The new highlanders are really nice but they don't have 4cyls nemore.
Venzas are nice but don't have the 3rd row, which is a shame, i'm sure they'd sell a lot more with that option.

Once you start adding people, you need a biger vehicle, which means more weight, which means it needs more power, which means it will use more gas. That's just the way it is.

How often are you going to be seating more than 5 people? Rarely, or Often? Of the 5+ people, what sizes/ages are they? All adult? Mostly Children? Mixed? Will you need lots of luggage space? Do you do mostly city or highway driving, or 50/50?

These are all important factors.

.

oh... probably i'm wrong about the 4cyl but its a huge car, so is that enough power?
I wouldn't suggest it anyways since you said your not using +5 seats often.

I wouldn't suggest buying a car +5 seats neways if your not using it every week. Usually = less fun, worse on gas, more ppl asking to get rides from u :)

what?.. you are going to buy a bigger more $ car that uses more gas so you can sometimes drive guests around??...

F*ck the guests and buy what you want for your own / family use. they can take a cab or rent a car.

exactly renting a van is pretty affordable these days from anywhere

well unless the guests your picking up are business associates, and you pick them up a lot, then I'd agree with what the posts above said.

also keep in mind that when the vehicles are tested, they most likely aren't fully loaded. so in some cases, a 6cyl version of a vehicle is more fuel efficient than the 4cyl version as the 4cyl is too underpowered for that amount of load and thus sucks gas.

So true. My Odyssey means that I get to drive the rest of my Ultimate Frisbee team around to team games and friends hitch a ride with me... and carry all the sports gear too. :p

Still pretty good to drive, though, and not too bad on gas.

If you're looking for a minivan Honda Odyssey is king. Drives nice, sips gas (fo a minivan - get the EX-L or Touring for the VCM), and can carry a whole boatload of stuff. The best I ever did was 11 people in the car in one time, from 4th Ave to my house. :thumbsup: With gear it was 7 people, sound board, luggage for a 3-day weekend, monitor speakers and cabling.

It's also one of the only minivans with 8 seats available, but convertible to 7 in about 30 secs.

see if u dont care about fuel economy, u can easily get a new pilot that seats 8!! 12.7/8.7 for 2WD tho :(

The Pilot's rear seats are a joke. I can't fit in it, and I'm barely 5' 8" - imagine if you stick 3 full-size adults in the back... ugh!

Plus the new one looks so ugly. What's up with Honda's grilles recently?

This is definitely what you're looking for. It's so fuel efficient, it consumes 0L/100KM.
Not to mention, you can fit like 10+ people in there!
This may be your dream car!!!!


http://www.zannel.com/webservices/co...68x758-JPG.jpg

If you do go the route of a Mazda 5, the very most rear seats can pretty much only fit kids. There isn't much room for anyone back there, and once those seats are up, the storage in back is next to nothing. BUT! If you want a car that seats over 5, and meets the criteria for the scrapit program, but still want a 5spd manual, and want to go fast, get a Mazda 5, then get a Mazda 3 2.3L Turbo kit and turbo that bad boy :D

do they still make those vw diesel vans?

don't forget to consider the price difference between domestic minivan vs other competitor

most of the time with the huge gap in price difference , the fuel savings does not start to save you money after 3 - 5 years , sometimes even more...