downsize from honda odyssey to prius?

The short trips are not the best for the Prius, so you're mileage will definitely not be as high as the EPA estimates. However, it will still be better than the Odyssey. As far as cargo, as long as the stroller fits, the groceries can be packed around it and in the floor boards, if necessary.

My parents are going through something similar - not involving strollers though. They have a van that gets used to its full potential about 15 times a year. The other 300+ days of the year, it's just my mother. They're trying to figure out if they can get everything they need for most of their trips in the Prius. If they can (which I have attempted to show them), they'll get one. The few trips that they need the extra space they could rent a van.

I say give it a shot. And welcome to PriusChat.

 

We have both a 05 Prius and a 99 Venture extended. We try and use the Prius most of the time but there are times we thank God we have a minivan. When the kids get older it's amazing how many kids and things need to get hauled around. Maybe a new Prius and an old minivan is a good choice for you too.

 

For crash test safety ratings, check out the following two sites (the first is for the Prius, the second for the odyssey):
http://www.automotive.com/2006/12/toyota/p...fety/index.html
http://www.automotive.com/2006/12/honda/od...fety/index.html


As you can see, they both score fairly well all around. i wouldn't be worried about the difference between 4 starts and 5.

 

Keep the Honda... like they said above, as the kids get older - they have more stuff to carry, also they will want to go places with friends, or girl scout troop, or class trips and so on. Being able to take the wife, 2 kids & 2 friends to the movies in one car is great.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(icharry @ Dec 14 2006, 03:45 PM) [snapback]362449[/snapback]</div>

I agree. You can't use the front passenger seat for young children so the Prius effectively becomes a 3-4 seater for an adult w/children. If the van is only getting driven for very short trips the fuel saved will be minor anyway. I also have two kids and our other car (Audi A6 wagon) is quickly becoming a PITA. I'm hoping a hybrid van or electric vehicle that seats 7 will come out soon to replace the wagon, but am starting to resign myself to getting the Hi-Hy to replace it. I really like the look of the Mazda5 but it's mileage is surprisingly (to me) poor.

 

Being that you have a 2006 Odyessy, that's a big decision as you will be bearing the brunt of the depreciation hit squarely, with the 2007's out and readily available, and with much softer demand than the Odyssey had a year and a half ago when you got yours.

If I were faced with the decision you are contemplating, I'd also consider:

- What other type vehicle(s) are in the household? (Can minivan needs be met with other vehicle?)

- Homeowner or property owner? (Lumber, plants, hot water heaters, window coverings, furniture transport?)

- Parents, grandparents, or inlaws nearby and often around? (How often are they transported by wife?)

- Length of time a car is kept in the household? (How old/big/many kids will be during car's tenure?)

- Other major expenses planned? (Is depreciation penalty budgetable if fuel savings can't catch up in time?)

- State of domicle? (Another 2-4 thousand dollars in sales tax for new purchase, poss higher registration fees)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(icharry @ Dec 14 2006, 04:45 PM) [snapback]362449[/snapback]</div>

I too would keep the Odyssey, otherwise I'm afraid you'll wind up trading the Prius on another one when the kids get a little older, and thats gonna cost you big time.

The Prius is very small for a family.

 

I would agree with what cbs4 said. How long do you usually keep a vehicle and how many miles per year do you put on it? Maybe wiith two young children you could go to the Prius and then change back to a van when they are at the age of school sports, etc. Or trade the Matrix for the Prius, and keep the Odyssey.

I had a '01 Ody which I put about 75K miles on. I bought LOML a new '06 Accord last December because the waiting time for a Prius or Civic Hybrid was too long (for me). Then in April while visiting in Ohio I found a new Prius available and bought it. Not wanting three vehicles, I gave the Ody to our son. (Now he has three vehicles.) Anyway, I really miss the Ody. Now I wish I had just sold the Accord and kept the Ody. And we don't have kids to haul around either. But it was good to have for my "manly" things, like trips to Home Depot & Lowes, the recycling center, home & garden store, etc., and taking friends & family to Disney World, State Parks or just a restaurant, and long trips to OH and IL. It also moved a lot of our furniture from Ohio to FL over a couple of years. In October I rented a minivan for a week when we had need for transporting 6 around. Maybe you don't have reason to use your Ody to its fullest possibilities and can afford to downsize. If so, the Prius is the way to go. As others have mentioned, 5 mile trips won't show what the Prius was made for, but it is still a great car.

 

My wife and I went through the same thought process as the OP. My wife was going to abandon our Odyssey in favor of our Prius. Two days later she was back in the Odyssey:
- Putting small, squirmy kids into the back of a four door car is a tight fit compared to a van with auto sliding doors
- While a double stroller fits into the Prius, you won't be fitting much else if you already have the kids in the car. In the Honda you can fit three double strollers without even putting down the back seat!
- The Odyssey has climate control for passengers in the back. During the summer our guys were roasting in the back of the Prius (baby seats don't allow much circulation.)
- Gas mileage on the Prius isn't that great if you're just going to the grocery store and the library a few times a week. The Odyssey mileage isn't great, but it's still better than some big honkin SUV or pickup truck.

The minivan is designed for familiies with small children, the Prius is an excellent commuter car. Period. You can swap roles between them and if one already had the Prius instead of the van you could certainly get by, but I wouldn't replace the van!

