A cross-over SUV like a Ford Edge gets similar gas mileage to a Minivan (say a Honda Odyssey), is easier to park (a foot and a half shorter), and the higher ride-height makes it much easier to wrestle squirming toddlers into their car seats.
Yeah, but then I can fit a kayak and two bicycles inside it. And still get more than 20MPG. Which isn't near as much as I'd like, but for when I can't bike to somewhere (not going to tow a kayak on a bike) it gets the job done.
Oddly, the only cars I've ever had were minivans. Got them off-lease from a family member.
Which really isn't that bad. Slightly less ride comfort than some SUVs, but better interior luxuries for the price and much more versatile in an urban environment, with better gas mileage.
Really, the worst thing about driving a minivan is other drivers. People have such a perception of minivans being slow and pokey that people will attempt to pass you on the freeway regardless of the speed you are travelling. If you drive a minivan and another vehicle on a regular basis, how other cars treat you is very noticeable.
Never had a problem in my area with that. I will say a minivan far surpasses an SUV in usefulness though. I liken a minvan to a pickup truck that you can actually seat people inside of. It's great, you can haul anything you can imagine, beds, freezers, couches, and if you're not busy hauling giant appliances around, you can put the seats in and haul around a bunch of people. The gas mileage is on par with an SUV, and you never get any flack from the police. Who's gonna bother a someone in a minivan? Nobody that's who.
I've never noticed that. But I've got a pretty heavy foot. More often than not, I'm the one passing people. We have a Honda Odyssey, which is peppy as far as minivans go, so maybe that makes a difference.
Same here, on all counts, but that's what makes it noticeable to me. When I'm already over the speed limit by 5-10 on the freeway, aggressive passing, like I'm holding up traffic, is very noticeable.
This seems very unlikely. If they were annoyed at you for driving a minivan, it's an awful lot of annoyance to pass you and then continue speeding. I suspect it's only your perception; perhaps you're being self-concious.
That's just it, the reason I noticed it was because they didn't continue at that speed. They pass, then they slow down to slower than my original speed (I'm also careful not to speed up at all if someone is passing me, that's stupid and reckless). I had thought about it being my own perception, but the fact is that I didn't first assume it was because I was driving a minivan. For the first few months I was just sort of annoyed that people seemed to be driving stupid, but mostly when I drove the minivan. Then when thinking about it it occurred to me that it was likely the minivan and perceptions that surround it that cause the problem.
My working theory is that people have bad experiences being stuck behind a slow minivan (which I'll admit, happens), and those experiences can be particularly annoying because it's hard to see past minivans. As people find themselves behind a minivan in a situation where their speed isn't quite yet stabilized (such as shortly after entering the freeway), they either assume it's going slow or just decide they want to not be behind a minivan, so pass.
I have had corroboration from other minivan owners I know, but I am open to being wrong or misinterpreting the information. I suspect it's less to do with that and more to do with specific traffic patterns that make it more or less likely (such as light traffic allowing easy passing), which may be more or less prevalent in certain areas.
Huh. I went from a bmw 3 series, to a motorcycle, to a nissan maxima with unrepaired body damage to a minivan, and just recently got a motorcycle again.
I haven't gotten a ticket in anything but the 3 series... but I don't think that is entirely perception. I drove a lot faster in the 3 series than I did in any other vehicle; The thing feels as stable at 90 as the maxima or the minivan feels at 70. (Now, I don't know how much "feel" has to do with safety, if anything. But my gut was comfortable going a lot faster in the 3-series than in anything else.)
But... yeah, my experience was that people expected a lot more aggression out of me in the 3 series. Wait a microsecond after the light turns green? that's a honk and the finger. In the minivan, from what I've seen, the expectation is that you are a slow driver that is distracted by kids. People go around, but they aren't angry at you like they are when you are in a bmw.
Then I had a Suzuki SV650. Now, sometimes people didn't see me, and once someone practically ran it over when I parked too close to a car, but the overall experience was reasonable. People were even mostly tolerant of, you know, going too slow in turns and stuff.
I probably got the widest berth in the maxima. It was like that old Saturday night live commercial where they were selling a luxury car that looked like garbage on the outside so that it wouldn't get stolen. The inside was all leather and heated seats. But on the outside, the paint was degraded, and the rear passenger door was caved in. It also had a bunch of smaller scars from my brothers learning how to drive, and because I'm terrible at parking. But yeah, the car was big and said "watch out, I might not have very good insurance" so people kind of got out of my way.
Really, the most aggression I have ever experienced was on the motorcycle. I recently got myself another motorcycle (after being minivan-only for several years. This one is an older oilhead; a '96 R850R) - and the other day? An old lady actually got out of her car and started yelling at me because she felt that I took a parking spot she was waiting for. I was... speechless. It was one of those 'what the fuck' moments where you literally have no words. She ended up dumping a soda all over my bike and me.
I'm pretty sure that'd get you towed around here. (silicon valley, specifically, this was the rivermark shopping center in santa clara) I mean, I'd probably get away with it for the time I was in the grocery store, but why should I play towing roulette?
Last time I tried to not take up a parking spot, I got towed. I was outside my girlfriend's apartment; there was a bit that was paved, but too small to be a parking spot for a car. It had a bollard in it; No firehydrant or anything, though. I wasn't blocking access to anything.
But I come out the next morning, and I've been towed. Since then, eh, I generally take up a parking spot, because getting towed is like $300, even if your time is free.
