Please advise: High mileage LX vs Lower mileage GX

[SWUtah]

I thought my comment about minivans earlier in this thread might’ve been a little rough but after seeing other comments I’m starting to feel pretty good about myself got a really agree with “your lives over” comment

 

[coleAK]

I have a ‘13 LX bought it new in feb ‘14. Now 80k miles. In 2016 the dealer had an issue with my LX during scheduled PM, stripped the oil drain plug and had my truck for 6 weeks. The entire time I had a GX loaner. The GX is a really nice truck. If I didn’t tow a 7k camper I would own a GX. All personal preference but interior size is similar, the GX is more the “just right” size, drives sportier, Better in most off-road situations due to its size/weight, storable 3rd row. That said if I didn’t off road or tow I wouldn’t own either of them. We are a family of 4 (2 teens), and do a ton of outdoor activities up here in AK.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

In all seriousness, I'm sure there are many valid use cases for owning a minivan. Especially for people who haul small armies of children to soccer practice twice per week, and consider vehicles to be appliances. There are many such people, and they're no more right or wrong on that than any of us "enthusiasts." The minivan-owning friends I've mentioned have always been of the soft, pushover, low ambition, flow with the river types, so it was really no surprise to see minivans show up in their families. I'm generalizing (of course) and am not trying to project a stereotype on anyone, but I think it's safe to say that most automotive enthusiasts won't be enthused by the idea of replacing their vehicles with a minivan. Having a minivan as a third or fourth vehicle in the family, that's something many of us might be okay with.

However I do also have plenty of friends who have young kids and would slap me if I were to suggest trading in their performance/niche vehicles in on minivans.

Heck, for the first ~4 years of my life we had no vehicle at all. Got by just fine, and that included soccer practice.

Most of us could benefit from taking a few steps back, and really analyzing just how much s*** we really need to own and transport. (I'm as guilty of over-indulging as anyone.)

 

[hickuptruck]

I personally don't get what all the hate on minivans is about. Perhaps its that most of you grew up in one? And you see it as the vehicle your parents bought because they lost all their freedom when they had kids? Just like how most of the generation older than the generation that hates minivans, also hates station wagons. Probably because the boomers grew up in a station wagon, then their hate of the station wagon is what sparked the minivan boom in the 80s and 90s. Now that this generation that grew up in a minivan their boomer parents bought, they have hate them now, just like OP, and which has now sparked the pickup and cross-over boom we see today.

I've personally put over 200k miles in several minivans. They work, and swallow up way more than a LC ever will. I've also towed 3k lbs with them, and they do great, along with not as many blindspots.

One of my dream minivans is a completely restored Previa SC AWD, and if I ever got rich enough where I'd be able to have my own driver, it wouldn't be a S-class or Rolls Royce. I would want to be chauffered around in a Alphard. The Alphard is my favourite car to ride around in Asia.

-This is coming from me as someone with no kids and would totally rock a minivan as a daily if I wasn't into offroading.

Maybe take a second to take a step back and analyze why you hate a minivan, when they fit your uses entirely. I think one day when you guys are all too old to drive or have drivers licenses, minivans will be cool again.

I've driven the latest Sienna and also the latest Pacifica. I would take the Pacifica awd anyday over a RX or a Highlander. FCA dumped a billion into the Pacifica and it shows, its a way better vehicle than a Highlander or a Sienna, and this is coming out of me whos a huge Toyota fanboy.