New 12 or 15 Passenger van

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utunumsint

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Hi All,

My wife is expecting a 7th child so we need to upgrade our vehicle to a 12 or 15 passenger van. Does anyone have any advice? We are looking at:
  • 2013 Chevrolet Express RWD 3500 15 Passenger
  • 2013 Chevrolet Express 3500 LT 15 Passenger
  • 2009 Ford E-350 12 Passenger
  • 2011 Ford E-350 Super Duty XL 12 Passenger
Let me know your experiences! Any safety concerns? Any engine troubles? Lots of repairs?

God bless!
Ut
 
I posted in your prayer request about the Chevy 15 passenger. We have a 2007 Chevy Express 3500 LT. It currently has 221,000 miles and has never had a mechanical problem. We did replace tires twice and battery once, but we bought it in 2008 from a rental car place and it already had 75,000 even though it was only a year old. We do the oil changed and had it inspected yesterday and it checked great in everything. No leaks, not burning oil or spilling fluids, engine is sound, no troubles at all. We use it daily locally and take long trips–often international trips where we drive 3 days straight (split between 3 drivers) so we aren’t delicate with it. We’ve removed the back seat so it seats 11 instead of 15 and we have a lot of room in the back that way. We also will take all the seats out and use it to help move people and also to pick up/deliver things. If we need extra seats we just put the back seat back in. That adds 4 more seats. It does use a lot of gas but for our family it is well worth it.
 
We have a Nissan NV passenger van. So far no real complaints, though there is not a ton of storage if you leave all seats in. As far as function and reliability it’s awesome, and it’s a lot more comfortable than most of the other big vans.
 
My parents had a GM Express, 12-seater. (We are six kids.) They quite liked it. As I recall it didn’t have many problems. The only issue I remember was that there was a connector or something that tended to shrink a bit in winter, so sometimes it could be hard to start. A good bang on the hood to reconnect it sorted it out easily (seriously) 😃
 
utunumsint said:
Hi All,

My wife is expecting a 7th child so we need to upgrade our vehicle to a 12 or 15 passenger van. Does anyone have any advice? We are looking at:
  • 2013 Chevrolet Express RWD 3500 15 Passenger
  • 2013 Chevrolet Express 3500 LT 15 Passenger
  • 2009 Ford E-350 12 Passenger
  • 2011 Ford E-350 Super Duty XL 12 Passenger
Let me know your experiences! Any safety concerns? Any engine troubles? Lots of repairs?

God bless!
Ut
Click to expand...
Same boat here only with six kids. Following thread out of curriosity.
Looking at the NV
And the ford transit.
 
bitterhope said:
I posted in your prayer request about the Chevy 15 passenger. We have a 2007 Chevy Express 3500 LT. It currently has 221,000 miles and has never had a mechanical problem. We did replace tires twice and battery once, but we bought it in 2008 from a rental car place and it already had 75,000 even though it was only a year old. We do the oil changed and had it inspected yesterday and it checked great in everything. No leaks, not burning oil or spilling fluids, engine is sound, no troubles at all. We use it daily locally and take long trips–often international trips where we drive 3 days straight (split between 3 drivers) so we aren’t delicate with it. We’ve removed the back seat so it seats 11 instead of 15 and we have a lot of room in the back that way. We also will take all the seats out and use it to help move people and also to pick up/deliver things. If we need extra seats we just put the back seat back in. That adds 4 more seats. It does use a lot of gas but for our family it is well worth it.
Click to expand...
Thanks Bitterhope for your prayers and the info! I test drove the 2011 Ford E-350 Super Duty XL 12 Passenger tonight. Yesterday I tried out a 2011 Chevy Express 12 Passengers. I felt that the for was a bit more responsive. But maybe the Chevy I tried was a lemon. The only 15 passenger vehicles I’ve found around here are two 2013 Chevy Expresses. Your point about having the additional room in the back is a good one. My wife wants me to check them out, but the nearest ones I could find are two and three hours away.

Do you have any concerns about the increased risk of rollover?

