Foo - Do you drive a mini van?

I know one guy who does. He's a wanker.

El Coucho

Do you have kids?

Nope, they're too big. And I do have kids.

FWIW, I don't drive one since I have only one kid. A Crossover works for my case.

Currently? No. Previously? Yes, Chevy Lumina APV, Plymouth Voyager Sport, Plymouth Grand Voyager, Pontiac Transport Montana, Chrysler Town & Country LXi. All but the very first one came from the same used car lot. Had 5 kids between the two of us.

But we have a Jeep Liberty now, as we're down to just two kids in the house.

It's a trap. This a trick question.

Sort of. I drive a Ford Freestyle. Basically a station wagon, but Ford tries to call it a "crossover".

No, but I do drive a station wagon.

I know one guy who does. He's a wanker.

El Coucho
We had a Dodge Grand Caravan for 14 years.

I would only drive one if it had an air mattress in the back and a disco ball hanging from the ceiling.

Yes, a 2005 Honda Odyssey. It's an awesome family truckster. We also have a wagon, a 2006 Audi A4 Avant. Not as much cargo room as the Odyssey but a great road car and with AWD, it's also our ski vehicle.

We had a Dodge Grand Caravan for 14 years.

You are not the wanker I'm looking for.

Couch

Have a newer Dodge Caravan and LOVE it. Wish we could have two.

We only have two kids, so we don't need to it haul all their stuff, but it is nice when we need to "camp out" in it. The kids love to be in the back, so we have the middle seats down and we can all hang out and eat snacks when waiting for stuff (long story), and such. Plus, the kids can't kick the back of my seat when I am driving, and I am 6'3", so I like the upright seated position. And it's newer with the side windows that go down, so it's not like riding in a coffin. Plus, we got the big motor, so it's fast and I win drag races all the time. :)

And the mood lights...I love the green mood lights inside. I never have them off.

I'm seeing a trend here. If I buy a mini van will I automatically have kids then? I've always wanted a Couch Jr or little Couchita...minus my DNA though.

I'm kinda Bat **** Crazy.

Couch

I have plans for buying a Dodge A100 for hauling my bass.

I have plans for buying a Dodge A100 for hauling my bass.

I had one of those... Thirty years ago...

I had a 90's white Dodge Caravan. We called it the "fridge". It was not too big and easy to see out of. It was great until it hit 85,000 miles.

My wife has a 2004 Odyssey. It's wonderful for vacations and paid for, but otherwise I hate it. I call it the "Panzerkampfwagen". It's too big and my lower back hurts while driving.

This thread failed miserably Couch. :lol:

What this thread needs is huge multi element rear wing.

12 passenger chevy express. Fits EVERYTHING with the seats out, and EVERYBODY with seats in.

This is Couch's car

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s65/StupidlyBrave/Antics/tiuningas_001.jpg

Our one family car is a 2002 Ford Windstar.

What this thread needs is huge multi element rear wing.
On a minivan!

Do you have kids?

Yes and there are plenty of other choices with out having for me to degrade myself.

This thread failed miserably Couch. :lol:

Audience, Charlie Burgh is the wanker!

Couch

A 1994 Grand Caravan was my first car when I was 16, and I absolutely loved it. As a kid we always had wood paneled station wagons though, those are my favorite. I really want someone to bring back the "woody" station wagon look.

Our family had a 1st-gen GMC Safari ('87 or '88) for one year, in between two Ford Broncos (an '86 and an '89) chronologically. When we were kids, I remember my dad saying something about mechanical trouble being the reason for getting rid of it so soon. I finally got my dad to admit this year that he just plain hated it, he was not a minivan person, and he dumped it for another Bronco.

Bought a '99 Plymouth Voyager for $1,300. Took the rear seats out. The back is for the dogs, 3 BIG greyhounds. I love the thing. Gets about 25 mpg. Slow as a frozen turd. A car is a box for hauling crap around in. The best shape for a box is a box. I'm a van guy.

I bought a Chevy Astro in about 1989 and it was great. Traveling with a baby we could keep on driving while the other person fed the baby, changed diapers, etc. The MV was also good for camping- it would hold all of our camping gear and also it would pull our small pop-up tent trailer. I took it camping one time with my mountain bike and camping gear in the back, and when I had to I could make room in the back for a small sleeping space. I bought the Astro instead of something like the Chrysler because I wanted a little heavier duty vehicle to pull the trailer.

Sometime right after the Chrysler minivans came out I had a friend whose real passion was windsurfing. He liked sporty cars but needed to carry all of his big gear so he bought a Chrysler minivan with manual transmission and turbocharged engine. It wasn't your ordinary minivan and served him better than any SUV could.

I find the current attitude towards minivans pretty laughable, to me the people that look down on minivans are the real wankers. We owned a Jeep Grand Cherokee for 12 years, a real he-man by god vehicle that would and did go anywhere offroad that we wanted to go. We took it on many offroad trips in Utah and Colorado and it always performed well and asked for more. Here in the big city I see a lot of people driving various pretender SUV's, vehicles that are basically a minivan with outward opening doors, vehicles that couldn't go offroad if they had to and people that don't ever drive them offroad. These are the people that could probably use a minivan but they buy pretend SUV's instead because they look down their noses at minivans. That's why I consider those people to be the real wankers. If they wanted to be something other than pretenders they should buy a real SUV, if they don't have the guts to buy a real SUV then they should buy a minivan.

