Ian Bogost on the death of the “perfect vehicle”, the minivan. “It is useful because it offers benefits for families, and it is uncool because family life is thought to be imprisoning.” Conversely, SUVs & trucks offer a sense of freedom.
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Discussion 16 comments
Reminds me of this quote from a Dan Neil review in the LA Times:
Minivans are sexy. If nothing else, they are proof positive that you have had successful and productive congress with the opposite sex. Can you say as much for a Corvette? I don’t think so.
https://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-hy-neil17may17-story.html
I once drove 15,000 miles in three months in a rented Mazda5. I’m completely sold on the vehicle despite never having heard of it (or really, most cars) before that first day at Hertz. This Dan Neil review gets it.
You will pry the steering wheel of my minivan from my cold, dead hands.
I've long said minivans are cool precisely because they're so uncool. Mama don't need no sexy rig to enhance this persona, which is fire, baby. Need me to help you move? I got you. Wanna car camp on a whim? Let's hit it. Got somebody needs kidnapping? I'm on my way. Road trip for eight? I'm gassing up. Bought some lumber at Home Depot? I'm yer girl. Dead body or three needs transporting? Let's ride.
You had me at kidnapping!
Buckling in now, shoot me your addy!!
brb making plans to steal some lumber, kidnap some dead bodies and take them all car camping for a weekend at bernies, minivan edition
My GenZ twin sons--and their friends--love our 20 year old Toyota Sienna minivan, AKA "The Bus" which ferried them to the beach, parties, soccer games, etc. Just last year we found a note tucked under the windshield wiper asking if we'd consider selling. He was 17 and wanted a minivan. The minivan lives.
I'd argue what's a more unfortunate loss is the lack of good station wagon options - thankfully Audi is around and Subaru. While they're admittedly not as practical as a minivan they CAN at least be fun to drive.
As an aside - I just bought a pedal assist cargo bike to ferry my kids to school - it's 8 miles each way. The thing that I underestimated in my purchase was how much of a utility vehicle it is - I can run errands all around the city in record time and I get some cardio out of it. I like to call it my mini-minivan.
I agree completely. I have a VW Golf wagon and the guy at the dealership told me he could sell them by the hundreds if VW would just bring them back into the states.
I hate the size of SUV I'd have to buy to get the same storage space as in my current wagon.
Of course I do remember (fondly, or no?) lying down in the way way back of the minivan on long road trips in the 80s.
But Subaru slowly converted the Outback from a wagon to an SUV. We drive a Forester now because we had no choice. The new Outbacks are absurdly large.
My family got a Toyota Sienna in 2021 and it has been great so far.
Lots of space, tons of features, good gas mileage... Looking forward to many years hauling a bunch of people and stuff around.
Automakers know this, and Kia did something about it. Check out the Kia Carnival, which reads like an SUV at first glance, but still has tried-and-true minivan DNA.
Our teenage kids and their friends love our minivan. Parents drive SUVs.
Our Toyota Sienna has been an absolute workhorse for our family. When we replace it (it's got a LOT of miles on it), we're just getting a newer version of the same one.
Minivans are absolutely wonderful utility vehicles. What else can drive seven people to a concert and then, the next day, haul almost all of the non-furniture contents of an apartment halfway across a state?
Ah, we had a Honda Odyssey we drove all over the country and up to PEI. It was a 2003, I think, and had a third row that folded flat, giving us pickup-truck carrying capacity. Like a stealth-mode Toyota Tacoma. It finally broke down near the nadir of Boston's Ted Williams Tunnel; it just couldn't give any more.
The Ted Williams Tunnel is truly a contemporary passage between Scylla and Charybdis.
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