looking for bigger grocery getter....

[pELYgroso]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! ok, so I have another quesiton. In pondering what we "need" vs. what we "want" I'm trying to humble myself a little and consider a minivan. We're going to look at some Tahoe's tomorrow, so the SUV isn't ruled out, but we have broadened our search a little to the minivan category. So, who here has experience in a minivan? There are quite a few w/ slightly over 100k miles on ksl for $3-5k. I know, they don't tow, and they don't do washboard roads, but this will be something that we'll likely have for a couple years and sell. StealthGear is starting to really take off, and we're trying to put as much money as we can back into it to get it where we want it to be, so we're doing the rice and beans thing right now while its growing. I'm still doing roofing as well, but trying to live frugally so that we can build StealthGear. One of the reasons for getting a different vehicle is that we'll be traveling around the West to gun shows for the next year and want something that gets a little better mileage than our 4runner, and is more comfy to drive long distances w/ 2 guys + a bunch of gear and gun show stuff. Anyways, anybody love their minivan? On KSL, there are lots of Dodge Caravans and Crysler Town and Country vans with a few honda odysseys and Montanas. I'm seeing that these minivans are all rated at 17-23 mpgs-ish which is a little better than the 15-18 that I'm seeing w/ the SUVs that we're looking at. Definitely a selling point!

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

[sixstringsteve]

Odysseys are great vehicles, except that they often have tranny problems after 140k.

 

[pELYgroso]

Thanks Steve! Did you have one? We do like the look of the Odysseys better than the Grand Caravans and others, but we're trying to not let that be much of a determining factor. What kinds of tranny problems?

 

[sixstringsteve]

Never owned one, but I pick my mechanic's brain a lot. Apparently they used the same tranny in the accord v6, pilot, and oddyssey. They can't handle the power of the v6 over long periods of time. I know quite a few people who have had tranny problems in their oddysseys around 170k. That's still a lot of life on a tranny, but those are one of the most expensive Honda trannies (~$850 if I recall). I'm a huge Honda fan, but I wouldn't buy an oddyssey within the years of known tranny problems.

My in-laws have a sienna and it's amazing.

 

[idahoyj]

We looked at minivans and ended up with a Honda Pilot (SUV type thing). In hindsight, I still think a van would have been a better choice for us. The Pilot is a sweet car though. The Pilot gets slightly less MPG than the Odyssey, and the Pilot has less interior room. But I got hung up on the fact that the Pilot is an SUV and the Odyssey is a minivan, and of the two, I thought an SUV was "cooler".....
There are always tons of used Caravans and Montana type vans for sale cheap. But the Honda Odysseys and Toyota Siennas really hold their value a lot better than anything else in the "minivan" category. When we were looking, we saw Honda/Toyota vans go for 40-50% more money than the comparable Chrysler/Dodge/Pontiac.

 

[pELYgroso]

Amy experiences with the 3.0 v6 in Monteros?

 

[blznnp]

I rented a tahoe when we were in WA a few weeks ago when our odysseys A/C went out. As nice as it would be to have a vehicle that could tow, thats the only benefit I see with it. I am sure our van could tow a small trailer with a few things in it, luckily I have my f350 to do any towing that I need. Our van has been one of the best vehicles I have owned. My wife said she would never drive one and I said I wouldn't buy one, but once she took a ride in one, she was hooked. Since we have 3 kids and another on the way, we will have to have the back seats up and with our van, we will have more room in the back than a tahoe and most likely a explorer. With having the dash farther forward than a typical SUV, it allows for the extra room out back. Having the back area also sunk down so that the seats can fold down and be flat with the rear bumper, that sunken area allows for more room when the seats are up and we don't have to take the seats out since they are not in the way at all when they are folded down. Once you get over the un-cool factor, mini-vans are great. My parents put their old grand caravan through hell and it worked great and never let us down.

 

[moab_cj5]

I have a 2007 Honda Van, and I love it. I have just over 100k miles and all I have done is replace the timing belt. I recommend the Honda. They are very reliable, plenty of power, and tons of room. I get about 18mpg in town, and if my wife drives, 24-26 mpg on the highway. I get between 22-24 because I average 82-85 on the freeway and she keeps it under 80 most of the time.

 

[Houndoc]

Amy experiences with the 3.0 v6 in Monteros?

Under powered. My brother had one, but overall much less power than mine with the 3.5. Still overall a decent little SUV.

Love my 03 Montero MS. 185k miles, very little problems along the way.

 

[pELYgroso]

Found what we are getting...should have it tomorrow. I'm pretty excited! Stay tuned!

 

[pELYgroso]

Picked up an '02 Montero! We looked at Tahoes, Highlanders, Expolorers, Expeditions, and we found a clean Montero that has everything we wanted, and in our budget!

 

[Gravy]

Pics!

 

[sawtooth4x4]

I had the first Gen (1994) Grand Cherokee with a 5.2L V8. It was a pretty nice rig. i picked one up for $600. It was loaded with Leather, CD, Power seats ETC. The owner was not to smart, I knew it only needed a battery to get it running, and a few other things to fix. I ended up selling it 3 months later for $3500. LOL!

 

[Kiel]

fullsize montero or a sport? We have quite a few sports, always dealing with head and burning oil issues

 

[pELYgroso]

fullsize. Any problems I should look for that you know of? It runs really smooth. 130k miles and the PO just did the timing belt, water pump, spark plugs, and some other 120k maintenance items a few thousand miles ago.

 

[Kiel]

No we have decent luck with those, not a lot of them around here it seems. Other then getting expensive weird parts through mits only they seem pretty good

 

[pELYgroso]

Good to hear! Do you work at a dealership, or just buy a lot of Mitsu's? We really like it!

 

[pELYgroso]

Here's the new ride. '02 Montero limited. So far, we love it! Everything on it seems very well thought out! cubbies and storage everywhere, great placement of all of the dash buttons, etc, comfortable, great space, and drives very smooth! Have any of you used one of these in any sort of a wheeling situation? I'm not planning on anything crazy, but I'd love to be able to do a mild trail now and again. It has a center diff lock, which I'm not exactly clear on the purpose of....can anyone explain exactly what it does? From what I gather, it doesn't really add anything to what a normal 4x4 vehicle has (XJ for example) besides the ability to use the 4 wheel drive more comfortably on the street when the center diff lock is disengaged. Any input?

This will be my wife's DD, so the 4x4 characteristics were really just a bonus! (we were considering minivans even)

the 3.5 v6 is rated at 16-19 mpgs, and rated to tow 5000 lbs. not bad.

 

[Greg]

Nice! I've always like those, have seen a few with 33's and they look great!

The center diff lock splits the t-case power 50/50, versus acting like a limited slip changing the ratio of the power going to the driveshafts. Not really a huge deal (like a diff lock), but a benefit for trail duty.

 

[pELYgroso]

so, it basically gives you normal 4wd instead of "awd" w/out the diff lock?