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Now Mom is no soccer mom....she is going to do some heavy duty hauling, though no towing, with whatever she buys but doesn't have a lot of extra money to throw into the vehicle once she purchases it and she will be purchasing within the next couple of days.  I would very much appreciate any opinions/experiences you could give me with the following vans (ads I could find locally within price range):

1.     2000 Toyota Sienna

2.      2000 & 2001 Nissan Quest

3.     2000 & 2001 Mazda MPV (under powered seems to be a common complaint)

4.     2002 Kia Sedona (gas mileage seems to be pretty poor on this)

5.     1999 Honda Odyssey

6.     1999, 2000, 2002 Chevy Astro (reliability seems to be a common complaint with these)

7.     2000 & 2001 GMC Safari

Thanks in advance guys for your opinions/experiences with these.

Paula

Used car market is weak now, it's a buyers market because it's a buyers market for new cars. Dealers have too many trade in's for values to hold. Same for private sales. If they try to get prices on used, people buy new. They're buying new anyway right now.

Don't expect much on trades. Kelly and NADA  is a joke, even trying to sell it yourself, the market won't bear their prices.

The saving grace for selling a used car is the old addage, "there's a butt for every seat". Just try not to be the butt they hold a party over after you leave.

Thanks Marshall for the info. 

It amazes me that dealerships even try to quote NADA...after all its in NADA's best interest to push the prices sellng sky-high and trade-ins as low as they'll go. 

Mom is in a better position as she won't be trading anything in so its an outright purchase which the dealerships, especially with the glut of trade-ins, would favor, I think. 

Paula

Thanks again folks for all your help. 

It looks like she is going for the 2000 Toyota Sienna with approximately 56K miles.  I think she will be happy with its performance and durability.  It has all the maintenance records with it and they took meticulous care of it with oil changes, scheduled maintenance program, etc. so I find that very encouraging. 

Forgot to ask her the two most important questions about it though...what color is it and what kind of stereo does it have?!!

Paula

I always figured your mom as a Camaro type woman, having you as a daughter of course.

Marshall wrote:

No, her Mom is more of a Mustang chick and she takes after her mom - Camaros - pooey, not with the metal.  Sorry to all the poor Chevy fans out there.  Had my fill of them and when I had to spend more time fixing then I did driving - well I'll take my oval any day of the week.  I know the sayings - but they've never left me down in the middle of winter, never in the pooring rain and I have never had to walk anywhere for a phone with my ovals, the reason I have a cell phone summed up in one word - CHEVY.

Sherri

Actually, Sherri, as much as I hate to admit it, Marshall hit it right on.....Mom did have a Camaro  until it recently bit the dust.  And, as painful as it is for me to admit it, she got a lot of miles out of that car without having to put too much into repairs, until the end....of course, I'm sure that much have been a fluke. 

She used to drive an MG until someone got a little creative in the rewiring of it and that was pretty much the end of that.  She likes her sports cars and, when she no longer has the need to do any hauling, she will go back to a sports car, though hopefully her taste will have improved by then.......to a nice 66 'Stang or maybe a Stingray. 

She isn't too excited about purchasing the minivan but knows she needs it for a while at least and needs the durability and reliability. 

Marshall wrote:

And what do you mean...having ME for a daughter??!     

Oh I just figured with your sporting personality she had to be the source.

That's a good choice.  People want good cars that have been taken care of with low miles, but they themselves make junkers out of them.  That's just how it usually works with some people.  I take good care of my vehicles, but they do see work sometimes.  My Silverado is still the bomb not needing much since 90.     

Why wouldn't I recommend Nissan?  Because I've seen too many bad reports on too many dealers.  I'll send  a PM with the details.