7 seater Vehicle

[dabighen]

Hi All,

We have done quite well in our frugality with driving ugly cars nobody wants (therefore buying them dirt cheap).  We have a family of 6, and I drive a 2003 ford Taurus wagon (seats 8 uncomfortably lol) and my wife drives a Mazda 5.

Just found out we have a new addition coming and need a 7 seater.  I may soon have to part with my Taurus due to lack of finding parts for such an old vehicle.

Any suggestions as we begin to look into used 7 seaters?  In my life, I have yet to spend more than $8,000 for a vehicle all less than 100,000 miles upon purchase.  I fear I may have to go north of $20k on my next one.

Tha k you for your advice.

Matt

[RWD]

Toyota Sienna probably your best bet.
https://www.dashboard-light.com/vehicles/Toyota_Sienna.html

You can find sub-100k mile ones for under $10k, but they'll be older (~15+ years old). You should be able to find one that is less than 10 years old with sub-100k miles for under $20k. I don't see much point in going newer as they all basically have the same mediocre fuel economy until you get to just the last couple years ($30k+ used). But if you can swing it the fuel economy improvements are huge (will save you about $1k in gas costs per 15k miles).

2005-2010 Sienna: 19 mpg
2011 Sienna: 20 mpg
2012-2020 Sienna: 21 mpg
2021+ Sienna hybrid: 36 mpg

[MMMarbleheader]

Mazda 5 might be a good bridge vehicle until the new Siennas are more plentiful on the used market and your youngest is out bigger. They stopped making them in 2015 so there won’t be many low mileage ones left for long. We have a 2012 with 170k and stuck between getting another or a sienna. I think we will get one more then move to another van.

[dabighen]

We have a Mazda 5 but it is only 6 seats.  Great vehicle though, I agree.

Thank you for the sienna advice.  That will likely be our pick.  I live in NH and rust is our biggest threat.  Any insight in the extent emit rusts in important places?

[GilesMM]

You should be able to find a Sienna, Odyssey or Sedona less than 10 years old for around $15k.  Mileage up to 150k should be ok.

[MMMarbleheader]

We have a Mazda 5 but it is only 6 seats.  Great vehicle though, I agree.

Thank you for the sienna advice.  That will likely be our pick.  I live in NH and rust is our biggest threat.  Any insight in the extent emit rusts in important places?

Ah, 7 seats got it.

I live in VT and I would avoid cars from here because we use that liquid salt on the highway which rots cars. I heard Maine and NH use more sand.

One positive of buying from a dealer is you can see the carfax report and look at the states the car has lived in. Cargurus is pretty good i have found. You might get lucky and find a southern car.

[yachi]

We like our 2012 Kia Sedona that we bought in 2014.  We're about to roll into the 100,000 mile range, and it's been good to us.  We replaced the shifter assembly, and had some HVAC work done to it.  Other than that, just normal battery tire & oil change stuff.  Oh, and the rear window wiper is so expensive we just pulled the fuse for it.  It's surprising how little we even miss it.
When we bought it, we were also going to look at a Mazda 5.  We had only 2 kids, but now with 4 we feel the Sedona has been a much better fit.  It doesn't get the best mileage, but we make up for it by living close to most things we do.