In 2003 my wife and I came to the realization that we just couldn't continue to cart around three kids in our Toyota Highlander any more. Since we only have one vehicle the body count comes to five with one in a child safety seat. We would put the child seat in the middle of the back seat and the two older boys would squeeze into the remaining space. They were not comfortable. But a minivan? We thought like most people… "we could never own a minivan!" So we set off to find an SUV with third row seating. We had heard of what was then the new Honda Pilot, one of the first SUV's to sport third row seating. So it was off to the Honda dealer to have a look.

One of my concerns was cargo room when there was a third row. Well, on the Pilot, it was pretty skimpy. Then the salesman, who knew we didn't want a minivan got into the third row and sat down. He told us that we may want to consider the lack of leg room back there. Indeed his knees were hitting the second row seats. He said that an adult on a long trip wouldn't be very comfortable. It was a pretty good demonstration of how there just isn't enough room in the third row, at least in that '03 Pilot he was showing us.

Then he said… "why don't you at least take a look at the Odyssey." Reluctantly we went over to a Honda Odyssey that was on the lot. Once you get past the outside and take a look inside you discover that a minivan of the Honda Odyssey's caliber is pretty darn luxurious inside. One of the first things I noticed was that over each seat was an air vent and light, aircraft style. I thought that was pretty cool. Then there was the center mounted DVD player for the second and third row passenger's entertainment. Cool again I thought. This van had leather as well which added to its appeal. Moving on to the cargo area, the salesman showed us the "magic" third row seating that drops into the floor. This is genius. With the seat in the upright position there is a large cargo "bin" that can store a lot of groceries. Much more cargo space than the Pilot had. With the seat folded down into the floor the cargo area opened up to more than the space of most SUV's. It seemed to be a "win-win" feature to me.

My wife and I started to soften. The salesman went with us on a test drive. My wife is the driver so she took the wheel. Never having driven a minivan before, she thought it strange that you can't see the front of the vehicle from the driver seat. The van had a tight turning radius for such a large car and that was new to her as well. We drove down the block and talked about the van's features with the sales rep.

Well, the Honda Odyssey sold us. We bought one. We've had it ever since. It's been trouble free, it has a large sedan ride, and it's comfortable and roomy. My wife and I sit up front, one of the second row seats gets our young son's car seat and the other two older boys can have there pick of second row or sitting all alone in the "way back" third row seat. The one who chose to sit in the third row can even lay down for a nap on a long ride. Plus there's still cargo room behind that.

Before we decided on the Honda Odyssey we took a test drive in the then newly redesigned Toyota Sienna. The Toyota sales rep tried to show us how easy it was to change the second row seat's position but he couldn't even figure it out himself. That was a negative. Then there was the price. It was higher than Honda and at the time there were no discounts since the design was new and they were selling well. In the mean time the Honda was nearing its end of year cycle and we got a pretty good discount.

I would say you would be happy with either the Honda or Toyota but my nod goes to Honda for price and features. Both are quality vehicles.

Now that we have been driving the Honda Odyssey for three years we love it. We've had no trouble with it and it has provided a lot of convenience, especially on long trips. Our young son, now three, rides in the second row and watches his movies and except for rare occurrences seems happy and calm watching "Thomas the Tank Engine" moves and drinking out of his sippy cup.

One other thing of note is that the Odyssey has the largest engine offered in a minivan and it is quite powerful. My wife and I joke when she inadvertantly "peels out" in her minivan.

I highly recommend the Honda Odyssey to any family with more than one child.