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OT: large family vehicles with AWD?
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I posted about a year ago for someone wanting to know a good larger family vehicle for lots of carseats, and we’ve enjoyed our GMC Safari for a long time. However, it hasn’t had heat for a couple of years, and is starting to have a few problems (that hubby could fix) but it also handles very poorly in the snow/ice because it’s rear wheel drive so he’s wanting to get a different van. When I started looking at other vans in our price range, they are almost always rear wheel drive, including most of the 10 or 12 passenger vans. So those of you who own larger vans like that, do you just stay home in bad weather?:) Or are there other vehicles that have all wheel drive that would be in our budget (less than 5,000 for sure)?
There are 8 of us, 3 in carseats, 3 in booster seats. Thanks!
I don’t know much about any AWD vehicles, but I love my 2005 Pontiac Montana. It’s front wheel drive. I never have trouble in the snow (with snow tires), and we get A LOT of snow. Right now it’s difficult to see when a car is parked in front of my house, because the snow piles are about as tall as most cars.
I currently have 4 carseats and 2 boosters installed, but have done many different variations. I run a dayhome, so I’ve had several different combinations of children over the time we’ve owned the van. My only complaint is that there are only 4 top tether bolts for forward facing seats (which are mandatory in Canada), and the centre seats in both rows only have lap belts, so I have to carefully plan which seats will go where whenever we have a change. I also have to flip up one side seat to load the 3 in the back, so the child in that seat has to wait a bit. Although, I just consider that the price I have to pay since I do NOT want to have to drive a larger vehicle.
I don’t know if that helps, but I thought I’d throw out the option for you.
Joanne
Our 12 passenger van is rear wheel drive. Not my favorite with the snow. We’re in Ohio so we’ve had some days we stay home, others we try to go places despite the snow. Thankfully we live in town so while our streets are usually a mess, we’re close to main roads that get cleared/salted.
We’re trying to figure out a different problem – how to get a large family vehicle that has a wheelchair lift. Sigh. When this summer baby arrives we’ll have ten people in the family. Mason is our 1 year old and he’s paralyzed from the waist down so we know in a few years we need a lift so he’s able to get in and out on his own. Not sure what we’ll do for that… any ideas?
We have a 15 passenger van (and it’s getting pretty full – baby #10 is due in 5 weeks!). We live in Alberta, and this year has been the worst for snow that we’ve seen in a while. With good winter tires we have been able to travel most places that we have wanted to, although it’s important to remember that the large vans need a little more caution when driving in poor conditions. On very bad weather days we stay home, but those are days I wouldn’t drive my SUV.
Have a 12 passanger and just agree with the other moms. Slow and easy. My dh has a 15 passanger for work (installs carpet) and it’s the same thing, good tires and slow and steady. He has maybe missed 3 days of work in over the last 10 years, because of not wanting to drive in the weather, and you know what many people should have stayed home those days also LOL. We live in MN so snow and slop are the norm in the winter. Although the sun is out right now! YEPPIE
Sun is great isn’t it?:) My in-laws are coming from Arizona in 2 days and I think our snow will still be here! Thanks for the suggestions/thoughts. Joanne, I’ll look into the Montana, it sounds good to me if hubby is fine with front wheel drive (which is better than rear). And someone is already always waiting to get into our van anyways with all the kids/buckling/baby carseat, etc! We may have to go up to a larger one anyways (my tall 8 yr old is pretty squished in the back), and as much as I’d love some space to put groceries/stroller, etc. I don’t care for driving, esp. with long cars so if we can get away with it for a bit longer that’s fine with me.
Tristan, I thought I had seen something on autotrader but can’t finf it now. I’m sure that must be very challenging. I wonder if you could just call companies (Ford, Chevy, etc.) and ask them if they have any models that fit your needs, then try to find those used?
I forgot to mention that it’s the older Montanas that have the 8 passenger feature. The ones manufactured in the second half of 2005 and forward only have 7 passengers, as far as I know. We got the newest one we could that would still hold 6 kids. I know that some of the Honda Odysseys and some Toyota Siennas also have 8 passengers, but the Montanas were in our price range. If you can find an older Odyssey or Sienna, though, you might find one at a good price. Be careful, though, because some of the ones we saw had a a much smaller seat in the middle of the front row, that wouldn’t have fit a carseat very well. I can’t remember which ones they were.
Joanne
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