70 KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE^ 02/2020CO
URTE
SYHONDAWE WERE ON OUR WAY TO PEAK MINIVAN
in 1995 when, in the comedic thriller
Get Shorty, John Travolta’s character
Chili Palmer kept passing off his
rental Oldsmobile Silhouette as the
“Cadillac of minivans” (probably the
movie’s most memorable line). Back
then, just about every major American
and Japanese carmaker offered a mini-
van. Even the final iteration of the
Volkswagen bus was still sold here.
Twenty-five years later, you need
only one hand to count the minivans
on the market in the U.S. Why? Demo-
graphic shifts, in part. But mostly, the
decline stems from the emergence of
three-row SUVs. Minivan sales have
been dwindling for decades as drivers
ditch the symbol of suburban sur-
render, the automotive equivalent of
drawstring sweatpants, for something
they like to call their “truck.”
But having spent Thanksgiving
week hauling my extended family
around town in a 2020 Honda Odyssey
(MSRP $34,690, EX trim), I am again
reminded that when it comes to put-
ting a lot of humanoids in a box, you
just can’t beat a minivan. Most of the
credit goes to the sliding doors. The
ability to not just unlock but open
these giant access ports remotely is
huge. While still fussing with locking
up the house, I could pop open the
doors and let the nieces and nephews
scramble into the back row, as the el-
der generation followed into the mid-
dle row with far less acrobatics (andgrumbling) than when entering any
vehicle in my own f leet (which, yes,
includes a big three-row SUV).
My friend Jody Danforth Root, who
considers herself a big van fan, notes
another plus. “My van’s sliding doors
meant there was never a wind gust or
thoughtless kid that blew the door open,
dented the car next to us, and left me
paying for someone’s body work,” as
happened with her other vehicle, a
GMC Yukon Denali, a big ol’ SUV.
The minivan’s other main advantage
(again, over three-row SUVs) is that
the third row is bigger, with room
enough for average-size adults, even.
Honda’s largest SUV, the Pilot ($34,430,
EX trim), provides a good point of com-
parison. The Odyssey and Pilot share
considerable DNA, use the same engine
and are built in the same Alabama fac-
tory. But for a small increase in overall
length (7 inches), the Odyssey provides
a significantly more commodious third
row, with more leg, shoulder and hip
room—though the Pilot does offer an
extra half-inch or so of headroom. If
you expect to shuttle kids until they can
drive places on their own, remember
that 15-year-olds can get pretty big.
And a minivan’s cargo space is much
bigger—with the seats up or down—
because it uses its overall height for
interior volume, while an equivalent
SUV needs that space for big tires,
ground clearance and long-travel
suspension to provide a modicum of
off-road ability.Whoever gets the back row should
be fairly content: Most Odysseys offer
not just cup holders and vents, but
also power outlets. Should squabbling
break out in back anyway, the Touring
and Elite versions of the Odyssey let
you actually see what the miscreants
are up to via Honda’s Cabin Watch
system—an overhead camera that
covers the back two rows and displays
the image on the dashboard’s main
screen. It even has a mode that works
in the dark (a feature that borders on
creepy).
Is looking at the screen safer than
turning your head around and threat-
ening to PULL OVER RIGHT NOW?
Perhaps. And, if the passengers hap-
pen to be wearing the wireless head-
phones that come with the Odyssey’s
highest trims, you can push anotherREWARDSMinivans: What’s
Not to Like?
The minivan has been unfairly displaced by the three-row
SUV as the family hauler of choice. BY DAVID MUHLBAUMDRIVE TIME