[Rich76_911s]

I’ve been down this road as well. 3 kids in an SUV sucks, and modern minivans are a just too dang small. When I was a kid our Aerostar could easily fit adults in the third row. Vans 3rd rows today are glorified jump seats.

Have you checked out the Mercedes metris at all? Size wise it slips somewhere between the big vans and minivans. It reminded me of the Aerostar in size. Has good towing capacity as well. Cons are new price is steep but they deal pretty hard on them, used can be decent too. They also aren’t as tricked out nice as the current minivan lineup. Everything is a freaking option on them too. Doug demuro hammers the weak spots in his video on it. But he really skips over the strengths of size and towing capacity. It’s a work van first and a passenger van second. The radios are a joke though. Like they came out in 2003 and haven’t been updated since.

Mercedes sprinter can be had in 4wd but they are HUGE, and also are work trucks first and passenger vans second. My Dad has a 4wd sprinter. I love driving it, but it is really really big.

Ford transit is supposed to be coming out in 4wd this year as well. I’ve nevr driven one, but they do have to pay Mercedes royalties when they sell them so I’d guess it’s close to sprinter and metris.

If your wife doesn’t need the fancy gps, and 12 pop our screens for the kids I’d go the van route too. We’re on a tight budget so we haven’t purchased anything yet.