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Best minivan for winter driving conditions?


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We flipped our 15 passenger van with 6 kids in it the winter before last. Everyone was fine, but ever since I've not been the same with winter driving. (I mean I'm terrified, and I end up staying home more often than not.) DH wants to buy a minivan for me this year -- something that's great in winter driving conditions. Does anyone here have a minivan that drives great on snow and ice?

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I've been driving my Honda Odyssey in the ice and snow for six years now, and only once, when they hadn't salted the roads at all, did I lose control of the van. I slid sideways a little onto some grass, but was able to quickly recover. But, the roads were solid ice, with no traction whatsoever. I turned around and went home after that. For the most part, the stability system light will flash when the tires lose traction and then the car will remedy itself. I live in a very snowy and icy area.

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We live in Maine.

 

We are currently driving a Dodge Grand Caravan...I do NOT like it in the snow, but then again I'm used to driving a Suburban. ;) We had brand new all-season, aggressive tread tires on it last winter and my daughter regularly had trouble slipping and sliding into school.

 

My sister has a Honda Odyssey...she raves about it. She is on on-call nurse and gets called out in all kinds of weather. She has never had a problem getting to the hospital -- even in the middle of the night.

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I've been driving my Honda Odyssey in the ice and snow for six years now, and only once, when they hadn't salted the roads at all, did I lose control of the van. I slid sideways a little onto some grass, but was able to quickly recover. But, the roads were solid ice, with no traction whatsoever. I turned around and went home after that. For the most part, the stability system light will flash when the tires lose traction and then the car will remedy itself. I live in a very snowy and icy area.

 

Thank you. I will look into it. Does it seat seven? I typically have up to six kids with me.

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We live in Maine.

 

We are currently driving a Dodge Grand Caravan...I do NOT like it in the snow, but then again I'm used to driving a Suburban. ;) We had brand new all-season, aggressive tread tires on it last winter and my daughter regularly had trouble slipping and sliding into school.

 

My sister has a Honda Odyssey...she raves about it. She is on on-call nurse and gets called out in all kinds of weather. She has never had a problem getting to the hospital -- even in the middle of the night.

 

OK. Another vote for the Odyssey. Thanks for the information on the Caravan. I would go for a Suburban, but we have to hang onto the gas guzzling 15 passenger until a few more kids go off to college. One gas guzzler in a family is enough.

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I couldn't get the Odyssey up the little hill on my own paved street when it was icy (here, winter road treatments do not include salt). I had to gun it, LOL, and if the garbage truck was in the way, I had to back down the street, wait, and try again.

 

Now I spend a good deal of time driving winding, snowy unpaved mountain roads on weekends in the winter with six kids. I drive a Suburban. I miss the automatic doors of the Odyssey, but love the 4WD of the Suburban and the larger cargo space.

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I would go for a Suburban, but we have to hang onto the gas guzzling 15 passenger until a few more kids go off to college. One gas guzzler in a family is enough.

 

I hear ya...we also have a crew cab dually that we use to move horses, etc. It really hurts when you pull up to the gas pumps.

 

Best wishes...

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Luann, our Honda Odyssey only gets a few miles to the gallon more than our Suburban. For the 4 wheel ability and the heavy body (much safer IMO than our Odyssey if it were to flip), I would vote for the Suburban. We got the Odyssey in August so we have no winter driving experience yet, but the Suburban has been our best vehicle for getting out of our property the last few winters when we've had record snows, ice, and mud. The 1987 Jeep Grand Wagoneer is fantastic as well, but it is a huge gas guzzler and only seats 5.

 

One problem I can see that we will have with the Odyssey is underbody clearance. It is so much lower to the ground compared to the Suburban. If we lived in the city and all the roads were cleared, I'm sure it would be fine. But navigating our drive to the country road is pretty tough in the big snows. Our cars simply cannot push through the depth (Nissan Maxima and Volkswagen Passat).

 

We kept the Suburban mostly for the winter driving. The Odyssey is so easy to drive and very comfortable, but I can see it parked in the garage if we have the kind of winter we've had the past several years.

 

Good Luck in your search!

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Honestly to fit that many comfortably and have the stability in snow/ice, I'd go SUV (suburban, expedition XL) before I'd buy a minivan. I've owned a windstar and a town and country minivan and my 2wd Expedition does better in snow/ice than either of the minivans which both had some sort of stability system. My Expedition also gets the same gas milage that my t&c got, sure the t&c sticker said it would get better but in reality it never did.

