> But the upright shape and boxy proportions of minivans make it easy to transport plenty of people and lots of luggage. In fact, they tend to perform the job better than most other types of passenger cars — even their upscale descendant, the sport utility vehicle.

I'm convinced that most people that gets small trucks would do better with minivans. The number of things we hauled in the back of our 1987 Ford Aerostar after pulling out the second and third row seats was staggering (and unsafe). It was a better solution for just about everything except for loose earth.

My own Honda Odyssey is a dream to drive, and having taken many 7+ hour road trips over the years in multiple types of vehicles, it's by bar the most comfortable.

The only downside is how you are sometimes perceived, and thus treated, when on the highway. People seem to not like to be behind a minivan, whether because of some preconceived idea that it's slow, or because they don't like the view obstruction, or some other reason. It's annoying to be passed just so the person that passed you can decide to go slower than you were in the first place, and it seems to happen more frequently when driving the minivan.