Opinion on Minivans

My mom, aunt and sister in law all have honda odyssey's and LOVE LOVE LOVE them. They are all varying years anywhere from the first one that was the bigger version in 99 up to I think a 2006? They are such a great vehicle! My aunts is the newest one and her kids absolutely adore the fact that the side windows can roll down! thumbs up for the honda odyssey! Repairs (that I know of) have only been very minor things. consumer reports will mention problems with like a/c knobs and controls and just some electrical things like dash lights behind certain things like the clock, or which gear you're in, which is expected in a honda I've noticed. They have tons and tons of cargo space and my folks have been able to tow several things like waverunners or snowmobiles with theirs because they added a hitch on the back of their van. So as for the honda, I'd say go for it! good luck~

I drive an 2006 Town and Country and LOVE it. I have not had any problems with it. The best thing about it is the Stow & Go seating. I will never buy another van that does not have it. When the seats are not "stowed" it is amazing how much extra storage space there is and when they are stowed I think I can put more in there than in the pick-up. We travel a lot and the dvd player with headphones is also a plus.

I have a Honda Odyssey and love it. I did a ton of research before I bought my van and the Honda Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna are the only really reliable vans. From what I could tell on the repair records the Honda was a little more reliable than the Toyota.

Well, I drive a Dodge Caravan and love it. Mine is an older model and works great. I've never had to do anything more than routine maintenance and it's spectacular. A friend of mine who is a mechanic recommended the Caravan because he says even the dinosaurs are running great. I've been very pleased with it.

K.,
I've had a honda oddessy for about a year and really enjoy it for the most part. It is a 2003 and we have not had any problems with it so far. It is very convient to use and has a great ride. And today I had to drive home 200 miles in a whiteout and the van handled very, very well. I was extremely impressed. The only feature I hate, is that the doors lock automatically once you start the car. On a cold winter day leaving the grocery store, I managed to lock my daughter in the car. also, there is not button to close the doors in the back, so you either have to pull the handle (which can be tricky with full hands), push the button on the key fob (again tricky w/full hands) or do it from the drivers side door. If you like the oddessy another great van to look at is the hundayi. I actually wish that is what I had gotten. Good luck!

This past summer I just got a Nissan Quest! I did my homework and looked at a variety of minivans. The GO Nissan was wonderful! They worked with our trade in and our payments. It was not easy for me to switch from my Durango to a minivan, but I admit... I really, really love it!!! It has tons of space ~ storage and leg room! I got the automatic doors and windows and I love the dash! :) D

We bought a Grand Caravan last year and did alot of looking ourselves. Some friends of our have an Odyssey and it has been a lemon for them. They complained that the repairs for minor things like broken door handles were very expensive. The Odyssey was out of our price range so we didn't really look at them and these are the only people we know with one. I really wanted a Sienna but when I did the comparison, the Grand Caravan had many of the same features for several thousand less than the Sienna. I like the look of the Sienna's better but I got a completely loaded Grand Caravan (2002) with only 45,000 miles for $10,000 less than a 2005 Sienna with 28,000 miles. I really love my automatic doors and captain seats with 3 kids (one is a baby). My sister has a Town and Country and it is identical to my van except her's is a basic model(no features), a 2007, and cost more. I say look for the options you want. The sunk in trunks are so nice for groceries and traveling. Captain seats make getting in and out, moving carseats, and traveling so nice. We recently took a trip and took out one seat to make room for a cooler. We had tons of room. I love all my cupholders for the kids and rear air and heat. You would think that's standard but it's not. My sister's van only has heat vents in front and for the first row of seats, none in the way back. The new caravans even have middle captain seats that can face backwards so kids can visit and see each other on long trips, I think the town and country's do too. I don't have stow and go seats but it was a feature I really liked too. I was never going to have a van, ever! But I really love it with 3 kids. Good luck and happy shopping.

