Buying minivan- what to look for

For me, this is what we wanted:

8 seater
stow and go rear seats (the back row easily can fold down to make a big flat bed storage area)
automatic sliding doors (I can open and close them with a button)
automatic rear gate
leather seats (easier to clean)

we ended up with a 2009 Honda Odyssey and I really like it. The left and right seats in the middle row can slide forward. The only issue I have is carseat arrangements. Right now I only have 2 kids so I just put one on each side, but when I wanted to access the third row I had to put them right next to each other and it was a little hard to position them exactly so the seat could slide forward. When we visited my parents we put my toddler in the back seat so that one adult would sit next to her and then one adult would sit in the middle row next to the baby.

Gold Member Joined: Nov 22 2006 Posts: 1733

We just leased a 7 seat oddysey and bh were loving.it. my kids get.driven by a women who has a 8 Seattle oddysey and the side seat bends down so u can get in, but its not comfy for an adult to get in. Plus if that seat is occupied its a problem. Ky kids either jump over or make.the passanger.in that seat squish into a pretzle to.get out