Don’t do it…! the only guys I know who drive them by me are short little wiry men with zero driving skills and anger issues.
I keep expecting them to all start wearing brown robes while waiting for ‘The Tall Man’ to show up…
I can actually remember the day I bought the minivan. Maybe it is a guy thing (or a jerk thing), but driving home in a brand new car always made me feel (for lack of a better word) cool. Only happens so many times in your life.
So I’m driving home in this brand new car, I stop at a red light, and I notice a cute young woman in the car next to me. First thought was to consider my appearance, because I KNEW she would be checking out the cool stud in the brand new car. Only to realize moments later that I was in a fucking MINIVAN and thereby INVISIBLE to anyone who was minimally attractive, cool, whatever! :rolleyes:
If you like your pickup but want something you can camp in, why not keep it and get a slide-in camper for it? Some manufacturers do make lighter ones meant for smaller Tacoma / Ranger sized trucks like the one I linked to.
But if you’re planning on getting something else anyway, I won’t talk you out of a minivan. I really think if you don’t need the towing or all wheel drive capabilities of an SUV, a minivan is the better choice. Back in the early 2000s I had a job that often involved loading things into customers’ vehicles. It was very noticeable how the minivans had way more usable space on the inside compared to similar sized SUVs.
This is the Chevy Chase/Family Truckster/Christie Brinkley/Ferrari effect at work.
I used to camp in a van and I found that the air gets really stuffy inside at night. Plan to leave the windows open, rig some sort of bug screen, and have at least a small battery powered fan.
I love minivans for road trips - I fold down the rear seats, and the passenger middle row seat [or remove it if it isn’t stow and go] and set an army cot on the passenger side. I stow clothing and such in covered plastic totes under the cot [and have a basic back pack that I keep toiletries in, and put the change of clothing in when I use a truck stop to take a shower] and I have space for extra boxes/bins/totes/whatever behind the mid-row drivers side seat. A sleeping bag or my woobie and a pillow, and I am golden. I even have a tote set up for camping style cooking so I don’t have to depend on roadside crap foods, and you can buy a bag of ice almost anywhere for the cooler of real food.
Right now I’m looking at between 15-20. But I can put it off and save up more money for the Pacifica. The mileage is tempting.
I have considered a camper shell but think for long drives an automatic would be nice. Also, I think a minivan would give me more room and might have better gas mile than my truck.
I used to own an Odyssey. I felt weird buying it, but i grew to love that van. And now, I can’t really justify owning a vehicle that large, but i miss it.
I’ve driven a 2008 Odyssey since my twins were born (9 years). Every morning I drive it alone to the train station, and on evenings and weekends I’m shuttling around kids and dogs and large cargo all the time. At times I’ve hauled back loads of compost from the dump in the back. Works for me.
My minivan died permanently two years ago. I miss her. 
I thought I was driving a minivan because I got a really good deal. I wasn’t a minivan person! Then I got a Sentra and realized* I’m a minivan person*. Like you, puzzlegal, I don’t have a reason for having a larger vehicle. I’d only make full use of it for trips to Goodwill or the dump. But sure miss the visibility and how easy it was to drive.
I think the OP would be more proud to own a full sized van, or totally ashamed of it.
Speaking of which, aren’t there all sort of camper kits for SUV’s like Subarus and Volvos?
Granted, you’ll probably be chased out of the WalMart parking lot, but other than that it should work.
Shitty gas mileage though.
Something like that was my original thought but now I’m thinking of getting one as sort of a starter kit and save up some more money for a hybrid.
I have paved your path. I have a manual Toyota Tacoma. I have slept in the back with a shell and a mattress. Wasn’t too bad.
Last year I bought a 2017 Ford Transit 350 16 passenger van. The van only had 7000 miles on it. I pulled all the rear seats and started converting it to a camper. It has been fun working on it. I’m only about half done. I have the bed, underbed storage, carpet, and most of the side walls finished. I have to say, it is gorgeous. Cedar and tie dye.
We have taken 5 or 6 trips so far with the longest being 10 days, 4 of which we spent in a house. VERY comfortable to sleep in. Very easy to find a place to stay. We have two big dogs which have been on all of those trips. The dogs have been troopers.
A minivan should be easy to do a light conversion to.
A minivan is the thinking wo/man’s suv.
A friend of mine is divorced, with custody of his kids. After he purchased a minivan we all made a concerted effort to rag him about it. Anytime any of his friends call his house, if a kid answers, we ask to speak with their mom.
They are out there. Check out www.thesamba.com and prepare to :eek: at the price you’ll pay for one that is fully-equipped and in good condition.
The Chrysler Pacifica looks like the older Town and Country, which was my favorite car we ever owned. A great highway cruiser.
I love minivans. The wife and I owned a 1989 Grand Caravan with the Mitsubishi V6, which I loved driving. It was a super capable vehicle, although the air conditioning failed a couple times; the second time I just left it inoperative. The seats were a hassle to remove, though. Chrysler later invented Stow-and-Go seats, mentioned above, which means you don’t have to wrestle the rear seats in and out.
A couple years ago i rented a Caravan with Stow-and-Go for a road trip from Seattle to Kentucky, and all of us who made the trip agreed that a minivan was the perfect vehicle for a trip like that; so much so, that I’ve arranged to rent one tomorrow to do the same road trip again.