I personally have only driven one minivan and it was a rental when my car was in the shop. I did just get my Associates degree in Automotive Technology though and I love Toyota's. As far as the maintenance goes, Toyota or Honda are the better choices, Crystler usually has more expensive parts and because of some of there mechanical systems, the labor costs more too. Another point is that any make of vehicles can have a lemon so it really depends on that particular van, and even if one has less miles doesn't mean it hasn't been driven as hard if not harder than one with more. A smart idea would be to take it to a smaller shop that you trust to have it checked out before you buy it, many dealerships will let you take it for the weekend. I personally think that the Toyota is the safest way to go including safety for your family, but trust your instinct.

Welcome to the club! Our family just bought a 2008 Toyota Sienna in December and it's been fabulous so far. We did a lot of research on Consumer Reports and the Sienna and the Odyssey are neck and neck as far as all of the tests go. I did quite a bit of driving during the snowy winter months around town and I didn't have any problems getting around. It handles superbly!

For me, there were a few factors that I preferred over the Odyssey:

1. Road noise. The new Odysseys come standard with the no-flat tires and 4-wheel drive and they generate a lot of road noise. When my daughter (12) sat in the very back, she couldn't hear any conversation in the front.

2. No-Flat tires. The tires are *very* expensive to replace and the cars don't come standard with a 5th tire just in case. You have to have the vehicle towed if something happens to the tires. The Sienna comes with the option of two- or four-wheel drive and no-flat or regular tire. If cost is a consideration when replacing your tires, go for regular tires.

3. Comfort. The Sienna was more comfortable for us and I like the seat configuration options better. Plus, I thought the captain chairs in the 2nd row seating were a lot nicer. My daughter felt the 3rd row seating was much, much more comfortable than the Odyssey too, which is important because she's the one that rides back there the most. I also like the center console a lot better in the Sienna.

4. Color. The Sienna came in a color I liked better.

5. Dealership. This was huge for us. I do *not* like the Honda dealership in our area and have had better experiences with the Toyota dealership and service.

5. Console. The Sienna had a much simpler console. The Odyssey felt like a spaceship with too many buttons and knobs. It's hard enough to drive w/out child distractions, but to just be able to find the a/c button quickly was a bonus for me.

Things I wish the Sienna had that comes with the Odyssey:

1. Rearview camera. All of the 2008 Odysseys came standard with the rear camera. The Siennas only come with it if the van comes equipped with navigation and we weren't willing to pay the extra for that feature (we have everything else).

2. DVD player up front. I have to be in the back in order to run the DVD player in the Sienna. It's just an inconvenience that we deal with.

I think that's it. Overall, it's been a great van although I have to admit that switching from a sporty little Jetta to a full blown minivan was a huge blow to my ego. So I opted for some great personalized plates so I don't feel quite so suburbanized...

I have an '03 Town and Country and my sister has a '96 Town and Country and we both love them! My husband and I have never had any major problems with ours and it has over 100,000 miles on it. My sister's has 215,000 miles on it and has still never had any major, really expensive repairs. Our experience has shown us that they are made to last as long as you keep up on the scheduled maintenance. We also love how much storage room they have and how comfortable the seats are.

We have had our 2004 Odyssey for a year and a half now and couldn't love it more. We have power sliding doors (which I thought was silly when we bought it but now can't imagine not having) and the GPS which has been great. I also love, love, love that the rear seat folds down so easily into the floor. As far as problems, the only real problem we had was that the arms that hold the back hatch up failed, but we were able to find replacements online for about $35 each and my husband (who is a computer geek, not a mechanic) was able to replace them quickly without any issues. Other than that, we've only done the normal maintenance with it (oil change, etc...). Good luck!

I absolutely love the Toyota Sienna (it's my dream car), but it was a little out of our price range when we were looking for minivans. We bought a Chrysler Town and Country and absolutely love it. It is roomy, but doesn't feel too "big" (I've always driven a compact car, so I was nervous about the van and how well I could maneuver it), is very easy to navigate and gets relatively good gas mileage. The trunk has a lot of space too (some of them don't give you a lot of space). I heard that the Town and Country is pretty much the same thing as the Dodge Caravan (or Grand Caravan...I'm not sure which) is looks, features and feel. The newer models of the Sienna have a feature where the front seat has a weight sensor that lets it know how big the person sitting in the front is, so if you are smaller, the airbags won't go off at full speed or if for some reason you absolutely have to have a child in the front, they won't deploy at all. It also has a built in mirror to see the kids and has tons of storage things built in. I don't know what your price range is, but I would recommend both the Sienna or the Town and Country.

