Road Trip: Minivan or Hybrid Sedan?

When you need to transport half a dozen people over hundred miles of highway, you’re faced with a question that might seem like it’s straight out of a junior high school math class. Is it more cost-effective to pack all six folks into a minivan or should you split the load between two smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles, say a Toyota Prius or Honda Civic Hybrid?

I’ll freely admit that I’ve never been a minivan person. But after spending a week test driving a fully loaded Dodge Grand Caravan, I’ve come to fully appreciate the capabilities of the modern minivan.

Over the course of the weekend, we had a significant amount of distance to travel and a good number of bodies to move. The roomy and feature-packed Grand Caravan SXT kept everyone happy with a plethora of entertainment options. (DVDs, Two LCD screens, two sets of A/V inputs, wireless headphones, USB iPod integration, satellite TV, and a rotating center row go a long way to keeping everyone occupied in the back seats.)

While a minivan might have highway mileage roughly half that of a hybrid sedan, there are other cost factors and considerations. Tolls, maintenance, comfort, and convenience lead the list.

There are stigmas attached to driving just about anything these days.  Remarkably, I no longer despise the thought of driving a minivan.