tcufrog
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2012
I went through 2 Honda Odysseys and as soon as DS8 could climb in and out of an SUV unassisted I ditched the minivan. It was a very practical car but I hated the way it handled in inclement weather even with brand new tires and brake pads. I never felt safe driving it on slippery roads. It also had a horrible turning radius so I hated parking it in tight parking lots. I also hated having to remove the second row seats if I wanted the back to be totally flat. I love my year-old VW Atlas 4 Motion much better. It handles much better in lousy weather and it has a really tight turning radius for it's size so it's easy to park. The second row seats easily fold flat for hauling stuff. The only things I miss about my Odyssey are: removable front row center console which was great for hauling long, narrow items, mirror that allowed me to spy on the kids in the back, and the cavernous back for hauling stuff.I also long to have a minivan again some days. You really can't beat them for cargo space, gas mileage (for that size vehicle), ability to access the 3rd row seating, and the sliding doors make getting kids in and out of car seats (or getting anything in and out of the back seats) so much easier. I miss that some days. I drove minivans for 20 years while my kids were young but I wanted to move on (the youngest is 15 now) and I really like the Acadia -- much better in snow because of the AWD and the weight of the vehicle. But on those days when we're traveling or transporting a bunch of adults, I want my minivan back. Ideally, I would have bought a minivan with AWD but a slightly used minivan with AWD is much more challenging to find than a slightly used SUV with AWD. I needed to find a car within about 2 weeks, so I just didn't have the luxury of doing an extensive search. And realistically, mentally I was ready to leave my minivan days behind me so I really only looked at SUVs during my search. But hindsight is 20/20. <sigh>
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