Anyone gone from Minivan to Expedition Max?

[Husker4theSpurs]

Hello all!

Have been considering an Expedition Max or Navigator L and currently have a Chrysler Pacifica. I even ordered a Navigator last Spring and turned it down at the last second ... I'm not sure why the hesitation, but it mostly has to do with losing the convenience of those sliding doors in the van and the overall length of the Max/L. We have a 3 1/2 yr old and a 1 1/2 year old and will be traveling more with my in-laws starting next Spring/Summer and I figured if we were going to get one then, we might as well do so prior to winter to have 4wd when it moreso matters. I have to say the craptastic RSES is a concern as well ... just give us a direct line DVD option as well FORD!

I am having a lot of hesitation about this change for some reason. Trust me, I would love to not drive a minivan but they are so convenient in many ways. The 4wd in an Expedition/Navigator would obviously be a benefit, but is there anything else anyone can suggest to consider? We will order the 2nd row bench if we end up getting one.

Any thoughts and input welcome!

 

[shane_th_ee]

We have an Odyssey and an Expedition Max FX4. The only practical* reason to go from a minivan to the Expedition is if you need a tow vehicle and/or better ground clearance. The power sliding doors and lower floor height are awesome for both small children and grandparents. My 5 year old can walk up to the minivan, open the door, close the door and strap himself into his carseat. With the Expedition, my 7 year old struggles mightily to open the door herself. And once the door is open the 3 year old needs help getting in and out. Then there's the sliding doors: I pull into a parking spot with the minivan and the kids can just open the doors and get out. With the Expedition, I pull in, have to check clearances and, if it there's any doubt, then I have to go open the door so the kids don't slam it into side of the next car. It's a lot easier for older adults to get into/out of the minivan than to climb up into the Expedition.

If you need/want improved snow/ice performance you'd be far better off with an AWD Sienna and/or dedicated snow tires.

*Minivans are "uncool", but I don't consider coolness to be a practical consideration. YMMV.

 

[Adieu]

Forum, meet the reason why we can't have new cool trucks anymore

 

[WJD_xlt]

I went from an odyssey to an expedition max. Only thing I miss from the minivan is the sliding doors (due to the aforementioned reason), I’m happier with the switch.

 

[JasonH]

We have an Odyssey and an Expedition Max FX4. The only practical* reason to go from a minivan to the Expedition is if you need a tow vehicle and/or better ground clearance. The power sliding doors and lower floor height are awesome for both small children and grandparents. My 5 year old can walk up to the minivan, open the door, close the door and strap himself into his carseat. With the Expedition, my 7 year old struggles mightily to open the door herself. And once the door is open the 3 year old needs help getting in and out. Then there's the sliding doors: I pull into a parking spot with the minivan and the kids can just open the doors and get out. With the Expedition, I pull in, have to check clearances and, if it there's any doubt, then I have to go open the door so the kids don't slam it into side of the next car. It's a lot easier for older adults to get into/out of the minivan than to climb up into the Expedition.

If you need/want improved snow/ice performance you'd be far better off with an AWD Sienna and/or dedicated snow tires.

*Minivans are "uncool", but I don't consider coolness to be a practical consideration. YMMV.

I concur with all of the above. My Expedition EL replaced my Odyssey minivan. If you don't have to tow and don't need AWD or the extra ground clearance, the Minivan is a superior people mover. I needed to tow a 30 ft trailer, and my minivan started having mechanical issues around 200K. I still miss the fuel economy and convenience of loading and unloading passengers and cargo from the van. My Expedition is great for towing, but around town the minivan was more convenient. A Toyota Sienna AWD would be a great alternative if it has sufficient ground clearance for your weather conditions.

 

[scottdm]

We currently have both an AWD Sienna and an Expedition short wheelbase, so I'll provide a few data points. The vehicles are obviously apples and oranges for their intended purpose. From a packaging/space utilization perspective, the Sienna wins hands down. The floor to ceiling dimension is also larger for tall items. The A and B pillars on the Expedition also have worse visibility than the Sienna. It also rides more smoothly than our Expedition even with CCD on the cushiest setting. All that being said, I feel that the Expedition has a much better powertrain and can actually get out of it's own way (I added the 5 star tune). The Sienna feels gutless after driving the Expedition. The road presence is also a big reason we purchased the Expedition (replaced my S550 4matic) since there are so many larger trucks on the Interstate nowadays, so I definitely feel safer in the Expedition than the Sienna. Technology and the ability to manipulate things in Forscan was also an appealing feature of the Expedition. We also had fun driving in the sand at the Outer Banks of North Carolina this summer, which obviously would be a no-go in the Sienna.

