If you live in snow country, and if you live in town and don’t have to drive on unplowed roads that often, then a front wheel drive should meet your needs just fine. I have a 2006 Scion XB and I really love it. It seats five, and if I drive carefully I can get up to 36 mpg. It is very, very reliable and easy to maintain. Some people had concerns about side the lack of side air bags in my model year, but I think the newer ones have remedied that problem. The new ones are also a little bigger, a little heavier, and they have bigger engines. The trade off is that mileage is not quite as good. Still, the mileage would be a lot better than your standard minivan, plus, the XB’s are actually surprisingly roomy on the inside.
2002 Sienna here, 145,600 miles, drive it all over US and Mexico, even the feared Valley of Mexico City, gets 24 mpg at 70 mph. I do high-rel maintenance, replace stuff before it fails.
BEST CAR I HAVE EVER OWNED BY A WIDE MARGIN.
Out of your money range, and I understand that.
I question whether Sienna has that many transmission failures, Odyssey is known for that, though.
Only the Mountain area of Maine really gets a lot of snow. From the NH border up through Bar Harbor the snow fall is well less then 100" annually. So 4wd really isn’t needed. Any decent fwd will be fine. My Nephew owns a 2005 Town & Country. No problem driving around in the snow. And where he lives in Upstate NY they average about 230" snow annually. If it’s good enough for where he lives it’s good enough where you live.
Take a look at the new Toyota Highlander. The new one for 2008 is a lot bigger then previous years. The standard gas mileage is 20/24…And there’s a Hybrid version if it’s right for you.