[Fozzie_DeBear]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Couple of alternate suggestions that may be right:

VW Routan. You're wife seems to like the German badges, and if you're quiet about it, she may not notice it's actually a Caravan. I see a 2010 with 50k for 17k at Northland...maybe you can get the Pylon hookup! Probably a great car for a couple of kids to destroy.

Mercedes R-Class. A little weirdo looking, but they have a pretty steep depreciation curve, so you can get one in your price range (well under, depending on year). The bad thing about them is that although they are van-like inside, they don't have sliding doors. I guess Mercedes wanted to make a van, but didn't want to go all the way?

I'm kind of in the same boat where we are thinking about upsizing our family car, as the current one (V50) gets a little tight on trips, and the massive baby seats these days mean we have to push the front seat forward quite a bit. My dream is a used E-Class Wagon. However the current gen is still too expensive on the used market, and the previous one I'm a little apprehensive about reliability wise...but they are tempting.

Be very VERY wary of the transmission in those...