Right off the bat, you might think that this article is an oxymoron. For years, the internet has told us that once you start a family, it’s time to lay off the fun and sporty cars and make the biggest car enthusiast sacrifice possible: buying a minivan.
We’ll concede that some minivans are a bit dull. Okay, maybe even most of them. That said, there are some models, new and old, that let you transport your growing family and all of your stuff in style if the regular minivan doesn’t fit your style.
The Selection Process
We chose these vans based on personal opinions about their styling and, in some cases, the features they offer. The information about these features comes from the automakers through official websites or press releases.
Where necessary, we cite opinions and experiences of professional journalists from respected publications, such as MotorTrend and Top Gear, and the same applies wherever the driving experience is mentioned. Let’s dive into the elusive but fascinating world of cool minivans.
Kia Carnival
We all know that Kia has been on a roll with styling recently, and the Carnival minivan is just one of many testament to that. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a halfway house between an SUV and a minivan, but in this case, Kia somehow managed to make it work.
The lines are clean, and it has a lot of authority and presence. Kia clearly wants a piece of the luxury minivan market, as it has adorned the Carnival with options like supple captain’s chairs in the second row, and the entertainment screens are kitted out with built-in games and HDMI ports. Plus, hybrids are all well and good, but you can’t beat a classic, naturally aspirated V6 powerplant.
Toyota Sienna
One of the most faithful minivan companions in North America, the Toyota Sienna is currently in its fourth generation. Previously, the Sienna didn’t have all that much style; it was just a pretty standard minivan. With carefully integrated character lines and creases, the current one looks surprisingly… nice?
Perhaps a little controversially, Toyota canned the V6 in the Sienna, offering it exclusively with hybrid power. Toyota had the last laugh, though, as it offers similar power while being a lot more efficient. The Sienna packs a ton of room on the inside, as well as some cool practicality tricks, like a built-in vacuum in the second-row seats. Yes, Toyota borrowed that from Honda, but it’s still a great feature. Oh, and as Doug DeMuro mentioned in his review, it has 18 cupholders, so your kids will definitely not complain about dehydration while on a long road trip.
Volkswagen ID.Buzz
After literal decades of concepts and teasing, the classic Volkswagen bus has returned to the lineup once again, and it swaps out the air-cooled boxer in the back in favor of an electric motor. The ID. Buzz is one of VW’s most hyped models, and it has finally reached the North American market.
The American spec ID. Buzz has a longer wheelbase than the Euro model and can seat seven people. As Christian Seabaugh of MotorTrend reports, folding down the seats means you can use it as a cargo van, too. It’s also full of charm and character, and it’ll get off the line way quicker than any other minivan. Plus, the American models get the new and improved VW infotainment system. I have driven an ID. Buzz, and I can best describe it as driving an ID.4 with about 10 extra miles of headroom.
Mitsubishi Delica Star Wagon
Yep, we have reached the Japanese imports already. This is one Japanese minivan that American car enthusiasts cannot get enough of. Just look at how many have been sold on auction sites like Cars & Bids and Bring a Trailer.
The Mitsubishi Delica stands out in the world of minivans due to its versatility. A lot of them had 4WD and comically raised suspension, which meant that you could take your family just about anywhere. As Battles Digital on YouTube said, the humble turbodiesel engine also means reliability and pulling power as much as your heart desires. The ample interior room also means you could turn it into a camper if that’s more your thing.
Toyota Previa
When you think of a mid-engine Toyota, your mind probably goes to the MR2 first. However, that was not the only mid-engine Toyota model. There was also the lovable, quirky, egg-shaped Previa minivan that Toyota offered throughout the ’90s.
Doug DeMuro showed the world all of the ways that this van just oozes practicality and quirkiness. It was mid-engined in the literal sense of the term, as the engine was right in between the axles in the area of the passenger compartment. It had seats that swiveled so you could talk to your passengers, and it was offered with AWD and a supercharged four-cylinder engine. If you like weird and quirky, the Previa should be right up your alley.
Volkswagen Eurovan
Europe got the Volkswagen T4 as the Transporter, the Caravelle, and the California. In North America, it was bluntly named the Eurovan. No prizes for guessing why. Honestly, we think that North America got the cooler of the two vans this time, and that’s rarely the case.
Once again, Doug DeMuro said that the Eurovan was available as either a conventional passenger minivan or a camper with a roof-mounted tent. It was packed with cool camper features and also featured a rather exciting powertrain: a 2.8-liter VR6. These things are getting pretty expensive nowadays, but it’s such a cool way to enter the highly tempting Van Life.
Subaru Sambar
If your family is smaller, but your vehicle of choice has to be a minivan, and it has to ooze infinite quantities of charm and personality, this is the van for you. The Subaru Sambar comes from the much-loved dynasty of kei trucks and vans, and it’s awesome in every way.
Even though it’s tiny, it can comfortably seat four people and still carry a good amount of luggage. Parking will never be an issue again, like it might be with a regular minivan, and did we mention how much personality it has? James Reeves over on YouTube reviewed a version with, get this, AWD and a supercharged engine!
Renault Espace (First Generation)
As Richard Hammond told us on Top Gear many years ago, the Renault Espace was as far away from cool as you could get when it launched in 1984. Nowadays, as well as being cool, it’s super important: for Europeans, this was the first official entrant into the minivan, or MPV, segment.
Back in the mid-1980s, the Espace was in a league of its own. No other car that wasn’t an SUV offered that much space and that much versatility while retaining a car-like ride height and a normal engine that wasn’t pulled out of some piece of farm equipment. Espaces are now old enough to import, so if you like minivans and oddball cars, here’s a conversation starter for the next Cars and Coffee.
Volkswagen Sharan (First Generation)
Volkswagen took a long time to enter the European minivan market, but eventually, it did in the ’90s with the Sharan. Developed in collaboration with Ford, as per Autoevolution, the closely related Ford Galaxy also went on sale around the same time. It was a pretty ordinary minivan by European standards, including the normal opening door instead of a sliding rear door.
What made the Sharan interesting was the powertrains on offer. You could have it with the 2.8-liter VR6, and this came with a surprising benefit: tunability. AWRacing over in Poland managed to squeeze 430 horsepower out of a VR6 Sharan, and the VR6 models came standard with AWD as well. The oldest Sharans are now legal to import, just in case you’ve ever wanted to live out your Gapplebees-with-a-minivan fantasies.
Ford S-Max
Finally, we’re ending with some forbidden fruit. Somebody at Ford thought that minivans could, and should, be sporty back in the 2000s, which is why we got the S-Max. It was related to the larger Galaxy, but it was intended from day one to be a sporty minivan. According to Richard Porter and Tom Willcocks of Evo Magazine, it actually was.
To sweeten the deal even more, Ford offered the original run of S-Max models with the Volvo-derived 2.5-liter turbocharged five-pot, which the Focus ST and RS of the time also used. A six-speed manual transmission and five-cylinder noises from a practical and surprisingly cool-looking minivan? It might be worth waiting for this one to become legal to import.
There Is Such a Thing As a Cool Minivan
Car enthusiasts always love to complain that buying a minivan is a huge sacrifice. They will tell you that every car enthusiast eventually reaches that point in their life where they have to get rid of the fun cars and make room for the family wagon. If only it was a wagon, though…
As it turns out, buying a minivan doesn’t have to be so bad. Okay, you will sacrifice a little on driver engagement in most cases, but many minivans actually have a lot to bring to the table, from features to personality and even some brisk performance. These were just a handful of examples of that.