Minivan Question

Why do you need a video system in the car. If you take long car rides,
it is a perfect opportunity to play games, sing, talk to each other or just
learn to sit and have some quiet time. Sorry, I just do not believe they
are a necessity.

We went with the 2 screen portable player at Best Buy for about $70.
We have had it for about 2 years now. I like it better because I can take the players out since I only have the movies going on longer trips. If I don't take it out they want to watch movies on the 2 minute car ride to school.

Nope, no regrets! IMO, getting the entertainment system is a huge waste of money. We purchased our own DVD player for long road trips and that's it. Even if we are going on a 2 or 3 hour road trip we don't use it. Kids DO NOT need to be entertained 24/7 with videos, riding in the car with mom or dad is a good time to talk with your children.

We didn't buy the DVD system, didn't want one. We don't use something else either. I am not sure when they became a necessity in a car. Our next minivan we won't be getting one either. We do not regret never having gotten a DVD in the car, even on the long car trips. We spend a lot of time in the car too. I have 3 kids.
I grew up without one just fine as I am sure most of the mothers here did.
My kids listen to the music we play in the entire car. We talk with each other, they look out the windows. I've read books to them.

We never had them. Dont want them in the car now either. We used to tell our kids to look out the window, that was their movie. I know so many young parents want all the new stuff on the market but sometimes its just too much. I find it strange so many claim they dont let their kids watch tv or only use the computer for 30 minutes a day but then have a DVD system in the car and spend hours on the road letting them see whatever,,lol I just liked going places and talking singing and learning more about my captive audience.

I honestly refuse to have any sort of entertainment system like that in my car. Kids get enough t.v. and movies anyway, and they miss so much if you put one in the car. For short trips, it's a great time to talk about things. For long trips (vacations or such), we always had music, talked about what's going on outside, etc. Now the kids are old enough (7, 10, 12) they each get a map of the region we are going through and love trying to follow our route. Won't get that with a t.v. in front of them!

i dont like having video in the car, i refused to get it. i feel like its one of the best times we talk or sing or whatever, talk about what we see, etc...and i know it would irk me like crazy when the kids ask to put something on every time we get in the car. however, they also fight like anyone and im not crazy! we go on long rides , 3, 4, 5 hours in the car, on vacation. when we do that, we usually put a bungee cord between the 2 front headrests and hang the ipad from it, front and center, and they watch movies. the cord goes right into the input thingie in the stereo, it works great.

Instead of the entertainment system, we bought a 2-screen portable dvd player from Best Buy. It's by Panasonic. You can only play one movie at a time but each (well we have 2) child has their own screen. And it's really easy for a passenger to change the dvd as needed. Since it's portable, we've also been able to use it while traveling with Grandma & Grandpa. It was about $170.

Just another thought...we got ours done at Car Toys and it was way cheaper than the dealer..so you might look into other options. Plus the one we got was much fancier than the dealer's option.

Nope don't regret it at all. You can buy the two screen ones at Best Buy, Target or Walmart for about 1/10 of the price if you decide you really need two screens. We only have one DVD player for the two kids and it works out for us because many times one is sleeping or other times the older one is playing his Leapster Explorer and if they both want to watch a movie they really can both see it if it's mounted on one headrest. Also the DVD player is only in the car for road trips, mainly our Christmas back home to the mid-west tour- we have used it down to Austin but nothing less than 3-4 hours long in the car. And I have brought it on the airplane before.

We didn't upgrade our van though financially we could have.

We use our laptop on trips and put it on the packed ice chest or luggage and all three kids can see it from back seat and captain seats. We recently purchased a plug that is also a charger so we never run low on battery.

Sooo, no regrets here. We didn't want the built in easy access to entertainment...we only watch movies on looooong trips after books on cds, games and singing have been exhausted. We usually pick up a new movie or two to make the travel tv time special.

My opinion is to use the 2,000 buckaroos on something more family friendly...just my two cents.

You could consider buying a used minivan with the DVD already installed. You would save more money and it would solve your DVD "holder" problem.... which in my pre-minivan experience is, the older child holds the dvd player and tends to hog it which means bickering from the younger child. Your other option is two portable dvd players, which would be cheaper than an I pad and they could each have their own in they own lap (and their own headphones). We purchased a used mini-van with less than 15,000 miles, that had DVD, Sto-n-go seats and remote starter for under $20k.

i think target has dvd players for the back of headrests, i would buy two of those.

portable dvd players are super cheap right now. when we bought our prior minivan we paid like 1800 to have an entertainment center put in...and right after they came out with the portable ones! ugh! so not sure about the ipad, but i'm sure there is a cheaper option than the entertainment center put in. good luck!

Updated

portable dvd players are super cheap right now. when we bought our prior minivan we paid like 1800 to have an entertainment center put in...and right after they came out with the portable ones! ugh! so not sure about the ipad, but i'm sure there is a cheaper option than the entertainment center put in. good luck!

FYI entertainment systems integrated into cars last an average of 3 years. Knowing that, i would never buy a new van with it and add that as an option. I would instead get portable DVD system for each child. That way if they fight and can't sit near each other they can still each watch something. I even did a quick amazon search and they cost less than 80 dollars. So you can destroy 20 before you even start hit the 2000 you would have spent.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036QLHKC/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=...

I didn't read any other answers...we bought two video screens (included the DVD player) for $88 at Target. Mind you it was a Black Friday deal b ut even regular price beats $2000.

Buy two inexpensive portable DVD players, one for each kid. Cheaper than one Ipad, or the entertainment center.

We bought our minivan last October with the rear entertainment package. I still haven't used it, and I don't want the kids to know it's in there. I plan to let them use watch it only on long road trips.

How old are you kids? For the price of one iPad, you might want to just get two iPods. That way your kids can hold them, play games on them, and you and your husband can each have one if you fly somewhere without the kids.

I get a little nervous about the thought of a relatively large-sized aftermarket product becoming a projectile and striking the passengers in the event of a crash. But then again, I don't know what the iPad holders are like. Good luck to you on the minivan purchase.

If you have 2 kids-it won`t work having 1 in front of one child. You can purchase 2 portable dvd players for cheap! We`ve had both-portable dvd players and I had a dvd player installed for WAY cheaper than $2000. Another thing you can do is to go back to the place you are going to but the mini van a couple times and tell them at the last visit-just befor purchasing-tell them to throw in the dvd player. They WILL do that.

We have had our entertainment sys. for 6 yrs with no problems. It came with the van. We only use it on long trips. We do know someone who bought 2 Ipads for his kids and it was still a lot cheaper than $2000 and the parents can use them when they are at home.

We didn't get the entertainment system either. We have a portable DVD player and we attached it in the middle of the 2 bucket seats. This way my daughter and anyone in the other seat can both watch it. I didn't want to get two of them cause then they would have to use the earphones and that part I don't like. My daughter is only 3 and I don't want her to have to the earphones to damage her hearing. The way we have it seems to work very nicely.