Wow, It has been a while since i have written on Epinions, but i am glad to be back. Many things have changed since my last review, most notably the addition of a second child. With that being said you might now understand why i am writing a review about a Mini-Van, one thing i always told myself i would never own! I guess the lesson for me there is never say never! When Hannah was born it was time to upgrade our ride. We had a 2004 Ford Taurus that had been far from perfect. My wife and i talked about some SUV's even a truck, but then those dreaded words came out of my wifes mouth “How about a Mini-Van?” After i picked myself up off the floor i agreed to take a look and we headed to the dealership.

If we were going to get a mini-van i was always going to lean towards the Town And Country, Of all the mini-vans out there i do believe that they are the best looking van and the dealership was offering a great deal at the time. We were looking at a Gold 2006 Town and Country. The Town and Country is the base model of the Town and Country line up. The models are as follows: Base, LX, Touring And Limited. The base model is just called Town and Country and i believe that it offers great value for money. It does not have as many features as the the rest of the line up and does not offer Stow 'n' Go seating, but it does do everything else that you ask of it.

I walked around the outside of the vehicle not believing that i was actually considering buying a van. The design of the Town And Country is really very pleasant on the eye and as i mentioned before, In my opinion, it is the best looking of the mini-van genre. The base model sports 15” steel rims that have nice sporty looking hub covers, 2 manual sliding doors and a huge rear hatch door. Not having power sliding doors is not a bad thing. When opening the doors, they slide open graciously and effortlessly and close in the same manner.

When i first stepped inside i must admit i was pleasantly surprised. After a quick glance around i saw that this model offered, Air Conditioning, A tilt Steering Column, An AM/FM/CD Radio with 4 speakers, Cruise control, Electric Windows, Driver And Passenger Air Bags and cup holders galore. The van, though it is the short wheelbase model, is incredibly roomy and warm feeling. The dash is very well laid out and the materials that are used are of a very high quality The 2 captain seats for the Driver and the first passenger are very comfortable indeed. The drivers seat does offer lumbar support as well.

In the base model, the second and third rows of seating are bench seats, that are also very comfortable. Leg room is ample in all parts of the van. I am 6ft 3' and have no problem sitting in any part of the Town and Country. This model does not have Stow 'n' Go seating, but getting the seats in and out is easy as pie. With the seats out the holding capacity of this vehicle is amazing, you could get very large appliances in the van with ease if you wanted to.

I decide to take it for a test drive. The base model comes equipped with a 3.3 V6 that produces roughly 180hp. That does not sound too bad, my biggest concern was, will it be powerful enough of an engine to really move such a large vehicle. First thing you will notice is how quiet the cabin is! You could hear a pin drop, that does change slightly under hard acceleration but not really by much. I was impressed by the responsiveness of the 3.3 engine. It is lively from a stand still and moves swiftly and smoothly through the gears. I did not feel unsafe joining the highway as this engine picked up nicely while accelerating to join high speed traffic. The engine at cruising is quiet and when extra speed is needed, it gets you where you want to be pretty quickly.

The ride quality is really what blew me away. You would never think that you are driving a van, in fact you will honestly feel like you are driving a pretty high end car. The ride quality of the Van eclipsed that of my 2004 Taurus and my 2003 Impala. You also will be sitting up quite a bit higher while driving this compared to a car so you get a good clean view of the road ahead. To compliment this the amount of glass in this van offers superb views all around, so you can safely see what is going on around your vehicle at all times.

The gas millage, especially with gas prices as high as they are right now could be better, but this is a relatively small engine moving a pretty big vehicle. I have been averaging 14/15 miles around town and about 17/18 on the highway, which is not too bad for a vehicle of this size.

Overall i love this Van. I never thought in a million years that i would own a van, but i am glad that i do and am proud of this vehicle. It offers a great ride, with plenty of room inside, which is what we were looking for after our family expanded. If you like more bells and whistles to your rides then you might want to consider the LX, Touring or Limited, but if you just need the basics, cruise, air, electric windows then this is the model for you. I would highly recommend this vehicle to anyone looking in the Mini-Van market.