Everything You Want to Know About a Minivan

Today, we prepared a comprehensive guide on minivans to help you delve deeper into the benefits of these vehicles and choose the option that will suit your family best. 

There is a vast variety of minivans on the US market: from urban super-compact vehicles to spacious highway liners. There are two ways to classify them: by length and by purpose.

Based on the length, there are four classes of minivans:

• Micro MPVs are super compact city cars - up to 134″ long, up to 58″ wide, up to 79″ high: Nissan NV100 Clipper I, Honda Acty Van.
• Mini MPVs are cars up to 161″. Such models as Toyota Sparky and NISSAN E-NV200 are very popular in Japan.
• Compact minivans are cars with a length of 162″ to 181″. This is the most versatile class of minivans with such prominent representatives as the Volkswagen Touran, Kia Carens, Renault Scenic, and Nissan Quest.
• Large minivans have a length of more than 181″. They compete with crossovers of the MPV subclass. Such minivans are the favorites in the US. Vivid examples of this class are the Chrysler Voyager, Honda Stepwgn, Toyota Esquire, and Renault Espace.

If we sort minivans according to their purpose, we get three classes, as follows:

• Multivan. In such a car, nine passengers can freely fit, while you can quickly transform the interior for transporting goods—for example: Ford Transit.
• Compact van. Such cars serve exclusively for passenger transportation. The number of seats can reach seven, and the last two are available as an additional option and most often have restrictions on the weight. The interior of such a car is also easy to transform. The RAM ProMaster City, Chrysler Pacifica, and Dodge Grand Caravan are examples of compact vans.
• Microvan. A small minivan with two front doors, two sliding doors, and one rear door. There are from 2 to 9 seats in this class. Usually, its purpose is to transport passengers, and the seats in such a car are located close to each other. The most well-known examples are the Honda Acty and the Mitsubishi Bravo.

The minivan's interior space is maximized, and this distinguishes it from the one of station wagons and hatchbacks. Due to the spacious interior, the minivan turns out to be taller and longer.

The number of seats in a minivan cannot exceed 9 (including the driver). Otherwise, such a car is already considered a bus.

Most minivans from American and foreign brands can last about 200–300 thousand miles if well-maintained. However, a minivan is considered high mileage at 100,000 miles.

The progenitor of all minivans was Alfa 40-60 HP Aerodinamica, released in 1914. By the way, that copy has survived to this day. The name of this car speaks for itself, and indeed, at that time such a body was very aerodynamic. Of course, such cars were not in mass production in those years. However, there was already something reminiscent of a modern minivan, and the Alfa 40-60 was the first and only one of its kind.

The first mass-produced minivan was the Dodge Caravan, which first appeared in 1984. At that time, this seven-seater minivan was something ground-breaking. But what prompted the concern to release such a non-standard car?

Hopelessness prompted the engineers of Chrysler to the release of a new-format vehicle. Few people know that the Caravan just pulled Chrysler out of debt. At the time of this car creation, the Chrysler concern suffered multimillion-dollar losses and produced cars of disgusting quality. Lido Anthony «Lee» Iacocca, the “king of top managers”, had no choice but to come out with something revolutionary. Having lost his job with Henry Ford in a scandal, he was forced to apply for a job at the declining Chrysler plant, and the thirst for revenge on Ford helped design the Dodge Caravan.

On November 2, 1983, the world's first serial Dodge Caravan rolled off the assembly line. Its originality broke the market, and the option to buy the Dodge without rear seats made the car even more popular. This minivan version turned it into a small truck for transporting goods, attracting additional buyers.

A minivan also appeared on the European market a few months later. It was a 1984 Renault Espace, a clear competitor to Dodge.

Over the past 20 years, the minivan has only strengthened its position. Most popular models are always in demand and depreciate slowly in the US used car market. In such a variety of minivans, each class has its pros and cons. 

As a rule, you can buy an ideal minivan in Indianapolis after deciding on its main tasks. To highlight the strengths and weaknesses, let's consider an ordinary compact minivan and compare it with a passenger car and a minibus. 

Minivan advantages:

• You can easily go on a long trip with the whole family. A spacious interior will give real pleasure from the journey.
• The minivan is suitable for both travel and city trips. Dimensions make it easy to move around crowded Indianapolis streets.
• Excellent interior capacity even though the dimensions of the vehicle are not much larger than the station wagon;
• Fuel consumption is less than that of a minibus. If you choose a hybrid model, fuel economy can even outrun a sedan. 
• The minivan is easy to operate, and the driving experience is the same as behind the wheel of a passenger car.
• Thanks to the cabin transformation, you get a lot of free space for transporting household goods.
• The high interior is comfortable for adults to sit in, even in the very back rows.
• Sliding doors help to accommodate children and disabled people in the cabin. There are many models designed for just such purposes.
• Suitable for commercial use. If you have a business or often have to transport small loads, a minivan will help you save on delivery.

Negative aspects:

• The interior takes longer to warm up in winter than a conventional sedan. Some automakers install additional electric heaters inside to solve this problem.
• Acceleration is relatively slow. Although, there are models with powerful engines on the US market.
• If we compare a minivan with a bus, then the minivan loses cabin space.
• The suspension stiffness is rather perceptible, especially when driving without passengers and cargo. 
• Fuel consumption of most gasoline minivans is slightly more than that of a passenger car due to weight.

A minivan is a must if you have a large family. But these vehicles will also appeal to young people, making trips to picnics or parties in one car more convenient and fun. 

Come together to the Indy Auto Man dealership in Indianapolis to check the opportunities a minivan can offer and buy a reliable used vehicle for daily commutes and fascinating adventures!