I have owned an eight-seater Toyota minivan since 2005 after buying it new. I initially leased the van and then purchased it through financing once the lease was up. I did not drive the car as a commuter car at the time and did not put a lot of miles on it. The best thing about the van was to drive my kids to and from school and all their adventures. At the time I bought the car, they were ages one through seven. Now, 13 years later, it has seen one off through college, and even the youngest is getting ready to enter high school. I know of no other car that take them and their friends everywhere they wanted to go. I have a hard time thinking about not having it anymore. It still runs well, but it will be needing more and more maintenance as it approaches 200,000 miles. Also, there are less of us to be driven around. The kids are older.

We bought this vehicle when I was pregnant with my first child. I dreaded the thought of being a minivan mom, as I was still in my 20s at the time. We had a Honda Passport SUV for driving to work, and an old Ford cargo van for house projects. We decided to trade in those two vehicles and buy the Sienna because we needed a car that was safe for our baby but spacious enough to haul 4x8 sheets of plywood and drywall. Now I wonder why I didn't buy a Sienna sooner! It's so spacious and comfortable on the inside, but has the turn radius of the little Toyota Corolla I drove in college. I finally understand why so many moms drive minivans. The back passenger-side power door is great when I'm lugging around a car seat. The placement of the middle row of seats is adjustable, so our car seat can be in the very center of the vehicle (the safest place for children). There are hidden storage compartments and cup holders everywhere, which is helpful for family vacations. And although we only have one child, we have lots of extended family. Since the Sienna has room for 7, we can all pack into the "party van" when our family goes out together. My husband also loves our Sienna. We've used it to haul furniture, lumber, Christmas trees, you name it. And like all Toyotas, it runs forever. It has 143,000 miles, and we haven't had any major problems.