The Best Minivans to Buy in 2025

Alexander StoklosaWriterBob HernandezWriterManufacturerPhotographerMar 21, 2025

Given the popularity of SUVs, a minivan may not be the first vehicle to pop to mind when the discussion turns to big family haulers. Indeed, three-row SUVs tend to be the default. But when it comes to carting around lots of people and their stuff, no other type of vehicle can provide the same levels of passenger comfort and cargo space as a minivan. They’re the ultimate carryalls, and they offer family-focused features like reconfigurable seats and power-sliding side doors.

Minivans aren’t as popular as they once were due to the proliferation of SUVs, but there are still a handful of solid options on the market. Whether it’s long-running names like the Honda Odyssey or the Toyota Sienna or newer offerings from established players like the Kia Carnival, there are great minivans out there to consider. Keep reading to learn about the best minivans to buy in 2025, as determined by MotorTrend‘s Ultimate Car Rankings.

4. 2025 Kia Carnival| | MT Score: 7.7/10

When the Kia Carnival landed in 2020, it was a fresh face with a fresh format in the minivan segment, blurring the lines between vans and SUVs in style, although it retained sliding-door functionality in practice. Attractive inside and out and stuffed with compelling technology (even in the back!), the Carnival is the van for people not ready to admit they’re driving a minivan. For 2025, the Carnival is updated and adds a hybrid model plus upgrades to its already snazzy cabin and exterior styling. (You still can’t get any Carnival with all-wheel drive, however.) Thing is, for as great as the Carnival is at bucking minivan norms, in doing so it becomes less appealing as a minivan—in other words, if you want a minivan for its core benefits of spaciousness, interior flexibility, and daily usability, the Carnival starts to disappoint. Its second-row seats are frustrating to maneuver and fold, and some of that dazzling technology (such as the gorgeous rear-seat displays) get in the way. Oh, and the new hybrid is somewhat slow, and while its mpg figures impress on paper, it’s not terribly efficient in the real world. But the thing sure looks good …

Read more about the Kia Carnival

4. 2025 Kia Carnival Pros, Cons, and Specs

SPECIFICATIONS

3. 2025 Toyota Sienna | MT Score: 8.6/10

Now in its fourth generation, the spacious Toyota Sienna has one thing really going for it: Fuel economy. A hybrid powertrain is standard—there is no gas-only version—and delivers up to 36 mpg combined. Want all-wheel-drive? There’s barely an efficiency penalty for choosing it; Toyota simply slaps a third electric motor onto the rear axle (adding to the two that assist the engine up front), and combined fuel economy drops by a mere 1 mpg. The Toyota’s look is as bold as its hybrid-only strategy, with slim headlights, a big grille, and lots of creases and surface changes. The generously equipped cabin is offered with an available refrigerator, vacuum, and 10.0-inch head-up display. We like the storage available in the front seat area, and the third row folds with ease, but the Sienna suffers from a thin-walled feeling and materials that are increasingly cheap the farther from the driver’s seat one moves. If you want to pay as little at the pump as possible while comfortably shuttling around your brood, however, the Sienna is tough to beat.

Read more about the Toyota Sienna

3. 2025 Toyota Sienna Pros, Cons, and Specs

SPECIFICATIONS

2. 2025 Chrysler Pacifica | MT Score: 8.8/10

The Pacifica is very nearly the benchmark in its segment thanks to impressive handling and an extremely versatile interior. It’s only too bad that the available plug-in hybrid model, which allows you to drive on pure electric power for 32 miles, is only available with front-wheel drive and without the gas model’s second-row Stow ‘n Go seats that can disappear into the floor at the pull of a strap. (Gas Pacificas can also be had with optional all-wheel drive, while retaining Stow ‘n Go in the second row.) While the aging Pacifica’s pricing can be ambitious, particularly for the excellent hybrid version, this is still the most functional minivan out there. A hybrid model won our most recent minivan comparison test, even; so what keeps it from the top of the segment? Mostly its age—this Pacifica first launched in 2016—the regular gas model’s so-so engine, and that pesky pricing and tortured feature allocation that pressures buyers into expensive packages for features other minivans offer for less money. Still, the Pacifica’s incredible functionality, ease of use, and thoughtful touches show Chrysler’s hasn’t rested on its laurels after inventing the minivan in the 1980s …

Read more about the Chrysler Pacifica

2. 2025 Chrysler Pacifica Pros, Cons, and Specs

SPECIFICATIONS

1. 2025 Honda Odyssey | MT Score: 9.0/10

The Honda Odyssey has long been a top player in the segment, as it’s both pleasant to drive and practical for large families. The minivan handles well for its size, and it boasts a smooth ride and powertrain, making road trips more comfortable. Buyers will enjoy a variety of useful technologies, including a microphone system that allows the driver to communicate with kids in the back and a camera that looks down on the second and third rows. The 2025 Odyssey is mostly a carryover from the previous model year, though with new wheel designs, minor styling revisions, improved displays, and a new bigger drop-down rear-seat entertainment screen. The trim levels have been culled to a few, though all have more value than before (including a standard wireless phone charger!). If you carry people more often than stuff, the Honda is tops; if you regularly haul big-box-store spoils, consider the Pacifica. You see, while the Pacifica has the Odyssey’s second-row seats beat with those disappearing Stow ‘n Go perches, the Honda brings its own tricks to the party with the segment’s only second-row chairs capable of sliding fore and aft and side to side. Eight-passenger seating is standard, too, and by removing the center second-row perch, you can slide the outboard seats however you like or remove them entirely to carry bulky cargo. Those reconfigurable seats are also more comfortable than the Chrysler’s—which, along with the Honda’s superior refinement, makes it the better minivan for passengers.

Read more about the Honda Odyssey

1. 2025 Honda Odyssey Pros, Cons, and Specs

SPECIFICATIONS

The Best Minivans You Can Buy in 2025

4. 2025 Kia Carnival

3. 2025 Toyota Sienna

2. 2025 Chrysler Pacifica

1. 2025 Honda Odyssey

A lifelong car enthusiast, I stumbled into this line of work essentially by accident after discovering a job posting for an intern position at Car and Driver while at college. My start may have been a compelling alternative to working in a University of Michigan dining hall, but a decade and a half later, here I am reviewing cars; judging our Car, Truck, and Performance Vehicle of the Year contests; and shaping MotorTrend’s daily coverage of the automotive industry.

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