I never wanted to buy a minivan. Minivans have always seemed boring and lame. After driving my Toyota Sienna for the last five years, I think I would be unhappy owning anything else. The minivan has three rows of seats with roomy trunk space. I have fit my child's jogger stroller into that trunk without even collapsing it first. When I want extra trunk space, we fold down the last row of seats and the trunk becomes positively massive! We can fit 10 suitcases, an ice chest, a stroller, a playpen, and beach toys and chairs into the expanded trunk.

Mini-van was what we needed in 1998 for the family (2 young kids, both sets of grandparents around needing rides). It was our first and probably last minivan. We did like the look of the Sienna- sleeker and less bulky. Ended up with a model that had extra ledge for climbing onto car. Made the car look less sleek, but it ended up working well. The car had few problems for about 10 years. Then things started breaking down. See details below.