Brendon, how many kids do you see yourself having? Or better question, how many does she expect to have? First kid, you will get to pretend the minivan isn't needed. You can get by with a nice cross over. Even a Q7. Second kid, you might skate the minivan up until the school. Then you have friends to haul around too. Also, mom starts to want to stay home and do the soccer mom thing. Third kid? Game over. Best you can wish for is to fight off the home schooling idea.

Just get a pickup, then you can keep your man card and still do everything you just listed

Dogs dont like sitting in the truck bed with all the snow.

Put a shell on it?

I assure you there never was a minivan in our driveway, and all 3 of my daughters never owned one.

Crew cab trucks and sedans yes, mini vans NEVER!

A hot milf in a minivan is still a hot milf. Just sayin'.
Plus, when you open the side door....well, I won't go there right now. :)

I love my Town and Country minivan. So it must be a female thing.

We have the Limited version, so it's got all the luxury stuff like leather seating, memory seats and mirrors, two inverters, TVs, BD player, power doors, power third row seat etc.

What makes this vehicle so great is that it easily becomes a work van thanks to the Stow-n-Go seating that folds flat into the floor. This is our 4th van, and I wouldn't change a thing.

The one time Brendon isn't talking about getting a new car or truck, and you all are talking about him getting a new car or truck :-D

It's just so easy to predict what's coming..... :-)

Before (more) kids and the full size van we had an '85 Plymouth Voyager minivan. I liked it because there was more space by far than a sedan, but it was on a car frame so it drove, handled, and was sprung like a sedan. Just happened to have one of the most comfortable seats I've had in all my cars. Sorry to see it go. You know an event is taking shape when the side mirror that says "objects in mirror are closer than they appear" had a pickup filling the entire mirror lol.

Have had a Ford and Chevy full size van since then. Drives like a truck, which it should, being on a 3/4 ton truck frame.

For 95% of my jobs I drive a Flex, lots of room for stuff, drives like a comfy car and parks easily. Bluetooth so I can listen to Tigers baseball on the West Coast ;)

Brendon,  Congratulations on the house and pending engagement. Both big steps.

As far as kid movers go, I'm sure you'll figure it out... even if you have to buy, trade and sell 3-4 before you get it right :)  My wife was hinting about a new car before our son was born and I was expecting the "let's go look at mini vans" conversation, but instead she said "I want a Range Rover".

I wasn't sure if I should smile or cry, but that's what we did and it's a great vehicle.  We've got a full sized supercharged model and acceleration is almost as quick as my 911 Turbo which is amazing given it's size and weight.

Best thing is I actually look forward to driving the family vehicle on the weekends which is priceless.

I've always wanted a minivan, but my wife does not like them.
I am all about function over form, which I guess make me weird

My GF and I survived New Years --- watched the fireworks at the Space Needle, awesome show. Having some hair of the dog this morning, and binge watching My name is Earle... life is OK.

Happy New Year gentlemen!

I would never cut the back of a van off so i wont put a shell on the back of a truck.

Crew cab, the dogs get to stay inside and warm

Wife goes in the truck bed, and the dog rides shotgun, silly.... :-)