A minivan for us all

In this entry I will be looking for the best minivan a soccer mom (or dad) could want.  For my search I will filter out anything with less than seating for seven.  And I of course will be using my website, The Vehicle For Me for comparison help.

So let's see what I get with the Minivan segment and seating for seven.  There is the 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan, the 2013 Nissan Quest, the 2013 Toyota Sienna, the 2013 Honda Odyssey, the 2013 Chrysler Town & Country, and the 2012 Volkswagen Routan.  I chose low to mid-level trims for each vehicle.

My priorities for this comparison are cargo space, passenger volume, city/highway mpg, maximum range, power-to-weight ratio, and total exterior volume, because I want the maximum space, fuel economy and power in the smallest package.

Link to Comparison Page

And the Toyota Sienna wins by a large margin!  Let's dig into it and see where its strengths lie.  Interestingly, while the Sienna does have the most cargo space by a large margin, it actually doesn't win in any other category.  But it does well enough (usually placing 2nd or 3rd) that it is able to overcome it's less even competitors.  Indeed, the Sienna seems to be a good all-around vehicle.  Not the best at anything really, but very competent regardless of how you look at it.

The Honda Odyssey comes in second at 73%, and while most of it's attributes lag behind the Sienna, it makes up for it in fuel economy and maximum range, where it tops all competitors with a close to 600 mile range!  It also sports a pretty decent amount of cargo space and interior volume, but is one of the lower power vehicles in the comparison.

The Volkswagon Routan comes in third, just behind the Odyssey in points, and also the most expensive of the top three.  Overall, it is the smallest of all the vehicles here, but ironically one of the heaviest, so it doesn't do as well as it could in either fuel economy or power-to-weight numbers.  And compared to the prices of the other models here, it is one of the worst values.

The Dodge Grand Caravan and Nissan Quest get honorable mentions here.  The Grand Caravan is the cheapest vehicle here, and also the one with the most power, while the Nissan really shines with interior passenger volume and city mpg.

1st - 2013 Toyota Sienna LE FWD V6

2nd - 2013 Honda Odyssey EX

3rd - 2012 Volkswagen Routan SE