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I've been driving my Honda Odyssey in the ice and snow for six years now, and only once, when they hadn't salted the roads at all, did I lose control of the van. I slid sideways a little onto some grass, but was able to quickly recover. But, the roads were solid ice, with no traction whatsoever. I turned around and went home after that. For the most part, the stability system light will flash when the tires lose traction and then the car will remedy itself. I live in a very snowy and icy area.

 

:iagree:

 

I live near Chicago and never had a problem with my Odyssey.

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How about a Mitsubishi Delica. They are like a minivan on steroids, 4wd and high ground clearance. Can you get them where you are?

 

Alternatively a Toyota landcruiser seats 7 or 8 I think.

 

That would be my choice :D

 

Too bad they don't sell the Honda Odyssey over here!

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We had brand new all-season, aggressive tread tires on it last winter and my daughter regularly had trouble slipping and sliding into school.

 

Is this with snow tires?

 

This is key. You need snow tires. They make all the difference. I never had a problem with my minivan when we had new snow tires. The best SUV in the world is no better than its tires. Traction is all about tires.

 

But when the minivan died, we bought a Yukon XL, with snow tires. :001_smile:

 

The snow tires only last one or two seasons. Really. After that they are no better than All Season. Sometimes, even the second season isn't much better. But with NEW snow tires the difference is remarkable.

 

The best:

http://www.nokiantires.com/tyre?id=11890&group=1.01&name=Nokian

 

(Studs are illegal in some states.)

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This is key. You need snow tires. They make all the difference. I never had a problem with my minivan when we had new snow tires. The best SUV in the world is no better than its tires. Traction is all about tires.

 

:iagree: We've driven mini-vans for 10 years+. A Mazda MPV and now a Kia Sendona. It's all about the right tires. From a Minnesotan who doesn't let the weather keep me home.

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We flipped our 15 passenger van with 6 kids in it the winter before last. Everyone was fine, but ever since I've not been the same with winter driving. (I mean I'm terrified, and I end up staying home more often than not.) DH wants to buy a minivan for me this year -- something that's great in winter driving conditions. Does anyone here have a minivan that drives great on snow and ice?

 

Hi Luann,

 

We own an AWD Toyota Sienna and I adore it :001_smile:! We live in Alaska where there is snow on the ground 8 months out of the year and it handles very well. We have a truck and have had an SUV and I think the minivan handles similarly to the SUV. I also feel safer in it because it is on a car frame and less likely to flip over than an SUV. It fits 7 and I don't know if it has an option for 8.

 

I don't know how old your kids are but we have three in car-seats in ours. One plus of a minivan over an SUV is the ease of accessibility to the carseats.

 

Good luck in your search!

 

Marisa

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Hi Luann,

 

We own an AWD Toyota Sienna and I adore it :001_smile:! We live in Alaska where there is snow on the ground 8 months out of the year and it handles very well. We have a truck and have had an SUV and I think the minivan handles similarly to the SUV. I also feel safer in it because it is on a car frame and less likely to flip over than an SUV. It fits 7 and I don't know if it has an option for 8.

 

I don't know how old your kids are but we have three in car-seats in ours. One plus of a minivan over an SUV is the ease of accessibility to the carseats.

 

Good luck in your search!

 

Marisa

 

Thank you so much, everyone. Dh and I are going to sit down and make a list while going over this information again carefully. Lots to think about.

 

We did look at some Siennas yesterday when we had to drive to the city to replace dh's phone which he lost while hunting in the woods. :tongue_smilie: They didn't have any of the AWD's though. I did wonder about the clearance issues Cynthia mentioned as it seems to sit low like the Odyssey. Has that been a problem at all, Marisa? OTOH, as you said, I couldn't imagine that thing ever flipping, and I never never never want to flip a vehicle again.

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I asked about the snow tires because they really do make a tremendous difference--one I myself was not aware of. I was always under the impression that "all season" tires were just as good, and that they made sense in Canada, where I live, since we have "all seasons" here. But then I saw a clip from the Rick Mercer show where he drove a car with all seasons and a car with snow tires on a closed track, and compared them. Quite the difference--the stopping distance alone was enough to convince me I had been mistaken. We put snow tires on our SUV for the first time last year, and it handled much better, which made me a more confident driver, so we did not "hide in our homes until April", as Rick says.

