I want a minivan...

My daughters have a 2012 Sienna and a 2016 Mazda CX-5 and I do their maintenance and both are very good vehicles. The only issue I've had is with the Mazda and the key fob. She only had one when she bought it used so I got an OEM replacement FOB and, boy, getting that little sucker and the Mazda computer to work together has been a bear. I even had a professional program it and he worked on it for 4 hours, using two high-tech computers, and it's, still, not the best thing. (Many gremlins.) Researching on the WWW shows many folks having problems with their Mazda key fobs.
The Nissan Rogue was looked at by both daughters when they were looking for something but the transmissions on those are notoriously horrendous so I'd steer clear unless they get it replaced by something better. (Like Mazda did in the early 2000's with their horrible Jatco transmission.)
I did hear that some Rav 4's have 3rd seats so you might want to also look for those.

 

son loves his new oddysey, but they aren't cheap

 

My daughter, who now has a Mazda, had an older Odyssey (I think it was a 2002) and loved it except for those electric sliding doors which had no manual option and in the winter would sometimes freeze shut on her....very annoying. It got t-boned and since it was so old they just totaled it.

 

that guy is 6'-11", i know him

 

Why not go for the hybrid Sienna? The thing ain't cheap though...that's for sure.

On that note, I fondly remember our 2004 Mazda MPV. It looked like this :

https://autoauctionspot.com/mazda/mpv/2004-JM3LW28J740504224.html

It was a perfectly sized smaller minivan, got reasonable MPG, and was reasonably priced. The sliding door windows also rolled down....which was a cool feature at the time. Unfortunately, the darn thing rusted worse than any other vehicle we have ever had. Shame Mazda dropped it.

 

The new Sienna's are very expensive. In 2020 we were searching for a replacement for our 2004 Sienna that we had purchased new in 2003

With the safety features we wanted we would have had to buy an XLE Sienna model that would have listed for close to $50,000 after it was all said and done. It would have still lacked one safety feature we had wanted.

Wonderful vehicles but just out of this world expensive. We bit the bullet and said we just can't afford the vehicle we want and searched the market to find a new vehicle that fit our needs and price point that was the best fit and value for us. We found it and it cost about 1/2 of what the new Sienna would have cost. There are times I still miss that old 2004 Sienna - it had over 150,000 miles and countless found memories of family vacations over the 16 years we owned it.

 

The Mazda5 is about the same in length and wheelbase as the Prius v. The C-max we got was shorter.

If you need to carrying a fifth person, couldn't the Avalon do the job?

 

We compromised and got a 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe SEL. With our old 2004 Sienna Van as a trade in the Sante Fe came in at right around $24,000 all-inclusive which is about what we paid for the 2004 Sienna when we bought it new in December of 2003. The Santa Fe SEL had every safety feature available and fit all our transportation and carrying needs.

 

The trade offs for that 6th seat in the Mazda5 just seem high compared to a hybrid Avalon.

The times you rented a minivan, was it just the four of you, or also included extra people?

 

This is why DW ended up buying a Mitsubishi Outlander instead of a Mazda5. It has a 5+2 seating arrangement and I regularly average low 30's mpg. We wanted the Mazda5 for the ease of the sliding doors but the 5 seat arrangement just wasn't going to work for us. And with 6 in a Mazda5, there was almost no cargo room at all so we couldn't pick up anyone at the airport anyway.

There's a small handful of compact SUV's with fuel efficient 4 cyl engines and 3 rows. Previous gen Nissan Rogues and the older 2000's Rav4's had 3 rows.

 

I forgot to mention the KIA Sorento's have 3 rows of seats in them. The third row is not roomy at all, but it also folds down for additional room. It is split so you can fold down only half of it.

A used Sorento used to be very affordable not sure currently. They are affordable with a surprising level of options and safety features.

"With room for up to seven, the standard 50/50 split-folding third-row seats also fold to expand cargo space if you’re not carrying a full passenger load."

2022 Kia Sorento | Mid-Size SUV - Pricing & Features | Kia

They are a popular vehicle because of their price point and features - there should be plenty of used ones.

Might not be your cup of tea but thought I would mention it.

 

My daughter has the VW Atlas which has 3rd row and pretty good SUV substitute for a minivan.
I do not think it gets 30 MPG. Not the best reliability.

 

4 cyl Sorentos are unicorns when we were looking. Combined with a 3 row? I hope you have better luck finding a 30 mpg Sorento than us.

After owning a Prius, the CVT in the Outlander was a positive feature for us especially in small hp engines to extract maximum power at minimum rpm. I abhor gear hunting in steep mountain inclines and CVT's cure that. If I ever buy a car with geared transmission again, it will have to be manual.