 

[Husker4theSpurs]

We have an Odyssey and an Expedition Max FX4. The only practical* reason to go from a minivan to the Expedition is if you need a tow vehicle and/or better ground clearance. The power sliding doors and lower floor height are awesome for both small children and grandparents. My 5 year old can walk up to the minivan, open the door, close the door and strap himself into his carseat. With the Expedition, my 7 year old struggles mightily to open the door herself. And once the door is open the 3 year old needs help getting in and out. Then there's the sliding doors: I pull into a parking spot with the minivan and the kids can just open the doors and get out. With the Expedition, I pull in, have to check clearances and, if it there's any doubt, then I have to go open the door so the kids don't slam it into side of the next car. It's a lot easier for older adults to get into/out of the minivan than to climb up into the Expedition.

If you need/want improved snow/ice performance you'd be far better off with an AWD Sienna and/or dedicated snow tires.

*Minivans are "uncool", but I don't consider coolness to be a practical consideration. YMMV.

Thanks for the input ... those are all my sentiments as well. One difference is having a bench in the 2nd row in the Expedition/Navigator while still being able to get a panoramic roof. As far as kids needing help in and out of the car ... this could be good and bad I suppose.

The Toyota Sienna needs a significant refresh imho before I would consider it, although I have heard the Pacifica will be getting AWD within a few years?

I am leaning toward ordering a Exp/Nav but honestly I'm surprised I haven't committed to do so yet.

 

[Husker4theSpurs]

I concur with all of the above. My Expedition EL replaced my Odyssey minivan. If you don't have to tow and don't need AWD or the extra ground clearance, the Minivan is a superior people mover. I needed to tow a 30 ft trailer, and my minivan started having mechanical issues around 200K. I still miss the fuel economy and convenience of loading and unloading passengers and cargo from the van. My Expedition is great for towing, but around town the minivan was more convenient. A Toyota Sienna AWD would be a great alternative if it has sufficient ground clearance for your weather conditions.

Thanks for your input ... I am quite torn. I think I'd enjoy driving the Expedition more and we do have snow to be dealt with here, but I have a 3rd car that has 4wd (2019 Jeep Wrangler 4 door). However we will make some trips to some very rural areas with quite a lot of poorly maintained gravel roads and that might be a bit of a kicker to this situation (don't think we can fit the kids and stuff in a 4 door Wrangler).

 

[Husker4theSpurs]

We currently have both an AWD Sienna and an Expedition short wheelbase, so I'll provide a few data points. The vehicles are obviously apples and oranges for their intended purpose. From a packaging/space utilization perspective, the Sienna wins hands down. The floor to ceiling dimension is also larger for tall items. The A and B pillars on the Expedition also have worse visibility than the Sienna. It also rides more smoothly than our Expedition even with CCD on the cushiest setting. All that being said, I feel that the Expedition has a much better powertrain and can actually get out of it's own way (I added the 5 star tune). The Sienna feels gutless after driving the Expedition. The road presence is also a big reason we purchased the Expedition (replaced my S550 4matic) since there are so many larger trucks on the Interstate nowadays, so I definitely feel safer in the Expedition than the Sienna. Technology and the ability to manipulate things in Forscan was also an appealing feature of the Expedition. We also had fun driving in the sand at the Outer Banks of North Carolina this summer, which obviously would be a no-go in the Sienna.

Thank you for your input! It's very helpful.

 

[Jace]

I'm gonna echo pretty much everything said in here so far. I switched my family cruiser/wife's vehicle from a '14 Sienna SE to a '19 Limited Max a few weeks ago and she absolutely loves it and so do I. We do miss the sliding doors for the laziness of letting the kids just rush out and for tight parking, but those aren't too much of a big deal as we, like many others, just park a bit further out, and assist the littles in getting out.

In regards to kids, I have 5 boys... Ages 7,5,3,2 and 4mo. We got the captains chairs so every seat is full. The only issue we've ran into so far is in the 3rd row. We haven't figured out how to put the 2 backed boosters in with forward facing harness seat. The 2 in boosters have a hard time clicking their belts in because they are flush with the seats and slightly under the harness sest vs sticking up like they were in the sienna. Also, I wish I could disable the power reclining 3rd row seats as kids like to push buttons and that doesn't work too well with car seats.

I also wanted to add a different angle than some have posted about their kids having a hard time getting into the expedition. All of my boys, except for the baby obviously, can get into mine just fine. We found this to be the case with the models that have the power steps as they come down a lot further than the fixed running boards. My younger boys couldn't get into the XLT models without help.

Our main deciding factors were snow, ground clearance, towing and technology. The presence is much better, but parking takes a little more thought as the hood is much larger.