I drive a Sienna and I never want to own anything but a Sienna ever again! I am mom and now a grandma and this is absolutely the best car I have ever owned hands down (and I have driven a lot of mini-vans and cars over the years). Get a Sienna, you won't be sorry.

I drove a Honda Odessey while I was a nanny of Triplets...best mini van out there we are also in the process of purchasing one and have done a lot of shoping around for months now! Hands down for me is the Odessey the 2005 and newer have all kinds of perks and bonuses that just make life so much easier. I do like the other vans but for out needs(we have 3 under 3 all in car seats) this is the one that I am going to get! My issue with the T&C minivan is the stow and go seats...I know that thay supposed to make life easier but if you have twins your car seats will be there for a long time for one and two the seats are only about half what a normal seat is so it cuts off any adult who ever has to sit in the back. Just a personal issue I am sure but it really bothered me.(my mother-in-law has one)But having had experience with multiples and having 3 under 3 myself I would highly recommend the Honda Good Luck and I hope that you are able to find one that works for you family! Enjoy the little ones they grow so fast!

We just bought the 2007 Honda Odyssey and love it! It rides really well, is comfortable, easy to maneuver, wonderfully convenient (electric doors, many compartments, roomy, etc). The ONLY downside is that we live in Colorado and it doesn't make it up my mom's driveway when it's snow covered. (It's a steep hill). Therefore, we don't take it to our cabin in the winter (major bummer) either and have to plan trips around the weather. So consider weather a definite factor in your decision.

Someone already said it here, but yes, the Dodge Grand Caravan (which we own) is the same as the Chrysler Town and Country (the town and country just costs MORE!!) Our car dealership owner friend confirmed this, and you can tell if you get in both vehicles and look.

The Dodge Caravans are great, we haven't had any trouble with ours at all. Stow and Go seating is a MUST! It is so great to be able to pack things away, or to have tons of space--we just brought home one of those humongous swingset/play yard things from Costco--all in the Caravan! We drive ours all across the country, the kids are comfortable and so are we.

Hi, I drive a Chrysler Town and Country 2001. I LOVE it!! I know there are a lot of upgrades on the newer ones. We have had it for 2 years now and we haven't had any repairs on it. It is rated in the top 5 on consumer reports. I have ridden in the other tow that you are interested, they too are also top rated, however I fill like I'm riding in a Tin Can when I'm in them. I fill like my Chrysler is built really well, I don't feel wobbly, like in some and it does really well on the ice and snow. Good luck to you.
M. B

I would go with the Sienna. Great reliability, minimal repairs.

We own a 2004 Toyota Sienna, and we love it too. The seats are easy to take in/out, or fold down. I especially love the tight turn radius and the very quick acceleration when I press the gas! (Helpful when parking, turning around, and getting on/off the freeway) There are tons of cup holders, which we practically use all of for something. We have only had to have maintenence on the A/C system, but it was completely covered by the generous warranty. (That was last summer, 4 years into having it.) It's really easy to drive- that's my favorite part.

K. -
I highly recommend the Honda Odyssey. I bought one in 2004 after seeing how happy several of our friends were with theirs. Fantastic quality, good gas mileage, and no mechanical problems. I only have one caveat...since it isn't a 4-wheel drive, it doesn't handle well in the snow.

Hey K.,
We are actually in the process of doing the same thing and have narrowed our search down to the Honda and the Toyota. I have driven a suburban for years and gas prices are killing us. Our main concern is still having the room that we have now, with better gas milage. I really thought that I wanted the new Dodge Grand Caravan, but after driving one I didn't like it as much as the Sienna and Oddessey. To me they are both wonderful, however the Toyota has an all wheel drive model that Honda doesn't offer. To me that is important because we do alot of traveling in the snow. Also the trunk space on the Toyota is deeper for more space. I think that is what we have decided on. Price wise there really is not much difference. Good luck.

We leased a 2004 Odyssey for 3 years and LOVED it. Never had any repair issues. It ran great and we never and any issues with it.

