When I was pregnant with my second child, my husband took one look at the results of the ultrasound (I didn't want to know if it was a boy or girl, but he did...) and knew that he was going to want to try at least one more time in that little lottery for a boy...

At that time, we were planning to get a station wagon, but suddenly he changed ideas midstream and told me we should really be realistic and just get a minivan.

Now, mind you, I had no idea that all this was going on in his head until after little Sophia was born, but the idea of being imprisoned in a minivan did not sit well with me. My last car was a Saab 9000 Turbo (yeah, OK, it was on loan from my parents, but she was my friend...) and that Turbo engine did not collect any dust.

We test drove every minivan out there on the market--I hated them all! Then we drove the Honda Odyssey. I was immediately impressed that I didn't need a stepstool to get into the van comfortably. The carriage of the vehicle sits relatively low (also helping avoid top-heaviness...) so that you can very easily slide right in or out...which is enormously helpful when you're as big as a house and in labor.

But above all, only the Odyssey could:
1) Keep up with highway traffic without feeling like a whining, lumbering giant;
2) Corner tightly and easily without swinging out into oncoming lanes of traffic, which is very important on the narrow city streets where we live;
3) Drive down those narrow lanes of city traffic without feeling as broad as a semi truck; and
4) Maneuver easily into a very small garage.

The clincher was when I opened the rear hatch. With the other minivans we looked at, whatever room there was behind the rear seat for luggage was ruined by the shape and position of the rear hatch door. After all, raw square footage means nothing if it's not usable. Last time I checked, all of my suitcases were rectangular, not trapezoidal. In the Odyssey, not only was this space larger to begin with, but the door does not intrude on the space, leaving it actually usable. On top of that, the well that the rear bench seat folds into provides even more space! There are even hooks provided on the back of the bench seat to hang the grocery bags on so they don't slide around (or forward, into the main carriage of the van, making a big mess...)

And I could easily raise or lower that bench seat into its well right up to my due date.

I was in love.

I'm still in love.

The drawbacks of this vehicle have been very minor in comparison. The seats are not terribly comfortable, particularly for long trips. We initially had some trouble with the CD player skipping all the time, but that was easily fixed. There is a fair amount of road noise--I wish it were a little quieter--Now that our eldest, 3 1/2 years old, has been relegated to the back seat, she has a very hard time hearing us when we're trying to talk to her. And it does not get the best gas mileage, especially in the city.

Some improvements I'd like to see in the future: A third seat in the middle row, with a door long enough to allow access to the backseat without crawling over the middle row seats. The ability to turn chairs around 180 degrees. LATCH restraints for the back bench (they are available in the middle row only).

Overall, we've been immensely happy, and though Toyota has come out with all those new features in their Minivan, ideally I'd prefer to stick with Honda. (Though I think we may have to eventually give in and get the model with the dvd player...)
Amount Paid (US$): 29-30,000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2003
Model and Options: EX