{"id":827235,"date":"2026-07-26T13:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/827235\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T13:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:42:13","slug":"millennials-are-trying-to-make-minivans-cool-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/827235\/","title":{"rendered":"Millennials are trying to make minivans cool again"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n They see them rolling, but maybe they won\u2019t be hating.\n <\/p>\n

\n Millennial parents are changing their minds about the minivan. A TikTok video<\/a> shows off lounge-style chairs with built-in ottomans and 14-inch screens in the back of a Kia Carnival. Another proudly shows off a Toyota Sienna, proclaiming<\/a> \u201c18 cupholders but y\u2019all still thirsty.\u201d One mom<\/a> turned her minivans into a mobile living room \u2013 but not without throwing out the old stuff with an enthusiastic \u201cYEET!\n <\/p>\n

\n Minivans, once the de facto soccer-mom vehicle of choice, are making a big comeback. Long considered a dead segment, minivan sales grew 21% in 2025, selling almost 400,000 units, according to Edmunds.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Toyota Sienna is one of the fastest-selling cars on the market right now, Matt Smith, head of content at CarGurus, told CNN. Sales increased 35% in 2025, and they stay on dealer lots for only around 18 days.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n In May, Chrysler and Dodge CEO Matt McAlear declared that the minivan is \u201cseeing a resurgence.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Millennials have reached prime parenting age, and they\u2019re not just discovering the wildly practical features inside minivans \u2013 like seats that don\u2019t just slide backwards and forward, but side to side \u2013 but also learning how to best lug their kids.\n <\/p>\n

\n Kelsey Spencer, a mom of three girls in Northwest Illinois, thought she\u2019d never be caught dead in a minivan, but now she can\u2019t seem to live without her 2026 Kia Carnival Hybrid.\n <\/p>\n

\n When she first got a van two years ago, Spencer was afraid she would \u201cpull up, and people are going (say) \u2018ugh, a minivan.\u2019\u201d Instead, people ask: \u201cWhat kind of car is this? It\u2019s really cool .\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Kelsey<\/p>\n

\"Kelsey<\/p>\n

\n Parents told CNN that sliding doors make it easier to shuffle kids around, and the third row fits growing humans well. But it\u2019s also an affordable vehicle compared to the muscular, hulking SUVs that were once family vehicle of choice but are now some of the most expensive autos on the market.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere\u2019s really no better vehicle for people hauling and cargo capacity, but because they were deemed uncool for so long, sales just completely dropped off,\u201d Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds, told CNN. \u201cBut in the end of the day, your money is what matters most.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Minivans\u2019 space and versatility were pioneering when the car debuted in the 80s. At the time, station wagons were the uncool family lugger, Damon Smith, research editor at cars.com, told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n Overtime, minivans acquired \u201csoccer mom\u201d baggage.\n <\/p>\n

\n SUVs were simply seen as cooler. Commercials showed off sleek and imposing vehicles with four-wheel drive going off-roading through rugged terrain, adding some aspiration to a Tuesday night baseball practice pick-up .\n <\/p>\n

\n And car manufacturers knew that customers would buy into that, even though more families were using their cars to go to the grocery store rather than driving through the jungle.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe are not a smart car-buying population in that regard,\u201d Drury said. \u201cI know plenty of people with families that would have certainly benefited from all that additional cargo space\u201d in a minivan.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n Minivans still only represent about 2.4% of the overall car market, compared to 3.2% in 2016. Most people simply don\u2019t need all the space a minivan provides. Suburbia has certainly changed since the era of \u201cHome Alone\u201d and \u201cCheaper by the Dozen\u201d \u2013 American families are now having fewer kids<\/a> and McMansions are harder to come by<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n But perhaps a nostalgia for that life is also leading some families to minivans. As one millennial mom confessed<\/a>, \u201cI never in a million years thought that would come out of my mouth\u2026 I\u2019m starting to really romanticize having a minivan.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Spencer used to drive a Nissan Pathfinder SUV, telling herself she would never drive a minivan. But things changed when she saw her two five-year-olds were able to push a button and open the minivan door themselves. The fuel savings helped, too.\n <\/p>\n

\"Kelsey<\/p>\n

\n She said she uses the carpeted area of her minivan to quickly change after swimming in the summer or eat lunch like a picnic when it\u2019s raining outside.\n <\/p>\n

\n Emma Cedar, a mom with two kids in the New York City suburbs, said that she discovered the glories of the minivan while on a trip to California a few years ago. And even with one kid at the time, \u201cit was so much easier to get him in and out. It just feels more comfortable.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Minivans are about $4,000 cheaper than comparable three-row SUVs, according to cars.com. They\u2019re not just more fuel efficient, with many of them coming standard as a hybrid, they also tend to be more spacious.\n <\/p>\n

\n SUVs tend to cost more than minivans because they\u2019re built on truck platforms but with an enclosed cabin and extra seating. And customers who put off buying cars for the pandemic years due to inventory shortages at dealerships and inflation came back to sticker shock.\n <\/p>\n

\"Emma<\/p>\n

\n The average transaction price for a minivan<\/a> in June 2026 was $48,908, less than the industry average for all new cars of $49,758. And that\u2019s significantly less than the average price for a full-size SUV, at almost $80,000, and a tad more affordable than mid-sized SUVs, which cost an average of $49,792.\n <\/p>\n

\n Cedar, the New York mom of two, is one of those shoppers. She and her husband bought a 2024 Chrysler Pacifica for less than $40,000. She told CNN While she emphasized that she was never a minivan hater but that she was caught off guard by the basic SUV prices when looking for a bigger car.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI remember when I was younger and BMW came out with a $30,000 car,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, that\u2019s almost the starting point for a lot of cars.\u201d\n <\/p>\n