Why can’t I find a diesel sub or minivan?
Big $$ - BMW, MB, and Audi have diesel SUVs, maybe VW.
There are a few reasons. One is that diesel engines cost a lot of money to make, and not many people want to pay what an SUV or minivan would cost with a diesel engine. Another is that diesels really only outshine gas engines when people put a lot of miles on them, and most people don’t drive far enough or keep their vehicles long enough for the higher cost of a diesel engine to pay off.
If you look at the RV market, the people who buy diesel RVs are usually full-time RVers who rack up a lot of miles. The people who buy gasoline burning RVs usually leave them parked most of the time, and only take them on an occasional vacation.
We put huge miles on our vehicles, keep them until they die, and pull a travel trailer for vacations. Ex. we leave KY and traveled to utah recently. If I could get a used 1/4 ton diesel suv, it would serve our family well.
In that case, maybe you should look at the Dodge/Freightliner/Mercedes Sprinter:
http://www.stoops.com/sprinter-vans/
They have diesel engines, and I have seen models with passenger seats in the back at Dodge dealerships.
I should warn you though, the Dodge/Freightliner/Mercedes Sprinter doesn’t have the best reliability record, and repairs can be quite expensive. Also, I don’t know what kind of towing capacity they have.
2007/2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee
2004/2006 Jeep Liberty
2004 Jeep Cherokee
I’ll second the reliability comment. The reliability on those things is atrocious.
The real reason it’s hard to find diesel passenger vehicles in this country is because diesel never caught on. No one ever gave a crap about gas mileage until the last couple of years when prices skyrocketed. And no one gave a crap about running an engine for half a million miles because we don’t tend to keep old things in this country very much. I know people who get a new car at least every 4 years. I’ve had people come over to compliment me on my MR2, only to have their faces fall in disappointment when they learn it’s a 1993. “Oh,” they think, “he’s got a 1993 car. He must not be able to afford a new one.” (they’d love to know I have a 1991 and a 2007 back home 
)
So basically, since no one cared about the advantages diesel engines give you, and since it can be harder to find a gas station that sells diesel, they’ve just never caught on in normal cars.
Go to Europe, and it’s a different story. Gas prices are so high there that Europeans are more than happy to drive diesels that get double the mileage of the gasoline version of the same car over here.
Here’s two SUV’s and a crossover van with the BlueTec diesel engine.
The BlueTec is powerful and reliable. Also a little pricy, but you didn’t specify a price range.
http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehicles/explore/overview/class-M/model-ML350BTC
http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehicles/explore/overview/class-R/model-R350BTC
http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehicles/explore/overview/class-GL/model-GL350BTC
Read about the engine here:
Benzman
Why can’t you find a diesel SUV or minivan? Because there’s no demand for them. They do exist, but they are limited to a few high end SUVs, and even those don’t see that well. Audi nixed bringing in the diesel version of the Q5 after the diesel Q7 didn’t do well.
Mercedes, BMW, Audi, and VW offer diesel SUVs. There are no diesel minivans because there is no demand for one.
2000 - 2005 Ford Excursion
You can get GM, Ford And Dodge (oh, sorry, we are supposed to call them Rams now) 4-door p[ckups, and GM is coming out with @011 Duramax 2500 and 3500 full size vans.