Kid Hauler
 

Well, lets face it...I'm probably going to need a kid hauler within the next 5-7 years. I'm graduating in slightly more than a month, I'm getting married two weeks after that, and I'm moving into the brand new house I'm having built about 3 weeks after that. More likely than not...kids are in my near future.

I'm an avid planner...I like to think way ahead - I hate being surprised by things I could have predicted. I've been struggling with the thought of joining the "soccer mom" crowd by buying a minivan. I'm a strict Honda fundamentalist, so that leaves me with few choices. For a while I've been thinking of buying a CR-V. I still like the idea, but I really don't like SUV's, and it's borderline SUV in the looks department.

This month's Honda Tuning (long time subscriber) gave me new hope. I found out that the 95-97 Odessy's have the same motor as the accords (H/F series). Even cheaper than an Odessy is the Isuzu Oasis (Odessy clone) - I can scoop one up for about $4K. Could you imagine...taking the kids to school in the minivan with a swapped H23-VTEC? It would be even cooler to swap the 5-speed tranny. Haha.

Anyhow, I got a kick out of thinking about this and thought I would share.:D

DaX, I'm a few years ahead of you. I've got 3 children now (4 and under), and it's a blast.

I had a CR-V (2003), and it was a great vehicle. But, it wasn't really large enough when number 3 came along. This is mostly due to car seats (which can't fit 3 across in most any vehicle that has 3 across seating). So, I ended up with a 2002 Odyssey. It's also a great vehicle, but the Gas mileage is only adequate. Sure it's decent among it's peers, but at 20, it's not that great. I have had my eye on the 1st gen Ody and it looks like a great platform. I just don't think I'll be able to talk the wife into it. :( So, in a similar vein of the 5 speed H23 swap into the first gen, I've been fantasizing about a 3.2 Type-S CL with 6-speed swap into the 2nd Gen Ody. :) It's just a passing thing I'm sure, but that would be really neat to have a manual Mini-van.

So keep in mind that the number of kids and their age proximity that will force decisions on seating.

Welcome to a whole new world!

Haha, thanks for the heads up. I'm hoping to only have two, and am unsure as to what age interval to shoot for.

Is there any hope for the father with the pimped 6sp RTAWD wagovan?

Hey, Dax. As civicminded says, welcome to a whole new world. When I got married I owned a '92 Ford Taurus and that served very well as a daily driver and for kids. Tons of room, very comfortable.

I moved on to a '92 Dodge Spirit when the Taurus' electronics died. Just a hair less space, but still plenty of room and comfort for 4.

When my wife and I had our third child we moved up to the '95 Aerostar. Tons of room and power and a complete gas hog. I don't recommend any minivan just for that reason - unless you find an old Dodge 4-banger with a 5-speed. However, with 3 kids a 6+ seater van is a necessity on long trips.

With 2 kids, IMO, you can get away with a sedan. If you're a Honda man then an Accord may last you a really long time.

But, like I said that's just my opinion...and make certain you keep a beater to tool around with. Women don't like it when you experiment on the family grocery getter. :D :(

I always thought the parent at my school with the Peugot was the coolest dude in the world, but that's just me, :)

Yeah, our current car lineup is:

1988 Civic Hatchback
1990 Civic Sedan
1997 Accord Sedan

The Accord (which Tammara drives) is great - we'll at least keep it through our first kid.

I sure hope so! Lowered, 17's with some nice sticky rubber, - and the RL drivetrain. Yummm......

OK, it really is hopeless....:D

I second the Accord notion - I have a stock one that has 256k miles. It has been a great vehicle, and would work well for a family of 4.

My $.02

We bought a 99 Odyssey just before having our first child. 11 months later (after the first child) we had our second. I found that the Odyssey was actually too large for us. We traded it in for the Prius which is a perfect fit. For three kids, yes a minivan is the way to go.

Ok, unless we are cursed (blessed?) with twins the second go round, we won't be having three children. :)

honestly I think the accord will be more than enough for at least 2 kids. Those things are spacious, and it's going to be more than 10 years before they'll be too big for the back seat.

HOnestly, the same can be said for the Civic Sedan. We're planning on using my sedan as the primary family car because it has four doors. We also don't plan on having more than 2 kids and we've had full grown adults in the back seat without a problem.

But I'd go with the accord. Screw a bigger car. If you really need one, get a Fit.

Never say never. My wife and I have two teens and a 3-year-old...things happen...:D

Actually, a wagon is probably what I would do if I had to do it over again. I considered a Taurus wagon instead of the Aerostar, but 7 seats was > 5 seats.

Haha, Tammara (soon to be wife) is 22...her brother and sister are almost 40! She was born post-tube-tying. We're fully aware of how nothing is certain. :)

Kid Hauling Consideration's: I don't disagree with any of the points or considerations which anyone has identified. However, their were several driving considerations for me and my wife, when our kid's were younger, then older and so forth.

-leg room: With a sedan and even many pseudo SUV's the leg room in the back is the pit's, unless the people in the front seats are pretty short. We upgraded from a Pymouth Reliant, Station Wagon, to a Plymouth Voyager, to a Dodge Grand Caravan, to a Chrysler Town & Country. In regard, the T&C has been a good vehicle. It has the leg room for adult's or large teen ager's. It has rear bucket seats, so that they are less prone to poke, grab, fight, argue, bikker and so forth. I know none of your kids will do that, but mine do. Mileage, not so great, but considering hauling a number of people, pretty good. My T& C has 178,000 on it, with the original motor, it still uses 1 qt oil, every 2,000 miles and it get's 20-22 mpg, on the highway, at 70-75.

I have a sister who has an Odyssey and in riding in it, I don't think it's as comfortable as the T&C, but I think she might get a little better mileage.