 

If most of her trips are 5 miles or less, any fuel savings would be minimal. And as the kids grow older, they will want to get involved in things like soccer, and other trips. I find the comment about the Odyssey hard to park curious. We have an 06 Odyssey, and I find it very easy to park. Turning radius is great, and we never have any problem getting in and out of places.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(alleyooptroop @ Dec 14 2006, 02:33 PM) [snapback]362328[/snapback]</div>

We have two kids (6 and 11), and my wife and I have used the Prius as a family car for a year and a half now. Six year old is still in a booster seat (for her comfort, mostly). Almost all my wife's driving is very short trips around town (you know the drill), with a few longer ones. But we drive it using many of the suggestions posted here for optimal MPG, and with our Virginia climate we get an average 48 MPG year-round, lower in winter, higher in spring and fall. The hatchback is a real plus. No problem taking the family to the beach for a week in it, though that does require close-packing the trunk space to get everything in. No problem strapping a bike rack on the back. Drop the seats and you can get (e.g.) two 60 gallon polyethelene barrels in the back. The car offers a lot of utility. And, if you drive it reasonably and live in a temperate climate, you can expect to get pretty darn good mileage. Definitely factor in the lower fuel costs when you go to evaluate your next car. In particular, if you don't drive in rush hour, you can drive the car somewhat more efficiently than if you are always forced into lockstep with surrounding traffic. So, if your wife is largely tootling around town, not in a rush-hour commute, I'd expect you could get pretty decent mileage (as we get 48, which appears to be about average for a Prius.) You'll just never approach the really high mileage numbers you see posted here.

My wife hears all the time from friends in town who have more or less the same complaint as your wife regarding driveability of a larger vehicle. They envy the ease of urban driving that the Prius offers.

We definitely got all the airbags. We also got Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), which others on this forum have rightly pointed out appears to be a huge advance in safety (as in, estimated one-quarter to one-third reduction in crashes for VSC-equipped vehicles compare to others, based on reasonably-well-done government and private studies.) I didn't even know what it was when I bought the car, so, I guess I lucked into that, but if safety is a concern, you should Google up the facts on VSC and factor that into your decision as you see fit.

Other than that, the car weighs 3,000 lbs. The average vehicle on the road is just about 3700. That's not too bad. The Prius looks small but is very dense. The safety aspects of the weight of the car, were, I though, a non-issue for me. The threat of getting T-boned by a bozo in a big vehicle, by contrast, I thought was worth worrying about. Hence the airbags. Guess I figure I'm more likely to be hit than to run into something. Also note the large roof pillars and such for the high-strenth-steel passenger cage. Very reminiscent of Volvo-style safety engineering, ugly but supremely functional from a safety standpoint. And presumably fairly well designed for keeping you intact in the event of a crash.

Another plus to consider, as your kids get older, is that you CANT do major carpool duty. That sounds rather uncivilized, but you don't get to play busdriver for a vanfull of kids (unless you enjoy that). You can take your two kids, plus one friend each, and then sorry, you're full. So, you don't get dragooned into providing transportation services simply because you've got the biggest van on the lot. Just something to consider.

Having said all this, we just bought a Mazda5, which is billed as a "microvan", to supplement our Prius. We bought the Mazda5 so we could carry six people. That's it. That was the sole shortcoming we found with the Prius, for us. We need that capability every so often. Considered (and signed up for) Zipcar here in DC (instant on-demand rental), but that didn't work out.

We bought the Mazda with the notion it will mostly be parked, and my wife and I will share the Prius to the greatest extent possible. The EPA rating for the Mazda5 with 5-speed manual is an overall 24, which is lousy, as noted above, given the size of the car. But the internet buzz (and my brief experience) is that you can substantially beat the EPA with some moderate driving. And, looking at engine displacement, horsepower-to-weight ratios and drag coefficients, yes, I'd say that's plausible. With two partial fillups, my calculated MPG readings were 34.5 (implausibly good, probably due to initial overfill by dealer), and 28.5 (including a lot of high-speed interstate travel). So I hope to get 30 ish MPG on it when it's broken in. I'll definitely beat the EPA. Not as good as a Prius, but loads better than any traditional minivan.

The Mazda5 is basically, as they say, a microvan. Seats are arranged 2-2-2. Doors open like a minvan (sliding). Otherwise, the car is actually a bit easier to drive than the Prius -- almost the identical footprint, wheelbase, slightly smaller turning radius, but sits up quite a bit higher and has better visibility. It drives like a small car, but with better visbility. But it's nowhere near as fun to drive as the Prius. So, we park it until we need it, and share the Prius.

You want to get your wife a car that's fun to drive, get her a Prius. Unless she's likes sportscars. It's very relaxing to drive the Prius -- between the electic and the CVT, the car just floats forward. Smoothest acceleration of any car I've ever owned. It's unlike any other car you've ever driven. My wife and I call it "Prius Therapy". After a really crappy day at work (I work at home), I'll ask the borrow her car for an errand, just for the therapeutic value of driving it. Wouldn't trade it for any other car on the road. Just needed a second car to handle the occasional six-passenger trips.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(alleyooptroop @ Dec 14 2006, 02:33 PM) [snapback]362328[/snapback]</div>

Dont do it! I have an '06 Prius and a '04 Sienna. 4 kids - two still at home. When your kids get a little older - how are you going to do the carpools? There is not enough space in the Prius for the stuff you will need to carry. Also safety wise - stick with the minivan.

Do you have the electric doors on your minivan. my wife loves them. also the electric powered rear hatch - great. We have had four minivans and would not live without them as long as we have kids at home.

 

OH TOYOTA!!!Do you hear this? Get that Estima mini-van to the US. Pronto!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Skwyre7 @ Dec 14 2006, 03:27 PM) [snapback]362381[/snapback]</div>

We just traded a 2004 Sienna on a 2007 Prius. My wife needed the space in the Sienna for her wheelchair. Fortuneately, she no longer needs to take the wheelchair with her.

We were getting 22 mpg with the van. Since we got the Prius, (last Wednesday) we are averaging 49.5 mpg. We are also enjoying the new car for all of it's hi-tech features.

Have not missed the Sienna one bit.