u/gnomes616

Year/make/model appreciated

I've never driven a minivan before (except for when I was 3 and accidentally put my mom's van into neutral in the driveway and rolled toward the street). Our family will be going from 3 kids to 4 at Thanksgiving this year, so I'd love to know what you like and dislike about your van, or an unexpected perk or maintenance item that changed your view after some ownership time.

This is going to end up as my daily driver and I have a long weekday commute. Whatever we get is going to get a lot of wear and tear but hopefully with good maintenance will last us 10+ years. Husb and I planning to go for test drives soon with at least one big kid for a back seat review as well.

2018 RAV4, kept up on maintenance, and replaced tired and brakes this year. I'll need to sell it later this year, probably will hit 160-165k mileage by then. KBB (currently) generalizes private sale value between $12-14k, but that seems lofty to me? The only body issues are a couple parking lot dings. It is nice to dream that it will sell for this KBB estimate and be able to get a replacement for cash, but it also feels like big dreaming.

Ideal would be a used Toyota Sienna or Honda Oddysey, but I don't know how high to consider mileage before thinking it's not worth it.

Within the price I'm researching, there are obviously a ton of Dodge Grand Caravans, Chrysler Pacificas (consensus seems to lean no on any Chrysler?), Town & Countrys, and Voyagers. Seems like Kia Carnivals are fairly recent models and not showing up used within my budget.

Appreciate any thoughts or comments on these "second tier" makes and models, common known issues, years and mileage limits to be wary of.

Edit to add: ideally looking for second row chairs instead of a bench for easy 3rd row access (kids in boosters/car seats who still need help getting in and out)

Double edit: price range up to $15k without financing after selling my current RAV4, up to $20-25k with financing. Several months to research and shop, so I am just looking at options within 50 miles of me on Carfax occasionally to see what the market is like.

Our family is expanding to the point of having to upgrade our family vehicle. I've had Toyota Siennas and Honda Oddyseys of pretty much any year/mileage recommended. Of course, in searching they seem hard to come by and are marked up quite a bit compared to other makes of similar age and mileage. I have plenty of time to look (due in November, and a coworker will be buying my current ride), so I'd love to hear about comparisons of minivans across manufacturers, how to take mileage into consideration, or anything else we should be looking at in the next few months.