6+ Passenger Vehicles

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

AFAIK the US-spec never get more than 8 seats. I guess the 11-seater caters to either some countries in Asia and Africa or to Australia in order to ensure some tax breaks, yet I'm not sure about its availability in Australia.

[redpoint5]

Screw that then, going with something more fuel efficient.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Too bad the Diesel versions are also not available stateside. Otherwise I guess it would've been a winner.

On a sidenote, I don't know why Hyundai doesn't offer the Staria there, would've been a great option.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I saw an older stretch limo at Silver Falls State Park on Sunday.

I keep thinking it would be nice to confine kid chaos to the back, with the privacy glass up.

20ish years ago we ran into a family in Death Valley driving an old stretch limo. They had 6 kids and said the limo: was cheaper, drove better, and got better fuel economy than the vans they had before.

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Too bad the Diesel versions are also not available stateside. Otherwise I guess it would've been a winner.

On a sidenote, I don't know why Hyundai doesn't offer the Staria there, would've been a great option.

Diesel is not a winner in the USA. It only made sense when diesel was cheaper than gasoline and diesels had lower emissions standards.

Today:

1. A diesel engine costs thousands more than a gas engine
2. Diesel cost more gasoline. (US national average $3.53 gas / $3.92 diesel)
3. In the USA if anything goes wrong with the emission system of a diesel vehicle it will go into limp mode after about 500 miles.

Diesel still makes sense if you are towing heavy loads or doing a lot of highway driving but diesel does not make sense for a family vehicle. They REALLY don't do well for city driving

A DI turbo gas engine will do as well as a diesel for total cost to own and a hybrid will do better.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by JSH

20ish years ago we ran into a family in Death Valley driving an old stretch limo. They had 6 kids and said the limo: was cheaper, drove better, and got better fuel economy than the vans they had before.

This is pretty much the reason I would prefer a station wagon over a crossover. In fact, a three row station wagon would be the perfect family hauler in my opinion.

Originally Posted by JSH

Diesel is not a winner in the USA. It only made sense when diesel was cheaper than gasoline and diesels had lower emissions standards.

Today:

1. A diesel engine costs thousands more than a gas engine
2. Diesel cost more gasoline. (US national average $3.53 gas / $3.92 diesel)
3. In the USA if anything goes wrong with the emission system of a diesel vehicle it will go into limp mode after about 500 miles.

Diesel still makes sense if you are towing heavy loads or doing a lot of highway driving but diesel does not make sense for a family vehicle. They REALLY don't do well for city driving

A DI turbo gas engine will do as well as a diesel for total cost to own and a hybrid will do better.

Ya, I get it. But I am a little nostalgic for diesel cars. Still, it makes sense why they're pretty much gone.

I just wish there were still some manual transmission hybrids. That would be fun to me.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by JSH

Diesel is not a winner in the USA. It only made sense when diesel was cheaper than gasoline and diesels had lower emissions standards.

I'd still rather pick the 4-cyl 2.2L turbodiesel over the 3.5L V6 gasser if I had a chance. Well, had some amendment to the driver licensing in my country been implemented to allow holders of a regular driver license to drive anything with more than 9 seats, that 11-seater version of the Carnival with a turbodiesel would've been more appealing here just like it is in some Asian countries.

[redpoint5]

After watching some Alex Dikes videos on minivans, I'm leaning towards the 8-seat Sienna hybrid. Now for used pricing to back away from the absurd.

Maybe something not sucky will appear on the list of available options from my company fleet list. Last time I checked, they had 3 options, 2 of which were unavailable, leaving a Ford F150 as the only choice. Makes me miss the 2014 Grand Caravan I was initially issued, which shifted rough and wasn't fuel efficient. I don't pay for fuel though, so it's not a big factor in my selection criteria.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Both the Toyota and the F-150 are the most conservative choices, even though the hybrid setup of the Sienna may be seen by some as not so conservative at all... But anyway, does the F-150 still have a front bench seat or other accomodation for a 2nd passenger in the front row? I believed only Chevy still had such option nowadays.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Both the Toyota and the F-150 are the most conservative choices, even though the hybrid setup of the Sienna may be seen by some as not so conservative at all... But anyway, does the F-150 still have a front bench seat or other accomodation for a 2nd passenger in the front row? I believed only Chevy still had such option nowadays.

I'm quite the liberal person; more liberal that most.

That said, I am leaning towards the Sienna due to assumed reliability, fuel efficiency, and 8-seat option. It's $40k though, and used examples are still expensive.

The Sienna seats aren't removable, so that limits utility. The Pacifica seats are removable, but reliability is assumed to be worse. It's more expensive, but subsidies bring it around where the expensive Sienna is.

Maybe I'll get a CyberTruck.

My Dodge truck has 3 passengers up front. Unfortunately (or fortunately) all the rest have to sit in the bed.

The seats in the bed aren't so bad. My buddy Tom on our trip to Silver Lake.


(wife disapproves of children riding back there, and the beer)

[Piotrsko]

Without seat belts and roll protection, chair restraints it's also mildly illegal for highway use