The best part is we have a DVD player in ours and that’s a godsend!!

http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/103660/U.S.-News-Best-Cars-and-Trucks?mod=oneclick

Rent the truck for the couple of times you will actually need it because the minivan won’t cut it, and you are still far ahead on the gas/insurance end.

It gives a wonderful example of two guys, one that uses a car loan from a bank to get his vehicles, and the other that uses a ficticious car “payment” paid to his own mutual fund savings account to get his vehicles.

The guy that uses the traditional car loans from the bank ends up with nothing at retirement. The guy that pays himself ends up with an extra $465,468 at retirement, plus every vehicle he ever had was paid for completely in cash.

I’m wallpapering my house with this article.

We’ve had a couple situations where the van needed repair or maintenance, and it is a big headache just dropping it at the repair shop if you can’t fit the whole family in the second vehicle. It doesn’t have to be comfortable, but just enough to fit everyone for a short ride. It gives you more flexibility.

As far as transporting things, I’ve been amazed at what I can do with the minivan. I recently put 8 sheets of 8′x4′ drywall in the back of our Chevy Venture. They would not have fit in my pickup.

I think a minivan and a small car would be a better combination for us.

Understood, but if everyday you are driving a combination of a minivan and a car (which is likely to be more fuel efficient than a truck), you will probably save more gas and money over drving the same minivan and a truck everyday.

I’m making the comparison between the truck and a car, not the truck and the van.

My wife’s FWD car with good snows does just fine in all but the absolute worst conditions.

AWD

For expense – transmission is more expensive (even for the 5-speed I have) to replace, but mine lasted 260K. Not too shabby.

Rear diff and driveshaft – simple parts, not abnormally expensive, but you have them in addition to the front drive equipment, and they all will eventually need servicing and will wear. Depending on the 4WD/AWD setup, the transfer case can be a part of the transmission. (part of what makes the part so expensive)

Weight – for cars the size of mine, I definitely get worse gas milage, in part due to the extra weight of the AWD. Though certainly way better than a 6 or 8 cylinder truck.

You won’t save money on the gas if the truck is more fuel efficient than a van. Not all trucks are the same.

Personally, having driven an all-wheel-drive car for 11 years now in New England Winters, I’d say skip the truck. If you want 4WD/AWD for the winter, there are a lot of smaller vehicles (better fuel economy, better handling, better ride) with 4WD/AWD these days. Plus it would give you a more flexible combination of vehicles in conjunction with the minivan.

The van will give you all the hauling capacity you are likely to need, as what most people require for houshold hauling is space, rather than weight capacity. My guess is that it’s unlikely you will ever need to haul a 1/2 ton of anything yourself on any regular basis. Most of the items folks mention here don’t really REQUIRE a truck.

The few times that you may need the weight, or exceed the space of the van, you can rent a u-haul pickup for $30/day with all the money you will have otherwise saved on gas. If you plan to haul trash/yard waste, etc. a light trailer will do the trick.

That said, when it comes to vehicles, I feel like it can be a highly personal decision for some. So if you really want a truck, get a truck.

1. AWD makes the vehicle considerably heavier (on my vehicle it a 500 lb difference)
2. Full time AWD means additional parasitic drivetrain losses (saps horsepower even when you don’t need AWD)
3. Added complexity and possible repair problems.
4. AWD vehicles tend to cost more than FWD

All these add up to spell more cost to you in terms of maintenance and fuel costs. Check the maintenance schedule for a FWD and AWD vehicle and compare them. Changing out the rear differential and transfer case fluids is considerably more work and cost than just replacing the trans fluid. Then, if somewhere were to go wrong, labor and parts costs are much higher.

Whether you’re doing it to limit emissions output (like Brent said) or to save money, I think you should look into a FWD van and truck.

This is coming from a person who lives in the midwest (sure, your roads in rural IA are probably a bit worse than IL, but not much) and drives an awd sedan.

My advice would be to save the money that you would spend on the AWD option and use a portion of it to purchase a spare set of wheels with snow tires. This option is much safer and cheaper. Modern snow specific tires are amazing and will last more than a few years with proper care, rotating, and storage practices.

Toyota has future plans to come out with a hybrid mini-van.

Just sayin’. ;)

That said, the Sienna will haul a lot of DIY construction and landscaping loot. You can remove the two back seats and fold down the center seats, giving you a ton of room! Also, the minivan has the advantage over a truck that you can lock up goods, rather than having to leave stuff in the back of an open pick-up bed or haul it in and out of the cab as you go from store to store.

And another use for the minivan: with the two back seats out, the Sienna actually has enough room for an adult or a couple of kids to sleep back in back, if you like to car-camp.