 

Rick Mercer hosts a very popular news/politics satire show once per week in Canada; sort of a cross between Daily Show and Colbert (and I emphasize the 'sort of'). The clip showing the differences between driving with snow tires and all seasons can be found

. The comparison of the stopping distance starts about 1:20. Edited by veggiegal
adding info
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We drive a toyota sienna and live in an area where we can get a lot of snow in short periods of time. Ours has driven beautifully. I will say we do have winter tires which i think make a world of difference to winter driving. Its law here but I wouldn't drive in the winter without my winter tires.

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I asked about the snow tires because they really do make a tremendous difference--one I myself was not aware of. I was always under the impression that "all season" tires were just as good, and that they made sense in Canada, where I live, since we have "all seasons" here. But then I saw a clip from the Rick Mercer show where he drove a car with all seasons and a car with snow tires on a closed track, and compared them. Quite the difference--the stopping distance alone was enough to convince me I had been mistaken. We put snow tires on our SUV for the first time last year, and it handled much better, which made me a more confident driver, so we did not "hide in our homes until April", as Rick says.

 

Rick Mercer hosts a very popular news/politics satire show once per week in Canada; sort of a cross between Daily Show and Colbert (and I emphasize the 'sort of'). The clip showing the differences between driving with snow tires and all seasons can be found

. The comparison of the stopping distance starts about 1:20.

 

Thanks for the link. I'll go take a look. I agree that having the right winter tires is extremely important. We put them on all our cars, and we'll put them on anything we get.

 

We've tried different winter tires on the 15 passenger vans, and they of course make a huge improvement, but not enough to compensate for the rear wheel drive and instability of those things. After we totaled our van in that accident, I found out while researching to buy another one that those things are just prone to rollovers .

Edited by Luann in ID
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Honda Odyssey!!!!!!!

Do not and I mean DO NOT buy a Dodge minivan or Chrysler at that. They are horrid , horrid vehicles that suck you dry, money wise. WE have a 2005 Dodge and we will be spending about $3,000 on repairs. Sad thing its blue book value is $7,000. NOt worth it. WE had a Voyager and it too was a piece of junk. We have had the same exact problems with both vehicles. The exhaust system is poor. The breaks need replacing every 6 months ( the consensus from others as well who own these vehicles). We've only had our van for two years and right now it needs a new exhaust system, water pump, tie rods, new tires and alignment, the motor to the window is going on the driver's side, a flex plate, and that is not to mention the whole air conditioning unit went. These are things that each day slowly go on our van.

 

Luckily I had enough common sense to shut everything down one day when the van refused to move at a stop light. When it turned green I pushed the petal to go and it wouldn't move! Scared the living daylights out of me. Thankfully my mother in law was with me that day otherwise I woudl have paniced because I had my girls with me and it was the hottest day of the summer, not to mention my youngest is on a medication that causes her to overheat!!! So I shut everything down and the van moved. The mechanic my husband called said it was a good thing I did that otherwise it would have blow up the motor! They are just a poorly made vehicle. Stay away from them at all costs. Even friends we have that have owned them say they are money pitts and have had the same exact problems. So its just not the vehicle we pick out. Its the brand.

If we could afford another vehicle it would absolutely be a Honda Odyssey.

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I'm sure it depends on how much snow you get, but I had a 2WD Toyota Sienna with brand new studded snow tires, and it didn't work for me. We traded it in for a 4WD Toyota Sequoia and it does much better in the snow. I still miss the van, but in the winter I'm *much* happier with my Sequoia.

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It depends on your winters. I drove a Honda Odyssey for six years and it was fantastic on ice. Great traction control, but here we get piles of snow and residential streets are not plowed so I spent many a night worrying about whether I would get out the next day or not. If I went back to a mini-van it would have to be the Toyota because of their AWD version. I have cursed Honda many times for not making an AWD version of the Odyssey because it really is a beautiful vehicle.

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Well do you have hills where you are? The added benefit of the SUV, besides clearance, is weight. It means I can get up my hill safely, all but about one week a year, without rolling backwards into trees. And yes, with the clearance I go can through 15" of snow without blinking an eye. Much safer. Just depends on what you need to negotiate.

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We flipped our 15 passenger van with 6 kids in it the winter before last. Everyone was fine, but ever since I've not been the same with winter driving. (I mean I'm terrified, and I end up staying home more often than not.) DH wants to buy a minivan for me this year -- something that's great in winter driving conditions. Does anyone here have a minivan that drives great on snow and ice?

I have a 2000 chrysler with all-wheel drive, it's 60/40 front. (under no circumstances will I ever buy a new one from them again. besides, the stopped making the AWD) I've since put spikes spiders on it, but haven't had enough snow to warrent using them.

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