Yea I gotta add to the rant. Agreed about the not so capable SUV drivers... or even if they are capable SUV's, if you've got no other use besides hauling kids, get a minivan or crossover. The amount of SUV's on the road is ridiculous, and I guarantee 90% of them never see any off road use and only have 1 passenger or less most of the time. Plus, it seems most of them have no idea how to drive a large car. That's not so much a problem with minivans since they pretty much drive like cars. I literally almost had a Hummer run right over me because a lady on the phone was swerving between two lanes going 80 on the highway. Luckily I have a Bosch horn that puts out over 100 db. Just a few weeks after that an Escalade tried to get into my lane without looking, clipped my front bumper with his rear quarter, and it sent him wildly out of control. It was like an unintentional PIT maneuver.

Not that every SUV driver is a ****** or they're all useless... but yea, there's just too many.

mini vans are great if you are trying to avoid getting pulled over, just stick a bunch of family crap on it like those stickers showing family members and some stupid soccer ball antenna or something and you are good to go.

Don't have a minivan yet, but will get one in the foreseeable future. I carry tandem bikes and don't like roof carriers since they require removing the front fender in addition to the front wheel.

With folding rear seats I can fit two bicycles straight up in my 98 rav4 and you CANNOT kill one trust me!

Had to borrow my BIL's 2009 Grand Caravan (fully loaded) to cart around his kids with, last evening. While 'nice', I don't see myself ever wanting a mini-van. It was bliss to slide back into the Jeep Wrangler's driver's seat at the end of the evening, lemme tell you... :twitchy:

Cheers!
Soundwave

We ended up with a CR-V (fwd) because our Fit was too small, we wanted a hatch, and we didn't need/want something nearly as large as an Odyssey. Also, Mrs. A likes the Hondas. I'm not even sure an Odyssey would fit in our carport, but I would have to check. I have no hatred for minivans, though.

I used to hate them and now I wish I'd gotten one even before I got married.

...............I find the current attitude towards minivans pretty laughable, to me the people that look down on minivans are the real wankers. We owned a Jeep Grand Cherokee for 12 years, a real he-man by god vehicle that would and did go anywhere offroad that we wanted to go. We took it on many offroad trips in Utah and Colorado and it always performed well and asked for more. Here in the big city I see a lot of people driving various pretender SUV's, vehicles that are basically a minivan with outward opening doors, vehicles that couldn't go offroad if they had to and people that don't ever drive them offroad. These are the people that could probably use a minivan but they buy pretend SUV's instead because they look down their noses at minivans. That's why I consider those people to be the real wankers. If they wanted to be something other than pretenders they should buy a real SUV, if they don't have the guts to buy a real SUV then they should buy a minivan.

****in' A dood. You could pull the front driveshaft off every 4WD and 4 out of 5 would not notice.

Not a mini-van but an Audi Allroad wagon.

Not a mini-van but an Audi Allroad wagon.

Is that what the Amish are calling their buggies these days?

We've had a long line of mini van in our family: Dodge Caravan, Mercury whatever (it sucked), Toyota Siena (current). The Siena (or "Swagger Wagon") as we refer to it, has held up pretty well...118k miles and counting. It currently has three seats in place...the front two and the one behind the driver. The space behind the passenger is where my daughter's wheelchair goes...and the back has a lift in it for when she uses her power chair. All that room means I can put my bike in without removing anything when I drive to ride starts.

Is that what the Amish are calling their buggies these days?

No, but a lot of Mennonites drive Audi's.

My current bush vehicle is a VW wagon.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-wMO3llg-mzQ/T9z8ihzFGuI/AAAAAAAABAc/go-IRwwntSo/s640/DSCN0509.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-86H5kwjESCU/Tk29iQOKQWI/AAAAAAAAAkI/YpcjPcj4AGo/s640/vw_loaded.JPG

No, but a lot of Mennonites drive Audi's.

Why is that?

Couch

So SB, did you win the "how many things can you strap a boat too?" contest?

My current bush vehicle is a VW wagon.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-wMO3llg-mzQ/T9z8ihzFGuI/AAAAAAAABAc/go-IRwwntSo/s640/DSCN0509.JPG


whoa. a boat strapped to a boat.

whoa. a boat strapped to a boat.

Yup. Plus gear and supplies for three men on a multi-day float. I was the upstream shuttle.

Yesterday, I had four 2x10x14 beams strapped to the roof. I did not take a picture.

Yesterday, I had four 2x10x14 beams strapped to the roof. I did not take a picture.

Are you in the orange?

Why is that?

Couch

They have lots of $$$$ and like nice cars, I reckon.

We got a mini van when kid number 3 came along. 3 car seats in a car backseat is not fun.