As I make the left from Torreyson Drive, I see there is a long ribbon of Mulholland Drive unfolding in front of me. For once, there is no traffic, not a single car on the road and it is late enough in the day that sun is starting to set and the thin layer of smog is turning the Valley to my right hand side a crispy and burnt golden hue. It’s perfect, goldenhour and Terrance Malik could not have scripted it better.
I pause, "Yes!" I mutter to myself, this is my moment. I pause again and as I look in the rear view mirror, I see my six-year old boy, napping in his car seat and I think to myself, “right place, wrong car”.
Coming out of my reverie, I realize I’m in a Toyota Sienna Hybrid Platinum Minivan. I sheepishly turn on my turn signal and slowly pull on to Mulholland Drive and gently scoot the few miles back to my house in quiet comfort and dwell on the fact, this vehicle - minivan or not - may be one of the greatest cars I have ever driven.
A minivan? While the 90’s and early-aughts may be remembered for a lot of things - the dawn of the web, the end of the Cold War, Bill Clinton's impeachment, 9/11 and some seriously terrible cars from the Big Three and beyond - a subset of youths might recall things differently - for them, this was the time that every mom and dad had forsaken the minivan and these kids spent their time being shuttled back and forth to whatever event they had in what was then something new and exciting, the SUV.
As Gen-Y and Z ages, they don’t want what their parents had - Y2K fashion excluded - they want something different. Enter the ever humble and quite misunderstood minivan.
While a Gen-X’er like me has always loved the minivan, our family car is an SUV, a Volvo XC90 Plug-in Hybrid SUV to be precise, as that what was what the misses wanted.
But something is happening with minivans - they are getting better and better every model year. Having recently spent quite a bit of time in a multitude of minivans, I can say that my next personal car may be a Minivan.
The Maui Green and Candy White VW ID Buzz 1st Edition, I recently drove sure did get lots of looks, about a million and a half thumb’s ups and quite a few honks as I crossed the City of LA.
The ID Buzz (from $59,995), if you can overlook its two shortcomings - a 234 mile range and a sub-70K price tag when optioned out - really is a perfect family car for a city dweller like me. It looks fantastic, drives like a charm and has enough interior space so that my kids didn’t kill each other.
While I am not one for nostalgia, I came to respect the retro-futuristic design of the ID Buzz. It was an homage, but not in a treacly manner, and had just enough future-leaning tech without overdoing it and to make a technically savvy luddite like myself very happy. Also, I loved the command position of the Buzz and while it reminded me of driving an old VW Bus, it didn’t compromise the drive. What more can you ask for?
Well, how about the Toyota Sienna Hybrid Platinum Minivan (from $57,510), for one. What can I say about the Toyota except that it is, simply, one of the best cars ever made.
Hyperbole? For sure! But hear me out. Captain's chairs galore, room for seven, almost 500 miles on a full tank of gas and a ride, while not exactly sporty, but sporty adjacent and an ingress and egress that won’t destroy my back schlepping my kids out of the car.
Once I leaned into the fact I was driving a minivan and started to embrace the minivan-ness of Sienna - the yards of wide-open space, the massive amount of cupholders, the foldable seats, the whole package - I was sold. I want one and I want to Safari it so bad.
The American OEMs are still in on the minivan action. Chrysler, which basically invented the modern minivan market in 1984 with their K-Car derived Dodge Grand Caravan and Plymouth Voyager models, is still going strong.
Flash forward 40 years or so and they’re still at it with their perennial and evergreen Chrysler Pacifica. I had a chance to spend a week or so in the Pacifica Pinnacle Plug-in Hybrid (from $52,260) and again, after leaning in, the Pacifica was a charm to drive. You can choose from a hybrid, or non-hybrid version (from $53,645), but the hybrid offers better gas mileage (30 mpg combined vs 20 mpg). Also, there is something nice about plugging-in a luxurious seven seat minivan and scooting around town - well, 32 miles of town - on pure electric power.
Now, If you really want to see where the future of the minivan is headed, look to the Mercedes-Benz Vision V Concept Limousine. While they call it a Limousine, make no mistake, this is a minivan of the highest order and taken to its most extreme. It is quite simply, bonkers.
The Vision V is all flash, from the interior with a 65-inch retractable cinema screen discreetly housed beneath the floor, with seven (7!!!) projectors integrated into the roof liner and the floor, 42 Dolby Atmos surround-sound speakers, to the space-age inspired interior with seating featuring flexible tubular cushions in Crystal white Nappa leather that can fold into a flatbed position all centered around a "lounge area” with clear cabinetry for storage, gaming controllers and a fold-out table that transforms into a chessboard.
The exterior with its chrome radiator grille, massive 24-inch monoblock wheels and a Mercedes-Benz star on the hood featuring lighting elements that make the tri-star shine like a diamond and a rear light-assembly with 450 three-dimensional illuminations that function as both taillights and brake lights around its porthole design. A long way of saying, this is a lot of car. What I liked most of all was the electric powertrain, a chance for Mercedes-Benz to show off their new Van Electric Architecture (VAN.EA).
While the Vision V won’t be coming to market, Mercedes-Benz is using the concept to hint at a similar model that may be set to hit the market sometime in late 2026 or early 2027. If you want more, here’s a video of me talking about the Vision V concept.
All that being said, you must note that you will change when you drive a minivan. The slower lanes on the 101 are more inviting, scooting off the line from a red light, rather than mashing the gas is more fun.
Time slows down, roads unfurl, large big gulps are easily held in place and most of all, my kids are as happy as their pops, knowing we’ll get there and get there eventually.