I loved all the room. I thought I wanted out of the minivan stage, but now, I wish we had got another odyssey.

I have a 2007 Honda Odyssey and I absolutely love it! I cannot tell you one negative thing about it. We chose it for several reasons: I had a Honda Accord before that with 189,000 miles and still no problems. Also, the first major service is not until 105,000 miles and that sold my husband. Finally, we were also looking at your other two choices, but my husband's parents had the Town and Country and it was a maintenance nightmare, so we ruled that out and we looked at the Sienna which is similar to the Odyssey, but Honda had more standard features that Toyota charge for, like side curtain airbags, so we went with the Honda. I hope it helps.

I don't personally have one, but my parents have the Toyota Sienna and they love it.

This isn't scientific, but I hit a Chrysler T&C once. I was going about 16mph, and I snapped the frame of the minivan! It was totalled. It's on my list of vehicles I will never buy.

S.

We bought a Dodge Caravan with the automatic side opening doors and I love it.

K.,
We have now owned 3 Chrysler T&C and have loved them all. We've also had 2 Dodge Grand Caravans. My husband used to sell Dodge/Chrysler so we may be a bit biased. Other than that, the main reason we love the Dodge/Chrysler product better than any of the others is one particular safety feature. The power sliding doors reverse automatically when the encounter any resistance (like a little person) and are therefore safer for the little ones. I would definately recommend 2005 or newer because you can get the stow and go feature for the middle and third row. You get TONS of extra storage and don't have to remove the seats if you need the cargo space. The one feature you do give up with the stow and go is the spare tire is a little more difficult to get to, but I've never had to get to the spare tire so its no biggie for me. We have the DVD player which I wonder how people live without! We also have the V6 which gets about 16 mpg in the city and 23 on the highway. In September, 2007 my husband and 4 y/o son were involved in an accident with one of the 2005 Chrysler T&C's and it performed perfectly. The accident was severe enough the van was totalled. My son was in his booster in the middle row and the only injury he had was a bruise on his shoulder where the seat belt tightened. My husband did sustain several severe burises to his chest and legs where the air bags deployed, but no broken bones or permanent injuries. We then purchased a 2008 T&C. We owned it for about 4 months. It had tons of cool new features like 2 DVD players and screens and the power windows would reverse if there was resistance (like a little head or hand), but the payments were a lot higher and the gas mileage was awful (about 11 mpg in the city) so we traded it for another 2005. As for prices just for reference we got the most recent used 2005 T&C with DVD player, leather, power everything, cruise, etc and 53K miles for about $15,000. Also, my in-laws have owned several Dodge vans and have put well over 200K miles on each with no major repair. My father in law is very fastideous about preventative maintenance, so that helped, but that is still a ton of miles! Anyway, you now know probably more that you wanted to, but I hope that helps. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask! P.

We have a Toyota and love it! We also had twins, so we liked the 8 seater option so all three car seat (older sibling) could be easily reached for buckling. Honda, as far as I know, does not fit 3 car seats. Their plus one was not wide enough. My sil had a Town and Country and the transmission blew after 30,000 miles. That was covered under warranty, but the hassle was unreasonable. 10,000 miles later it blew again and the engine now needed severe repairs. They traded it in for a Honda after huge fights with the company. They'd never go back. Our Toyota (2006) now has over 75,000 miles on it, and we have yet to do a repair other than standard upkeep. My favorite feature other than the cup holders mentioned, is that it drives like my car did. U-turns and parking are not a problem. Very smooth, too.

I'm gonna put my two bits in - look at either a Kia Sedona, or a Hyundai Entourage. They have the best safety rating out there, and their warranty is killer! 10 year 100,000 mile warranty. The others that you mentioned are only 3 year 36,000 mile warranties. And, they're more affordable than any of the ones mentioned here. Good luck.

R.

We drive a Dodge Grand Caravan and absolutely love it. It is definitely the best vehicle we have ever owned. We bought it a year ago with 16,000 miles on it and it still runs fantastically now with 40,000 miles. We have taken it on several vacations plus moved from Arizona to Utah and we just love it, and we have never had a problem. We do the regular maitenance, but other than that we have never had to fix anything. I like how much room there is in it and the automatic doors, and how easily all the seats fold down. Anyway I just love it. It drives very smoothly too. From what I understand it is very similar to the Chrysler Town and Country. I hope this helps.