God bless,
Ut
 
Fuerza said:
We have a Nissan NV passenger van. So far no real complaints, though there is not a ton of storage if you leave all seats in. As far as function and reliability it’s awesome, and it’s a lot more comfortable than most of the other big vans.
Click to expand...
Oh I wish I could find one used around here. But in Canada they start at around 40K. Way out of my budget. They would have to custom build it from the factory. Still, I wish I could test drive one. Thanks for the info!

God bless,
Ut
 
His_helpmeet said:
My parents had a GM Express, 12-seater. (We are six kids.) They quite liked it. As I recall it didn’t have many problems. The only issue I remember was that there was a connector or something that tended to shrink a bit in winter, so sometimes it could be hard to start. A good bang on the hood to reconnect it sorted it out easily (seriously) 😃
Click to expand...
Ah quality GM workmanship! 😃

I took my six kids out in the Ford tonight and they loved it! So much better than being squeezed like a bunch of sardines in our old Saturn Outlook.

God bless,
Ut
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
Same boat here only with six kids. Following thread out of curriosity.
Looking at the NV
And the ford transit.
Click to expand...
Used NVs and Ford Transits are totally non existent around my area. They do have some new transits. I may just take one out for a test drive… but I couldn’t afford the payments.

God bless,
Ut
 
utunumsint said:
Thanks Bitterhope for your prayers and the info! I test drove the 2011 Ford E-350 Super Duty XL 12 Passenger tonight. Yesterday I tried out a 2011 Chevy Express 12 Passengers. I felt that the for was a bit more responsive. But maybe the Chevy I tried was a lemon. The only 15 passenger vehicles I’ve found around here are two 2013 Chevy Expresses. Your point about having the additional room in the back is a good one. My wife wants me to check them out, but the nearest ones I could find are two and three hours away.

Do you have any concerns about the increased risk of rollover?

God bless,
Ut
Click to expand...
Fords are definitely more comfortable. Our van before this one was a ford, but mechanically we had tons of problems starting around 125,000 miles. So far nothing at all with the Chevy and nearly twice the miles.

As for the rollovers, it truly depends on how you drive it. Ours has never made us nervous but then again we don’t drive it like a race car and we slow down a little more with curves than a smaller car would.

We thought a lot about the 12 passenger and my husband was upset that I was so insistent about the 15, but like I told him, it’s a huge purchase that we need to make last and little annoyances like not having room for groceries for a family of 9 make life hard. He bit the bullet, drove 4 hours south to test drive, and has told me many times since how glad he is I pushed for the larger van.
 
utunumsint said:
Oh I wish I could find one used around here. But in Canada they start at around 40K. Way out of my budget. They would have to custom build it from the factory. Still, I wish I could test drive one. Thanks for the info!

God bless,
Ut
Click to expand...
Used NVs are pretty hard to find in general. The model itself is only a few years old, and people who buy them tend to keep them.
 
We’re not at this stage in our lives (yet), but I am curious about the size of these vans, specifically width. We have a minivan now (a Town and Country) and I have maybe an inch on either side when I go in and out of the garage (two-car tandem). Any bigger and it won’t fit.

I also know that one longer vehicle would mean we couldn’t keep a second car in the garage. That wouldn’t be as big a deal, but since we basically have to have two cars where we are, I ponder if it might be better to just have two vehicles (which would work as long as I wasn’t transporting more than six kids by myself.)

Ah, logistics.
 
pensmama87 said:
We’re not at this stage in our lives (yet), but I am curious about the size of these vans, specifically width. We have a minivan now (a Town and Country) and I have maybe an inch on either side when I go in and out of the garage (two-car tandem). Any bigger and it won’t fit.

I also know that one longer vehicle would mean we couldn’t keep a second car in the garage. That wouldn’t be as big a deal, but since we basically have to have two cars where we are, I ponder if it might be better to just have two vehicles (which would work as long as I wasn’t transporting more than six kids by myself.)

