Honda Odyssey

We have the Honda Odyssey EX-L with the DVD and we LOVE it! I swore I would never get a minivan but it is so nice and easy with the kids. It has been very reliable and I just like how quiet and smooth Honda's are.

Honda: Odyssey

We bought an O7 Odyssey, LX and like the car. There is plenty of
room and gets decent gas mileage. Plus, its a Honda. There are two
things I wish we had. Since we bought the base level, the rear sliding
doors are not power. There are times that this would have come in
handy. Also, the rear door/hatch is not power and it is heavy in my
opinion. Plus, I'm on the shorter side and its hard to reach the
handle to close the door. Otherwise great minivan and you can't beat
the insurance rate on the car.

Honda: Odyssey

"We have 2 year old twins and a 4 mo old and just manage to fit three car seats across the middle of our 2005 Honda Odyssey with the plus one seating."

Honda: Odyssey

"Every twin and triplet mom I know, and there are many - swear by their Honda Odysseys or Toyota Siennas. We looked at the new car buyers guide and test drove both and there are days when I just want to stand in front of my house and pet my Odyssey like a well-loved dog for the loyal and comfortable service it provides to our family."

Honda: Odyssey

"I am a walking advertisment for the Honda Odyssey. And I am not a "car" person -- as long as they run reliably, I've generally always been happy, but I love this van.

Features that I love are:
= Both the side doors slide open from the key and they "touch" closed (you just gently yank the handle and the door does the rest) -- or you can close them from a button next to the steering wheel.
= On the Touring edition (which we have) the back gate is also automatic from the keychain or a tiny little button accessible when the gate is open. Having your hands full of kids and groceries, it is lovely to just press a button and have the door close itself.
= The second row of seats are captain's chairs, just like the driver/passenger seats. You can slide them close together and leave an "aisle" up the middle, or slide one to the center and leave the aisle on one side.
= The third row folds away (no taking it in or out) and is super-easy to open or close. It also opens 1/3 or 2/3. With 2/3, you can still have the car seat Latched into the third row.
You can fold down the center console between the driver and passenger. This makes it easier for the passenger (me, on long trips when husband is driving) to leave the passenger seat and get into the back to manage children.
= And, it has about a million cupholders.

So, that's my commercial for Honda."

Honda: Odyssey

"We have a Honda Odyssey and I LOVE it. The best part about it is that the doors open (and close) automatically with the touch of a button on the key ring thing-- this has made getting the baby in and out so easy. Another nice thing about it is that it's low enough to the ground that my 3.5 year old son can get in by himself and climb into his seat, so I don't have to lift him. It gets very high ratings for reliability, too. Just thought I'd share! "

Honda: Odyssey

"We do not have twins, but we do have 3 kids close in age and we recently went from an SUV to a minivan. We had a 2000 Ford Explorer with no third row. Getting all three kids in and out of a single row was a nightmare! It took forever, and when we went from carseats to boosters for the older ones, it was very tough to reach down to buckle/unbuckle the seatbelts, and it frustrated the kids that they couldn't do it themselves (I could barely do it). Perhaps if you get a really big SUV like the Expedition or that size range, you might be able to do it more easily, but I would suggest a third row if you opt for an SUV. Having said that, my kids liked all sitting together in the same row and did not fight (any more or less than usual!). They all just had birthdays and are now 6, 5, and 2, but we had the Ford since the oldest was born, so we've done all sorts of configurations of different carseats & boosters. Since the baby was born, he has been in the center, with the older kids on each side, and he loved having "built-in entertainment" on each side, esp. when he was rear-facing.

When the truck died (mercifully) in September, we got a Honda Odyssey. (We looked at the Sienna as well but did not even consider buying another SUV.) This car has literally changed my life! It's SO much easier to get everyone in the car. It used to take me so long to get everybody in their seats and it was so aggravating that I often wound up yelling at my kids, but now it's actually pleasant to get in the car!

Things I love about the minivan:

= It is so roomy inside, and it's really easy to get my little guy into his carseat (in my old car, I had to kind of hurl him into the center to get him into his seat).
= The older kids can easily buckle themselves in their boosters now.
= We can take an extra kid to soccer or home from school with us for a playdate (impossible in our truck) - you're not doing this now but you will be in a few years.
= I have not looked at SUVs recently, but the seating in minivans is really versatile and easy to reconfigure to suit your needs as they change over time.
= My Odyssey actually seems to have more storage space in back than my truck, even with all the seats in use, and if the third row is folded down (which takes about 10 seconds to do), there is a ton of cargo space. We have also removed the 2nd row seats to transport large items - not something you want to do on a daily basis but easy enough.
= Minivans are built on a car chassis as opposed to a truck chassis, so they drive like cars, which to me is a plus. My minivan is WAY quieter than my truck.
= Sliding doors is a REALLY nice feature - no more cringing as my kid slams the door into the car parked next to us.
= My old SUV got horrible gas mileage and I was filling it constantly; the minivan is much more fuel efficient.

As far as the "cool factor" - ummm, don't care. I finally have a car that does what I need it to do and actually makes my life easier.

I know there are a lot of nice trucks out there now, but I hated my old one so much and I love my minivan so much that I have to come down on the minivan side of this debate. The top-selling minivans are specifically designed for families with kids -- so they seem to have thought of just about every feature a family with 3+ kids could want. "

Honda: Odyssey

"For what it's worth, we have 10-month-old twins and a four-year-old and have a Honda Odyssey. We bought the Odyssey while I was pregnant with the twins (twins and older sib are exactly 4 years apart). The infant seats are in the second row, and the booster seat is in the third row. It's a little tough to get someone else into the third row, but my son has no trouble getting in and out of his booster seat. We love the roominess of the van, as well as the automatic side doors that can open remotely (extremely helpful when you're carrying 2 infant seats!). My only complaint is that visibility is sometimes not perfect -- I came to the van from a 2-door Honda Civic and find it much more difficult now to see what's going on on the sides (at ground level) and in the back of the van. Also, of course, the gas mileage is pretty bad."

Honda: Odyssey

"We have the Honda Odyssey, which we love (power doors....very key!) The third row, as great as it is, is not optimal for infant car seats. We've tried it. I would be surprised if you found any vehicle where the 3d row is open enough to easily maneuver two infant seats (which
you would have to snap in and out on a regular basis). My kids' car seats (a Marathon and a Decathlon -- both enormous) are in the 2d row (which is only 2 seats wide). When we drive other kids, those kids sit in the back. So I would put your infants in the 2d row, and your 3-year old in a carseat or booster in the 3d row. This makes it possible for whoever is in the passenger seat to just turn around and attend to the babies as needed. Or you can sit in the 3d row with your toddler, where you would have easy access to all kids.

BTW, even with the 3rd row in use, we still have a good amount of trunk space -- enough for a weeklong trip to Hilton Head for four adults, a baby and a toddler. We have GPS and a DVD player. The GPS is a godsend. The DVD player is used way less than we expected, but
is still great for long trips. The only option I wish I had for the Odyssey is a power back door -- which I think is now available, but correct me if I'm wrong. I was very resistant at first to getting a minivan, but it has been great!"