Small SUV or Minivan for Family of 4?

[zolotiyeruki]

I was going to say my insurance costs plummeted from a 09 Civic Coupe to a 22 Pacifica van too, but I couldn't remember and haven't had the chance to look. I only had liability on the Civic, but the Pacifica is covered fully. But suffice to say insurance for minivans is as cheap or cheaper than any vehicle. They come loaded with all available safety features, are heavy enough to come out ok when playing bumper cars, and are typically driven by the safest drivers. Liability only will be like 1/4 the cost of a small sedan. Even full coverage will still be quite affordable. This difference will probably come out to a fee hundred per year versus a small SUV as well.

As the owner of both a small sedan and two minivans, one with liability only and the other with collision, I can add a datapoint.  For liability-only, the minivan is slightly more expensive to insure than the sedan--less than $100 more per year.  Collision is a pretty small percentage add-on as well.

You know what's expensive?  Having a teenage driver on your insurance.  You know what's even more expensive?  Insuring a teenage driver who's had a couple fender benders. Ugh.  We now pay more just to insure the teenager in the sedan than we do for the two vans combined.

[Radagast]

I was going to say my insurance costs plummeted from a 09 Civic Coupe to a 22 Pacifica van too, but I couldn't remember and haven't had the chance to look. I only had liability on the Civic, but the Pacifica is covered fully. But suffice to say insurance for minivans is as cheap or cheaper than any vehicle. They come loaded with all available safety features, are heavy enough to come out ok when playing bumper cars, and are typically driven by the safest drivers. Liability only will be like 1/4 the cost of a small sedan. Even full coverage will still be quite affordable. This difference will probably come out to a fee hundred per year versus a small SUV as well.

As the owner of both a small sedan and two minivans, one with liability only and the other with collision, I can add a datapoint.  For liability-only, the minivan is slightly more expensive to insure than the sedan--less than $100 more per year.  Collision is a pretty small percentage add-on as well.

You know what's expensive?  Having a teenage driver on your insurance.  You know what's even more expensive?  Insuring a teenage driver who's had a couple fender benders. Ugh.  We now pay more just to insure the teenager in the sedan than we do for the two vans combined.

I do know that 09 Civic > 14 Forester > 22 Pacifica in terms of liability for me. It was notably less for the van, and absurdly high for the tiny cheap car.

[daverobev]

I'm not saying minivans aren't great, by the way.

Civics get driven by young men I suppose and are in a lot of accidents. Minivans... not so much.

Plus safety features in new vehicles should decrease accidents. It's all valid, worth looking into.

[Radagast]

It could be that "coupe" was my problem and drivers of 2-door cars are just a lot less safe on average, so I shouldn't extrapolate to sedans of the same model.

[LiveLean]

We currently have an Equinox that's dying. We have a two year old daughter and another on the way. We're trying to decide between a Rav 4 and Sienna. The cost difference all factors included is about $800 more per year for the minivan. I'm thinking the Rav4 would be fine since it's the same as our Equinox and can fit a stroller in the back and two car seats. My wife thinks the minivan will be more convenient getting little kids in and out of and also in case we are hauling other people at times.  Anybody else with a small family have an opinion? If the running costs were equal I'd say sure let's go with the minivan, but I'm not sure how much the added convenience is worth.  I also don't want to regret pinching pennies and wish we had bought a minivan for the marginal additional cost. We plan to buy new and keep either one for 15-20 yrs.

A lot depends on how much traveling you do. When our two kids were little, we'd take three-week, 5,000-mile summer roadtrips up and down the East Coast. I can't imagine doing it in anything other than a minivan. We had Chrysler Town & Countrys, which were high maintenance, but the stow-and-go seats were awesome for hauling stuff (and keeping kids separate). I'm also an avid stand-up paddleboarder and it's still my favorite vehicle for those. (I have a RAV4 now and they don't fit as snugly up top.)

Just as there are folks who buy trucks even though they never haul stuff, minivans don't make sense if it's just about shuttling kids around. In this helicopter parenting age, nobody wants to carpool. (Believe me, I tried.) My sister's family of four flies everywhere, owns a truck, and her kids take the bus to school. No idea why she's had a Sienna for all of these years.

I traded in the minivan for a RAV4 when they became teenagers. I'll likely buy another RAV4 when it's time.

[Peachtea]

Minivan over RAV4, if those are the only two you're considering. The RAV4 is both large and tiny at the same time if you have kiddos in car seats. We bought a Bolt EUV, which is much smaller on the outside than the RAV4. But we borrowed my brother-in-law's RAV4 for a day while he tinted the windows on our Bolt. The RAV4 felt very cramped with 1 car seat and we have a Graco extend2fit, which is one of the most compact front to back car seat. I was blown away by how tiny it felt inside compared to our much smaller Bolt or even compared to small sedans we rented before we got the Bolt. But then it also felt like a boat for parking.

[Just Joe]

I'm not saying minivans aren't great, by the way.

Civics get driven by young men I suppose and are in a lot of accidents. Minivans... not so much.

Plus safety features in new vehicles should decrease accidents. It's all valid, worth looking into.

Maybe Civics get stolen alot more too.