Love it, would only fix a few things

After we had our first kid, we started looking for minivans. My co-workers gave me hell for even considering one. Reason why I never even thought of an SUV: I don't want to drive a truck, my wife is short and would have a tough time climbing into an SUV, mileage isn't very good, and I don't need an SUV to keep with the Joneses or to justify my self-worth. (Although I will admit the BMW and Acura SUVs are pretty sharp, but still not worth the money.)

I wanted to stick with reliable Japanese brands, so I looked at Nissan, Toyota and Honda (the Mazda was too small, since we often car-pool). Nissan Quest was completely lacking in power, especially up hills, and the third row bench was not removable. I did not have a good feeling driving it, even though several friends own one.

I would consider the Honda Odyssey best in class, great power, plenty of room, wonderful fold-down seat. However, it did feel a little bit like driving a bus (I guess all large minivans are kind of bus-like), the new 2002 model just came out and I don't like buying a car in its first year, and as other people have mentioned, the pricing is not very negotiable, if at all.

Now is the Toyota Sienna. Not as big as the Honda, but not too small. It had everything we wanted for features: dual power sliding doors, 6-CD changer, leather seats, climate control. We didn't want DVD entertainment or navigation, maybe our next minivan. Finally, we got 1.9% financing (post-9/11), which is sweet.

We drove it up and down hills, no problem at all. Kind of like a Camry, same platform. Third row seats were heavy, but they were removable. After owning for a year, we have removed the seats twice before going to Home Depot, and it was no big deal.

A little thing I liked about the excellent JBL stereo was when I turned off the engine but kept the stereo on, it only went through the front speakers. Great when the baby is sleeping in back.

The sliding doors are great, but they are a danger to young children who push the buttons. So be very careful. I even closed it on myself while taking out groceries, but I pushed the button and it opened right back out.

The one annoyance to me is when I am in the back and my wife is driving, the van bounces around a lot. It's not unsafe and it's not a major concern, but every time we hit a bump at high speed, I do imagine myself as a yo-yo bouncing up and down. I'm not sure if this is true for all minivans, but you want to check it yourself for comfort.

We drove from SF to LA and it was great. Very smooth and fast, especially hitting the mountains right before LA. We have plenty of CDs to play music for our kid. (He needs to grow up, I can't sing "Pop the Weasel" anymore.)

And that Toyota reliability and fit! People mention that the V6 engine has that potential oil sludge problem. Research this before you buy. However, I haven't seen any problems yet, and we change oil every 3000 miles.

What would we fix? Make it a little wider, allow second row seats to move next to each other, add fold-down third row, make the sliding doors childproof. Try to make the ride less bouncy and "floaty." More storage space near the driver, maybe even a table like the one in the Honda Odyssey. It does not need to be as big as an Odyssey, just a little bigger. Finally, the ride is very quiet, but if you could make it Lexus-like, we would appreciate it.

Overall, we like it very much, even though I still get hell from my co-workers :)