I drive a Honda Odyssey and LOVE it! It's such a great car for kids - so much room. Our is a 2005. My sis-in-law drives a 2006 and my mother-in-law a 2007 (it's a little embarassing when we're all together) :) but they are great vans.

Hi! I spent two years researching consumer reports and deciding on which mini-van we wanted. In order, the Honda Odyssey is best (but of course, is most expensive). We LOVED the Sienna, and were not impressed with the Town and Country. We hated the Dodge Caravan- didn't even make it out of the parking lot at the dealer for a test drive. Hope this helps :)

to be honest I wouldn't own one. I have seen too many in accidents and know what happens. The front end there are steel or a rod that forms the front slope, when impacted will come through the windshield. Not pretty. This is mostly on Dodge vehicles. Most are very unstable and not good at handling a corner. Good for hauling items, not kids. I was invovled in a fatality accident about 16yrs ago with a minivan. I was rear ended. My Mazda still had temp. tags. My back seat was in my dashboard and the woman driving the minivan was pronounced at the scene. She was carrying her 2 children and 1 other child who was injured.

peace.

I know you already have tons of responses, but you know us women, we all got to put our two bits in!

So I drive a Toyota Sienna 2006 8 passenger. My husband is a Consumer Report maniac and can tell you anything and everything about every car and every year. So here is our reasoning of why we bought the Toyota vs. the other two (as they were also on our list)

1)Town & Country. My husband is 6'2" and his head did not fit inside the car, the ceiling is very funny shaped. It is a Chrysler product...transmissions and engines tend to have MAJOR problems. Though I have a sil that has a Dodge Grand Caravan for the past 5 years and has had no problems. So you can't really say which car is a good one or bad one.

2)Honda Odyssey. Made on the plateform of a Ford Taurus. (crazy I know). If you have ever heard of the reliability of a Ford Taurus...well they suck...almost as bad as a Chrysler product, but worse. They have given so many "features" on the inside that people over look the engine and tranny problems.

3)Toyota Sienna. We choose this because it has the 8 seat option (which we took). The turn radius is incredible (and I turn around a lot). The reliability is, well it's a Toyota...just don't buy a 4 cylinder (why anybody does that anyways is beyond me), CR is starting to notice the 4 cylinders are having problems. We have a 2006. It has one electronic sliding door. If you get the 2007, you get two electronic sliding door. We also bought a Costco swing set bringing it home in our van. We also finished our basement, using our van to haul the wood and the sheetrock, and everything in between. We felt the price of the Sienna was worth not being stuck anywhere at a moments notice.

Good luck and happy hunting!

We have a 2006 Honda Odyssey and love it! It has more standard features than any of the vans you mentioned (from our research, at least). Drives nicely like a car, good gas mileage and very reliable. One feature we are so glad we included is the auto sliding doors on both sides. So much easier and if a little one gets a hand in the way, it automatically opens back up; nice safety feature!
Good luck.

we have the dodge caravan which is the same as the town and cuntry. I don't have the grand caravan but the caravan, and I love it. IT doesn't have the stow and go which I would really like to have--but it has the cup holders etc. We have a 2005. It has 65,000 miles on it and still going great. We have not had any major repairs. and are still under our warranty for another 10,000 miiles. I like Dodge--our family had a Dodge van from the time I was in first grade until I was in my early twenties. It just didn't stop! lol...my sister has the same van I do but under the town and country name--same van and we both love ours, in fact when hers got totaled she found the same van again. Hers I believe is the 2006. my one complaint would be leg room--for an adult. The kids it is perfect--we saved money going with the caravan over the grand caravan and the main thing we gave up was some leg room. It would be an issue if my dd was older. It isn't a big deal for the short times we do have longer legs riding in the back though. The caravan has cup holders everyhwere it seems--the middle back seats is of course on one of the sides. My model has the captain chairs for the first row seating so it seats 7. I like that my dd is in a carseat in the captain chair, it is easier to get in and out when I need to. a down side if you have long legs as the driver or front passenger you won't want this van because you have to move your seat up a bit which feels tight if you have longer legs when you put a car seat behind you. Ours is behind the passenger side so that when I am driving I can toss her things if I need to...My dh and I are both average height so the van works great for us but I have a BIL who is over 6' and he hated riding in my van sitting in the seat in front of dd. He just didn't have enough leg room. I didn't really think about that aspect of is as we were going from a truck to the van and the truck just had what it had-- as dd gets older I won't keep this van just because of the leg room but for now it is a great van with little kids with little legs. hope this helps.

