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We have a 12-seater Ford Club Wagon and have had it for almost 10 years. It's about 13 years old and has served us very well. I am hoping that it keeps going for another 3-5 years and then I can downsize to a regular sized van!

Yes! This is a great van. We have a GMC version. Chevy also makes a 12 seater van too. It's huge looking, but oh so worth it.

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We have a Suburban and love it. The gas mileage isn't fantastic (about 13 mpg because we have AWD) but we knew that when we bought it and use my smaller Volvo for daily driving. Might not be possible to do that in your situation. Road trips in the Suburban is a dream though. We can pile so many people in it and they are all comfortable and can carry lots of stuff. Growing up we always had Suburbans (three bench seats - could seat 9 pretty comfortably). I suspect as long as I have kids we'll have a Suburban in the driveway.

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We are on our 3rd Suburban. We get almost 17 mpg. We wanted to downsize when we bought our last one, but everything else just seemed too small. Our suburban has plenty of cargo space plus there is enough leg room behind the 2nd seat. All of our suburbans have lasted forever and for the most part we have not had any problems with them

God bless,

Vicki

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  • 7 months later...

My brother's band has gone through 2 Sprinters in short order. The both wore out with less than 100,000 miles on them. I think their driving is probably more similar to what a family would do. I think the Sprinters are great for things like FedEx where its a lot of stop and start, but not so great for highway use.

 

We have a 12 passenger Ford Van, but not the super long one. They make a 12 passenger that's the same length as the 15 passenger, but that's just too long for me. From what I've read the super long vans are not dangerous unless you have them loaded with 15 adults. They get quite top heavy then. I don't worry about that, since I only have 5 kids and they're under 12. I also am always aware that I am driving something prone to rolling and don't drive it like I would a little car or minivan. I think that's most of the problem personally. It's been mostly schools and churches that have had problems with rolling. These are people who quite likely drive little cars every day and then try to drive a van like you would one of those. It just doesn't work.

 

FWIW, our "little car" is a Ford Excursion that seats 8. You can get a 9 seater though, but you lose the center console in the front. I love, love, love my Excursion. We can actually fit all 5 kids (including Britax car seats) quite easily.

 

Have you looked into the Sprinter?

Lots of seats good milage! :auto:

 

http://www.dodge.com/en/2009/sprinter/

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I need at least seating for 8, but was hoping for 10. I am scared to death of those passenger vans. I keep hearing that they are rolling death traps.:eek: Does anyone know how to compare gas milages of big vehicles (mini-vans, passenger vans and the suburban)? The Outlook looks interesting. Thanks everyone!

 

 

I can't speak for the others, but my Chevy Traverse (same as the Saturn Outlook, GMC Acadia, and the Buick Enclave) has about 7500 miles on it and gets 21 mpg. This is an average for the past year (as far as I can tell).

 

It would be very hard to roll. It has a wide wheel base and weighs nearly 5000 lbs. You should take one for a spin! It's even fun to drive and there is legroom enough even for adults in the 3rd row (less cargo room than a mini-van though).

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Wow! That looks amazing! I couldn't find any used ones, but I will definitely keep it in mind. I don't know how it gets such good mileage, even better than mini-vans. I will have to ask hubby about that!

 

It's a diesel. They get better mileage.

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We currently have a Suburban and we've comfortably had 4 car seats, 2 teenagers and 2 adults in there. We could easily fit 3 car seats/booster seats across the second or third row (the third row is slightly shorter than the second). We do not have the front bench seat. There is plenty of storage space behind the third row (about 4 feet deep) and plenty of foot room.

 

Our gas mileage is sad - about 17 mpg as others have said but we also have a tow package since we have an 18 foot boat we tow and that lessens our mileage some.

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My last car was a Ford Expedition. According to the car, I got about 11 miles to the gallon. OUCH! I now drive a Dodge Sprinter. Yes, it is an airport shuttle. I've driven it in 40 MPH winds with guts up to 60 MPH without it falling over. I've never felt the slightest bit tippy in it. If you can find one a little older, they hold 10 people plus cargo. Mine is 2008 and holds 12 people plus cargo. I adore it. Oh, it runs on diesel and gets 22-24 MPG average.

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