02/2020 KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE 71button to interrupt the sound and yell
at them right through the headphones.
I’m uncool, and I know it. So, what’s not
to like? That image problem. It runs
deep. To go back to the movies: When
undercover cop/master car racer Brian
O’Conner (Paul Walker) becomes do-
mesticated in Furious 7, what do the
filmmakers put him in to take the kid
to school? A blue Chrysler Town &
Country. And he can’t find the door
switch. Plenty of women, too, are anti-
van. I know, because I’m married to
one. It’s not just that my wife would
never be caught dead driving one; she
thinks less of me for liking them.
That attitude is ref lected in sales.
Looking back 15 years, the market
share of minivans has been roughly
cut in half, as buyers have defected
to the ever-expanding array of SUVs.
Will the minivan follow the station
wagon to extinction in the U.S.?
Jessica Caldwell, executive director
of industry insights at Edmunds.com,
doesn’t think so. She sees the market
share hitting a f loor of about 2%— a
niche, but one with a huge degree of
loyalty. “Because it’s culturally not
cool to have a minivan, people feel
obliged to defend their decision to
go minivan,” Caldwell said.
The Odyssey I drove is one of only
four (or maybe five) minivans you can
buy today. Back when Kiplinger’s was
handing out a variety of annual awards,
including Minivan of the Year, the
Odyssey was the most common win-
ner, and I think it still owns that spot,
in part because Honda did a signifi-
cant redesign in 2018.The rest of the field. The number-two
van, then and now, is the To y o t a S i e n n a
($34,385, LE trim). The Sienna has
been left largely untouched since 2011,
though a redesign is expected with
the 2021 model. As a result, it trails the
Odyssey (and others) in the demanding
safety tests performed by the Insur-
ance Institute for Highway Safety.
But the Sienna can claim a significant
niche-inside-a-niche: It’s available
with all-wheel drive, which takes
out one of the main reasons people
claim they need an SUV. (Minivans,
of course, are strictly on-road vehicles,
but equipped with winter tires, they
might be a safer bet overall in the
snow than an all-wheel-drive SUV
with all-season tires. See “Get a Grip
on Winter Roads,” Dec.)
Fiat Chrysler, which got the minivan
party started in 1984 with the Plymouth
Voyager/Dodge Caravan twins, has
been playing a curious game: In 2016, it
introduced the Chrysler Pacifica ($33,745,
Touring), an all-new design that re-
placed the long-in-the-tooth Town &
Country. However, it has kept a vari-
ant of the older model in production as
the Dodge Grand Caravan, ($27,040 for a
2019 SE model; 2020 pricing hadn’t
been announced at press time), mostly
to satisfy f leet sales, according to Ed-
munds’ Caldwell.
Chrysler also owns its own niche-
within-a-niche: You can buy the Paci-
fica Hybrid ($39,995, Touring), a plug-in
model that can drive up to 33 miles
on electric power with a full charge.
Further complicating the situation:
For 2020, Chrysler is offering a Chrys-
ler Voyager ($26,985, L). It’s basically a
low-trim (cloth seats and steel wheels)
version of the Pacifica.
And then there’s the slow-selling
Kia Sedona ($33,500, EX), whose most
distinctive feature is its styling. The
stepped-up third side window and
long, low nose evoke a large crossover.
But the sliding-door handles still give
it away. Sedonas depreciate quickly,
so they’re best bought used. ■
YOU CAN CONTACT THE AUTHOR AT DAVID_MUHLBAUM@
KIPLINGER.COM.■ NO SUV ON THE PLANET
PROVIDES EASIER ACCESS
TO THE INTERIOR THAN A
HONDA ODYSSEY DOES.