We just got a 2006 Odyssey and the best features we love are leather seats (easier to clean with kids), seating for 8, front passenger air bag turns off if it senses a child is in the passenger seat under the weight limit, sunroof, and the best... windows that roll down!!! My kids over 5 love this feature as it is more comfortable and doesn't make them feel so trapped in the back of a minivan.
One more feature for gas mileage is that part of the engine shuts down to coast if you are going the same speed for a couple of minutes. We haven't owned it long but I think it will save on gas. I heard the if you get an Odyssey Touring model, the wheels are some special kind that cost over $1000 to replace, we wanted to stay clear of anything specialty and expensive like that. Good luck!

We have a 2004 Toyota Sienna and LOVE it! We were reluctant to get a minivan, just because they are so uncool, lol. But now that we have one, we love the room and the way it rides, not to mention the gas mileage (we had a large SUV before). We test drove the Chrysler T&C also, and it just felt a lot more "plastic" to us, it just wasn't as sturdy, and the seats were definitely not as comfortable. I know they are known for having a lot of extra's, but when it came down to how it drove and how we thought it would hold up for a long period of time, it just didn't feel like it had the same quality as the Toyota. I haven't driven a Honda, so I'm not sure about those.

We had to get a minivan with our third. We first looked at Toyota Siennas and Honda Odysseys, but we ended up getting a Nissan Quest. I had never heard of them before. We liked it right away because it's not the typical "minivan look" - we never thought we'd be minivan people. It's a great car, lots of room, and the kids (3 and 2) think it's the coolest thing. Ours is a 2004, loaded, good condition.

K.,
My husband is anti-minivan. I would love to have one with a small baby a teen and 3 dogs. My mother-in-law has a Town and Country. It drives so well and is so comfortable. When they come to visit us we fit a carseat and 6 adults in it very comfortably with no problem. Also the last time my husbands company sent us on a househunting trip in Nebraska they rented us a car. The car Hertz gave us was a 2008 Town and County. I am now madly in love. My mother-in-law and I dropped my husband off at the hospital for his all day physical and then we drove all over Omaha and the surrounding area. All in the excuse that we were looking at houses we might be interested in buying. It was a total joy to drive. I was worried about not enjoying driving it since it is so much bigger then my Ford Mustang convertible but it was wonderful.

we just got a chrysler t&c in march. we traded in a ford expedition. we LOVE it, even my hubby. it is so much more roomier and i love how the seats can fold down into the floor. we have the one with 4 'captains' chairs and a bench way in the back. the back seats not only fold all the way down they can just fold back so that if you go to the drive in you can park backwards and lift the tail gate and have a comfy place to sit. i have averaged over 22 mpg in town. if you find one that you really like get a carfax report on it (the dealership shouldn't be afraid to provide this)

We own a 2003 Honda Odyssey. We have never had to have any repairs done on it besides the usual maintenance like oil changes and checking fluids. The dealership we purchased ours from has been wonderful and when we have the oil changes done there we also get a car wash; well worth the $25.00. It is a little noisy for travelling, not as quiet as American made vans. YOu hear a lot of street noise. We have had a little trouble with the volume controls on the steering wheel. They have reversed so when you turn the volume down it increases, this is very sporadic. We have had this repaired under warranty. The heater controls in the rear only work through the floor and not through the vents up top. This didn't matter when we lived in California but now we live in Utah and it takes a while longer to warm up. The automatic doors also seem to stick in the winter and if you live in a cold climate you may want to rethink auto doors. Again never had a problem in California. You will want to park inside a garage if you live in a cold climate because the snow plays havic with these doors. Good luck!