Bottom line, when you start counting kid's, if you can give them "space", it helps contribute to the peace, big time. It amazes me how much the rear bucket seats reduce squabiling and so forth. Just a consideration.

Timing. From my perspective, giving your kid's 2-3 years between helps reduce a lot of issues because they are close enough to play together and do things together, but they are far enough apart to not be directly competing with each other in school and so forth. Additionally, it gives them someone to talk to when mom or dad or both are being twips. Just my experiences!

screw tube tying... snipping is much faster, cheaper, and isn't major surgery.

You mean vasectomy? I don't know.... :D

Tube tying is actually supposed to be cutting, tying, burning - but I don't know if they did all this to Gayle way back when. :p

You just gave me a flashback to when we were driving from Illinois to Florida in our Astrovan. My brother and I were in the back seat and both of us kept yelling "MOM! He's on my side!" Bucket seats would have been perfect.

We used to fight over the front seat. It got so bad we had a calendar marked with who's day it was to sit in the front.

yeah, vasectomy. I'm the first in line when the time is right. Why should she go through major surgery when I can have it done in an afternoon?

Bah...you're a little sore for a day. Getting kicked hurts a lot more. :eek:

I'll cross that bridge (HAR HAR HAR) when we get to that point in our lives.

I would amend that to Real sore for a day and sore for another. But better then getting kicked in the nuts!

Our last one was born C-section - so tube tying was just a minor diversion for her. :)

"Oh, by the way, Doc, while you're in there could you...???" :D

And I watched to make sure he had tight knots :eek: :D .

I love minivans or wagons. I like that they have the ablility to haul lots of stuff and get somewhat better gas milage then a SUV or a truck.

Unfortuantly it is very hard to find a minivan with a manual transmission. I know it was an option on the toyota previa.

Older 4-cyl Caravan and some V6 Aerostars had manual transmissions. That's probably going to be my next van (unless I get a wagon or large sedan) since my current Aerostar is rusting pretty badly...powertrain is strong, but it's going to look like crap in a couple more years.

I do know of at least one fellow with a 3.0L V6 Caravan who replaced the A604 automatic with the A543 manual from a Daytona.

The problem with this, for me, is that my Chrysler Town & Country, is really my wife's and has been notated before, tis not a good idea for me to be fooling with her car. However, what's in their is actually pretty good, excepttt for putting the car into a lower gear, coming down a hill, pulling a trailer. It has the 3.8 L engine, but it does pretty decent for it's size and it normally is turning about 2200, at 70mph.

Yeah, don't mess with your wife's car...EVER! :D

I think Chrysler makes a pretty decent engine - they took some good tips from Mitsubishi, but I hope their new electronic automatics are better than their old ones. That A604 was in every 3.0L car they made and it was an absolute junk heap. Finicky and weak!

A neat thing I recently discovered is that the Aerostar is basically a truck with a van body. I guess every mechanical component from the Ranger and Explorer are swappable into (or out of) an Aerostar...I wonder what I could do with some time and money...??? :cool:

I had not realized that, either. my problem is every FORD i have know has been a pile of junk. I feel their quality is defined by theeir ability to buiild in guarateed obsolesence within a very tight specific number of mile's. I think they know exactly what their not doing.

I guess it would be in every manufacturer's benefit to not build cars that last forever...:D

I haven't had mechanical problems with the two Fords I have owned, but electronic and body issues - absolutely!

I think every company has specific strengths and weaknesses that show up in their vehicles. It does seem as if dealing with weaknesses is low on the priority list for most of them.

One of the things I was told at the shop is that this is very true, *shrug* (except, he said, for honda).

Of course...:rolleyes: Every die-hard says this about they're favorite brand.

I think maintenance is the key to any vehicle lasting a long time. Taxi drivers are religious with their maintenance and it shows in the mileage of some of their vehicles.

I phoned about a Caprice in the paper a few years ago. It was an ex-taxi with 750,000 km (465,838 mi). No motor or transmission replacement/major repairs.

Anyway, I've hijacked this thread enough...:o :D

Actually, this guy was a ford guy, and he referred to hondas as "little jap cars," so I doubt it was his favorite brand.

Ford guy says Hondas last forever? Okay, so what do I know? :D

My idea of a kid hauler?

A Jaguar E-Type coupe 2+2. Seating for 4. :D




In all seriousness, I'd look for an old diesel Volvo wagon, and run it on SVO.

That's precisely why you can't go into a dealership and buy an EV. Electric motors are good for 100,000+ hours of operation. Do the math as to what that is at say, 60 mph. The EAA is rather conservative at estimating the life of an electric motor in a car at 1 million miles.

because men want to be men, or so they say, this greatly reminded me of the family guy epsidoe where peter decides to get one. Ironically that's how I've learned from it in the first place :rolleyes:

although I give you props, Matt, you are the real man for doing that for your wife. Real men give respect to their women, not ones that can make babies!

Hey Dax all I got to say is, congrats and when you do have your first born, make sure it goes agaist the statistics in terms of "planning to have a child or not." Since the majority rules towards a one sided figure and I shamefully admit a part of that chunk -_-; As for your car, now you can see why I hate my coupe when I see my wife and kid suffer trying to cozy up in there, and if I had to choose a car right now i'm looking at a hatchback for sure. The cargo carrying capability (right now ONE baby stroller eats up my whole trunk!) is something I could really use when I go out with the family to somewhere.

That and hatch offers great visibility in terms of backing up and changing lanes so ya hatchman coming up soon I hope! :D

Thanks! I don't think we'll be having an unplanned child. My younger brother is though...he's not even 20 yet. I'm the only family member that knows right now...I keep telling him it's better for him to tell them than for them to find out on their own.

Anyhow, I think we're going to just try the Accord sedan for a while and upgrade from there if needed.