Sorry for the delay. Been a bit distracted by emergency house repairs.
How about another 2004 Sedona? Surely you can find one in good condition, and it sounds perfect for your needs.
The Sedona has been one problem after another. I think that every year it was an IIHS top safety pick, but it's so poorly built that it spent at least 3 months of the 6.5 years we've owned it in the shop or dead in the driveway until I could fix. Our mechanic really hated it because the parts can be hard to get, and because it was designed by a five year old. In order to replace the starter I had to remove a large section of the exhaust pipe, but couldn't because the bolt holding it in was so rusted that nothing short of an air wrench could remove it. In the process I found out that the engine has an internal oil leak somewhere, so the engine will need to be stripped down with only 130k miles on it. The total failure of whatever's leaking is the ticking clock we're racing against.
So definitely no more Kias. The whole experience has soured me quite a bit on foreign cars in general since my American cars always served me well, but my only foreign car has been nothing but headaches. We bought the Sedona after my Ranger got totaled. To get the Ranger I traded in the '87 Chrysler 5th Avenue my grandmother had given me several years before; she bought it from an old lady who sold it only because her late husband told her to get a new car every 10 years. It's old enough that its odometer only has 5 digits, but since I had both of its last two title transfers I know it had rolled over at least once. I don't remember what it read when I sold it, but I'd guess it had at least 150k miles on it, and possibly more than 200k.
I only sold it because I installed a new alternator (an easy 15-minute job on a car that old), and a few months later something else in the electrical system had damaged that alternator. The only other major problem I ever had with that car was when second gear died and I had to get the transmission rebuilt (that $1000 was still less than buying a new one). All told "The Beast" spent less than a week out of service in three years and I spent less than $2,000 on parts and the labor on the tranny rebuild.
Regardless of country of origin, I want
that kind of reliability from something that better suits my current needs.
I hesitate to recommend an SUV, but given your height and passenger requirements, but one with a 3rd row of seating might work for you. No idea how the seat height would work, but something like a Honda Pilot, maybe?
I've always railed against SUVs for the same reasons MMM does (like how few of them ever actually need 4WD), but one of the increasingly popular super-sized station wagon type with FWD could work very well. As I have spent years ranting about the absurdity of SUVs I would never have thought of that option on my own. Thanks.
I've had several friends over the years who owned Pilots, including my best man, so I'll see what their experiences have been like.
I can count on one hand the number of times in the 13 years I've lived here that I could have used 4WD, but after driving the van for nearly 7 years I've come to love FWD and wouldn't want to go back to RWD, but I don't know which crossovers offer FWD.
Also, one part of my chronic pain is that I can't always use both legs and both hands, so I require an automatic transmission. I can now comfortably drive with any combination of one hand and one foot (but always use as many as are working in order to maximize safety), but can't always spare the limbs to change gears. A related feature I hadn't thought of before is driver's side armrests that will allow me to keep my hands on the wheel without my arms wearing out.
