4x minivan purchaser. If you're avoiding minivans simply for the stereotype of it all, let this newsletter release you of that myth!

PS: When the 3rd row is down (easily stows into the trunk with the pull of a handle), and the captain's chairs are slid all the way forward... This van becomes a cargo hauler. When we moved back in May, I could load sooooooo much stuff into one run because of how much horizontal and vertical space the van has with the back seat down. Just yesterday, I picked up a table off Facebook marketplace and it plopped into the back seat of the van no problem!

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