Any of you have one of these vans. Have been looking at Toyota Sienna and Town and Country. Seems like they have lots of bells and whistles, for a lower price than Toyota? I wonder if they hold up like a Toyota? I hate car shopping, the vultures just come out of no where. Thanks in advance.

I love my Toyota Sienna. I can whip crates in and out and seats too. For my limited number of dogs it is perfect. The roof rack is great to hold other items in a hard Thule roof cargo box. My showing partner has a GMC Express Van that holds "The Rest of the Kennel" so to speak! And I know Lisa loves it too.
Good luck with the car sales guys!

I love my Quest. Mine has 170,000 miles and runs like it's new! My giant Ford van on the other hand....

Can the Quest hold as many crates as the Sienna or others? It looks too rounded in the back to hold 4 crates.

I just replaced my 1998 Astro with a new Sienna. If you stay keep the options under control, all the brands are pretty close in price, Honda is some higher. I chose a number 2 Option Package and that's it. Either a 1 or 2 really keeps the price down. We went with a Sienna due to reliability and repair frequency where according to Consumer Reports Honda and Toyota are very, very close at the top. I think the Quest is pretty far down the list. My second choice was a Chevy Express Cargo van but thought the Sienna would be more practical.
If they still made the Astro I would have bought another, certainly not due to reliability as over the years I have almost had to replace everything in it.

Van, vans and more vans. I own several Chrysler brand vans. They're great. Usual wear and tear maintenance expense only. Great value for the money spent. Oh, and I have HUGE miles on both of my vehicles. My 99 Town & country has 237,000 miles and runs/rides like a dream. The 2004 now has 97,000 miles and drives like the day I bought it. Good value for my money spent on them. I personally can't see paying the asking prices for Toyota only to haul stinky dogs around.

Toyota Sienna is what I drive and would buy again.
Have had it for four years and not one problem.
Can easily put four crates in along with tons of stuff.
One feature that I love and many people have commented on is the fact that the side windows go down! Gives better ventilation especially if I want to lock the van with the dogs in it.
Safety features are also wonderful.
I would suggest getting the leather seats though!
Good luck.

I have an Astro van and luv it. I am going to give you some tips on buying a new car.

1) check www.edmunds.com to see what the price really should be on the vehicle that you want with the options. Then when you go in you know what they can really go down to and still make some money.

2) If the sales person treats you differently because you are a women, and "you really don't make these decisions". Leave and report that person to mangement, more and more women these days are buying cars and they aren't needing two incomes to do it.

3) Don't be afraid to walk out when they will not meet your price, they want to make that sale and will start calling you on the phone.

4) Try to buy through the fleet department, they normally aren't as aggressive as regular sales.

5) Buy at the end of the year, they are trying to get rid of last years models. We waited to buy our new pick-up until after the first of the year and got Zero percent financing, that saved us $18,000.

6) Make sure that you have your own financing available unless they have a great offer like Zero percent.

I deal for all the vehicles in our house, because my husband hates confrontation. I go in armed with everything that I need to know.

Best of luck in getting that new vehicle. I am pulling for the Toyota Sienna, I have driven one and loved it.

Also Pet Edge has great SUV Crates that are slightly narrower and allow you to fit better with the slight curve to the van.

Very good advise. I built my new Sienna on Edmunds to determine what I could get for what I was willing to pay. I took the invoice price ($25,500 & something) with me to the dealer knowing exactly what I wanted. They priced it at $24,448 plus a $1,500 rebate and I bought it.
On a Toyota because of the various packages (1 through.....) and models (CE, LS, XLS, and Limited)you really need to know what you want before you go. Just as a note I priced a similar Town and Country and the price was very close equipped the same.

I just thought I would let you know the Quest is an excellent vehical and great gas millage , general maintanece is all ever needed. One more shopping tip, shop at the end of the month and walk in tell them you will give them 200 over invoice and you will get it, sometimes you can pay invoice at this time of the month on a high volume dealership...... sounds unbelievable ? believe me I use to sell cars for a living and know the tricks. Good luck with your search, PS I believe Grand Caravan has the most crate space unless you are folding seats down then they are all pretty even , just fit differently

We searched and searched about six weeks ago. Bottom line is we test drove every mini van with a tape measure in hand. Our priorities was 1) quality 2) gas mileage 3) room/convenience.

We fully planned on getting a minivan but after measuring and driving every single one we could find we ended up in an Ford Expedition XL. The price was not that much more (after rebates) and the gas mileage isn't bad (20 miles per gallon).

We are thrilled so far.

Stacey

congrads, I like the SUV"S the best. A van is nice but nothing beats the SUV especially in bad weather. handles great.