Ah, logistics.
Click to expand...
We’ve never parked ours in a garage at home so I’m not sure how that would work. They are tall enough that we don’t fit in some parking garages, but we fit in standard parking spaces so it’s probably not as much difference width so much as height and length. Two vehicles is a good option if that is something you already have. There are some vehicles that can sit up to 10 and are SUV size instead but they are hard to find. If you have good gas mileage in your current two cars it’s probably better in many ways. For us, we would be in a very bad place without our van.

I should probably clarify–we do fit in parking garages but it is kind of scary. In some we nearly touch the roof so I just avoid them. Here at the hospital the NICU is in, they have valet parkers so we opt to just let them park it for us. And yes, they do park it in the parking garage. I just get nervous doing it myself. Then again, I get nervous parking my husband’s small car in the parking garages. I just don’t like them.
 
bitterhope said:
We’ve never parked ours in a garage at home so I’m not sure how that would work. They are tall enough that we don’t fit in some parking garages, but we fit in standard parking spaces so it’s probably not as much difference width so much as height and length. Two vehicles is a good option if that is something you already have. There are some vehicles that can sit up to 10 and are SUV size instead but they are hard to find. If you have good gas mileage in your current two cars it’s probably better in many ways. For us, we would be in a very bad place without our van.

I should probably clarify–we do fit in parking garages but it is kind of scary. In some we nearly touch the roof so I just avoid them. Here at the hospital the NICU is in, they have valet parkers so we opt to just let them park it for us. And yes, they do park it in the parking garage. I just get nervous doing it myself. Then again, I get nervous parking my husband’s small car in the parking garages. I just don’t like them.
Click to expand...
You wouldn’t know it with the weather outside today, but in the winter I really, really appreciate a garage, especially when loading kids in and out. That goes for extreme cold and/or lots of snow. I think I’d rather have the hassle of needing two cars to all go somewhere if I had to choose between that and being able to fit the family vehicle in the garage. 😃

Parking garages give me the willies, too. I always duck in them, which makes absolutely no sense, but there you go.
 
pensmama87 said:
You wouldn’t know it with the weather outside today, but in the winter I really, really appreciate a garage, especially when loading kids in and out. That goes for extreme cold and/or lots of snow. I think I’d rather have the hassle of needing two cars to all go somewhere if I had to choose between that and being able to fit the family vehicle in the garage. 😃

Parking garages give me the willies, too. I always duck in them, which makes absolutely no sense, but there you go.
Click to expand...
I can definitely understand. We’ve never had an attached garage so it isn’t something we have gotten used to having. Little things really make a difference, which is exactly why I insisted on the 15 passenger instead of the 12. I can’t imagine not having the room in the back from removing the seat.

Yeah, I duck too. Not sure why
 
We have a Chevy Express (I think 2500) conversion van. We like it and mechanically engine-etc.-wise it hasn’t had any problems. It is from 2008. The only thing that has had issues is the sliding door. The outside handle has broken several times.
ETA: We do park in regular parking spots all the time. It is longer than standard vehicles so it is a little tricky to park sometimes, but in general “normal” people are able to drive and park it. We do have the rearview camera that helps a lot as well.
 
When it comes about 12+ Passenger Vans, I always look for the brand which has been mostly updated with recent tech trends. And Nissan NV350 is the one which stands firm for this. I found this extensive list of 10 Passenger Vehicles with their price updates. Perhaps it could be useful. Share your views.
 
For something different:
A large family at my parish uses a limo. Mom rides in back with the children. I can see both pros and cons. Used limos are not very expensive.
 
Why so big? When we had 7 kids, we drove a Ford Expedition without a console, so it would seat 3 in the front seat. It worked out pretty well. The 8th kids was a little problem, but by that time the oldest was off to college. When he was home, we found ourselves taking two cars places. I found taking two cars was better than driving one of those behemoths. A cousin with 7 kids had one, I drove it once, I hated it. I suspect its cheaper to have two cars than one of those big jobs.
 
With # 6 due this week. We are purchasing a E350 12 passenger from a nice Mormon family…
 
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