Just from my experience, I've had a minivan for probably the last 10 years and we've always had Dodge Grand Caravan only once we had a Ford Windstar and we went back to Dodge. Out of all the other vans you mention you probably get more for your money with the Dodge. Just to let you know Town and Country are the same exact thing as Dodge but way cheaper. My parents had purchases a Town and Country at one time and was very displease with it and went back to Dodge Gr. Caravan again and remain with them. As of right now, I have 2005 Dodge Gr.Caravan stow and go and just love it. Great for traveling with children

K.,
I have an '08 Toyota Sienna, 8 passenger. I also liked the Odyssey, but the 8 comfortable seating made it final. I think the trunk is larger and holds my double stroller and groceries with no problem. The rear seats fold down easily. Also, it is easier for an adult to get in the back and there is more leg room between rows of seats. One other feature I like is that the middle seat in the second row is adjustable and you can move it forward. If you belong to Sam's Club, go online and you can get a list of dealers. They give you a discount.

We drive an '06 Odyssey and I love it. We have had zero problems. The interior is very spacious and all the features are very easy to operate, even with one hand! I did a lot of shopping around and this was the most for the money and the best quality. Our model is the one just below the touring model. It has leather, power and the DVD as well as lots of other goodies. My finding is that American cars are just not keeping up with the Japanese and I hate to say that because until now I have always bought American. The Ford van was TERRIBLE, no giddy-up at all. I just found the other US vans to be kind of cheap. The Toyota is very nice, but is more expensive than Honda for the same stuff. It may seem a little more luxorious on the inside, but that wasn't worth $8K to me! Good luck with your choice, once you get a van you will see why so many people love them!

Toyota Sienna - 2004. LOVE IT! It feels much more luxurious than the Honda for about the same money. And, the folding rear seat was much easier for me to do (i'm only 5' 3"). We can get up to 26-27 on the highway and regularly do 23 mpg in town. We've only had one issue - the chip that runs the heat/ac conked out but we had bought the extended warranty (talked him WAY down) and it was fully covered w/absolutely no issues (bad for them - a $2k repair!). If you're in the Denver area, I'd strongly recommend Mountain States. the salesman was honest and low pressure. their service dept is incredible - we actually drive over there (about 12 miles) even though Stevenson is less than 3 miles from where both of us work! Do look at all the safety ratings .... Dodge/chrysler had 5 star government ratings but did miserably in the offset for year 2004 models. But perhaps they've improved.

I have a Odessey, 05' I LOVE IT! It is roomy, has tons of storage, seats eight but we took out the console between the two back seats. I have not had ONE problem with it! Honda has a great service department too! I would say look at resale value more then anything. I mean mine is an 05 and still worth close to $18,000. All vehicles depreciate the second you drive them off the lot, so you want something that holds value. Toyotas and Hondas are on the top of holding their value and service. It drives awesome!

We own the Honda Odyssey from last year. We LOVE it! It is so comfortable and drives really well. So far no repairs have had to be made (knock on wood). It is fuel economic so I spend far less on gas than I did on my SUV. The only complaint I have is that it does not drive well in the snow but other than that, it is great.

We have a 2007 Honda Odyssey and we LOVE LOVE LOVE it! We bought the base model and it still has tons of storage space, moveable seats, seats that stow in the floor and lots of of other things that I love. We have not had a single problem with it we have only taken it in for scheduled maintenance. The kids love it too. We just went on a twelve hour drive to California and back with 6 people (including two kids in car seats) and we all rode very comfortably and had plenty of room for all the luggage and toys and everything. I highly recommend it!

I love my Toyota Sienna 2005. My only complaint is that with the AWD model, Toyota left no room for a spare tire so you have to drive run-flat tires which are expensive and often take a week to order if you need replacements. They also wear out pretty quick, but I have heard similar complaints from other Sienna owners with standard tires. Plan on new tires every 30K miles or so, no matter what. Check out tirerack.com for feedback from Sienna owners on tire longevity. Stick to '05 Siennas or newer...there is some kind of design flaw with the sliding doors on older models.