Actually, besides the mileage, we love it.

Two carseats (one rear-facing) was an uncomfortable fit. Also, picking up my mother from assisted living was proving very dificult with two carseats in back. We are also looking at a double-stroller, etc...

I really wanted to wait for the 2010 Sienna with hopes of an optional 4-cyl. We simply couldn't wait that long. To minimize the impact to ourselves and the enviro (not looking for an argument here), we bought a used 2005 with 58k miles. We hope to keep it for five years and hopefully by then there will be some 30-mpg minivans available.

The mileage is terrible, but manageable. We got 26mpg on the hwy on the way home. After several short city trips this weekend it was down to 19.3. After that I went and set the tire pressure -- it was low.

This was a painful decision for me and I researched, priced, and philosophized the heck out of it. This is the best choice for our family for the time being. Were other options available, we'd have taken them.

On the positive side, the hypermiling techniques the HCH and GH taught us will be employed in the Sienna and we will be offsetting the vans emmissions through TerraPass.

Cheers, nf

 

Congrats. If you hypermile it, you should get decent mileage (at least compared to an SUV). And look at the positive side: all of those little errands could bring your average MPG down in the Civic can be done in the minivan!