It's summer and there's nothing better than having the top down and the wind in your hair for that feeling of freedom – so why not go for a sporty little convertible as your next vehicle purchase?
Because of a little thing called reality, that's why not. With a busy family in the suburbs, you might have to wait until retirement for that hot used roadster. In the meantime, soccer and hockey practice, family road trips and carpooling to work take priority. You need something roomy and versatile that can carry six or seven people and their stuff. But it also has to be decent on fuel, so leave the giant SUV out of it; you're not going off-roading anyway. Plus, you want something with relatively low kilometres and not more than a few years old, so look at minivans up to $15,000.
Sensible
The Mazda5 is on the smaller side, so if you have more than six people this might not be for you. But if you don't need the cavernous room of a full-size minivan, then you'd be rewarded with a drive and fuel efficiency that is more car-like. Handling is nimble, almost to the point of sporty, and it can even be found with a manual transmission. Dual sliding rear doors allow good access to the passenger compartment, but the rear seats are cramped for adults. And if you do carry six people, there's little room for luggage. But we can find these up to around 2013. Recalls deal with a corroding fuel pump, loss of power assist steering, a freezing sliding door latch and excessive heat in the exhaust system.
The Kia Sedona has been flying under the radar of the minivan market for a while, but it should be a consideration for anyone looking for an economical-yet-roomy choice. While it's bland – even for a minivan – it's available up to around 2013. Taller drivers might find it difficult to get comfortable, as the steering wheel doesn't telescope. The third-row seats fold into the floor, and you can either fold the second row up against the front seats or remove them entirely – but they're heavy. A 3.5-litre V-6 in the newer models delivers good power but fuel economy is worse than the other choices. Recalls include corroding front controls arms, failing brake light switch, damaged wiring harness, failing brake hose, malfunctioning power seats, a sticking accelerator pedal, failing wheel bearings, a throttle cable and malfunctioning brake control module.
Indispensable
Normally, a Honda Odyssey or a Toyota Sienna would hold a spot here; both are probably the best when it comes to features and reliability. But with this budget, they're almost impossible to come by past 2009 with decent mileage, so let's look at the one that started the minivan genre in the first place: the Dodge Caravan. Also found as a Grand Caravan, this is the best-selling minivan in the world, and was the fourth-best-selling vehicle in Canada last year. You'll find plenty of them on the market up to 2013 with low kilometres. A redesign in 2011 fixed a lot of the reliability issues that plagued the Dodge, along with bringing a nicer interior. While it's not exactly sporty, a 3.6-litre V-6 offers enough power for the highway. There's also a gaping 4,072 litres of space inside, but the real conveniences are the second- and third-row Stow 'n Go seats, which easily fold into the floor for cargo room. This is a good value with good versatility. Recalls for 2011 models and up include air bags, a liftgate sensor failing, a defective rear hub and bearing, a failing connecting rod bearing in some vehicles and a potential loss of steering.
Questionable
Any Dodge Caravan or its fancy cousin, the Town and Country, before 2011. Both are on Consumer Reports' Worst Used Cars List from last year for various reasons: poor handling, fit and finish, braking and fuel economy. But worse, they suffered reliability issues that encompassed just about every system on the car. In this case, a "good deal" on an older model might cost more in the long run.
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