I like to the carnival too, but it looks huge, havent test drived it though.
I have test drived the Holden Captiva - couldnt see much out the back, im short and had a lot of blind spot out the back sides.
Ive test drived the Citroen Picasso, that was great and one of our options. Didnt test drive the Kluger cause it felt too huge for me to drive and also didnt like the middle seat which was smaller than the others. Didnt test drive the Territory but heard its great to drive and when sitting in it the vision was great. I looked at the mazda cx9 yesterday and going to test drive this week, its smaller than the Kluger and Territory and I already have a mazda so im leaning towards that one I think. The Odessy I didnt test drive as we wanted to use the back seat but the anchor points are at the back of the boot so it would be in the way of someone sitting in the back seat, otherwise the odessy looks great if you are just having the 3 kids all in a row in the middle row seats.
Tarago. I know it wasnt on your list but we looked at every car on your list when we were doing the bigger car trade up and nothing came close to the Tarago. We got ours (a 2008 model 8 seater) for $40,000. Low kms, hardly been driven, beautiful inside.
The Territories and Klugers really arent made for carseats in the backseat. I knew it would eventually blow my gasket climbing the kids in and out of the back.
The Odyssey would be fine if you werent carting around 4 kids full time. It had no boot space and the very back seat was quite cramped.
I was hoping for a Grand Carnival at the start, but DH had extreme reservations about Kia cars (and rightly so, they dont have a very good rap). Yeah they are slightly bigger but honestly no different from the Tarago except their a bit less quality.
We owned a Kluger before the upgrade and we were infinitely happy with it. So we decided to stick with Toyota and go the Tarago. I have not looked back since, honestly they are AWESOME. And they last forever.
ETA - I know your a military family too. This factored into our decision in buying the Tarago. We put quite a few K's on the car driving here there and everywhere and we also have family come to stay (usually MIL and FIL) and the 8 seater Tarago means we can fit everyone in the one car. They are honestly worth the little bit extra $$$ for quality and if your willing to spend up to $50,000 you could get a practically brand new one for that price. They hardly drop in value as they get older too as youll see by the prices of some older model Tarago's in your car searching. The only bad point (and it isnt a major one really) is that the back row only has two anchor points not three. So we're going to get a third fitted for the middle back seat before we have our next baby so we can sit 3 across the back seat and 1 in the middle row.
Last edited by Freya; March 21st, 2011 at 05:33 PM.
I will just say that I don't know why Honda market the Odyssey as a seven seater. There is no room! It makes for a luxurious 5 seater, and that's about it. I quiz my friends and even people I don't know particularly well on their Grand Carnivals. They all love them, and feel like they are all going out in a limo for girls nights out, etc. Kia vehicles have really come a long way, the early stuff I wouldn't touch, but the later stuff is pretty much all good (there are always lemons in every make and model).
Jeep Grand Voyagers (or even just the Voyager for that matter); nice vehicle, but being a Jeep, are a pain in the butt for servicing and repairs a lot of the time. We have a Cherokee, and have a mechanic shop, and it still costs us an arm (no leg, its okay) for so many things for it. Just in case it comes into your consideration down the track.
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