A lot of people think that minivans are like the Brussels sprouts of vehicles: Good for you, but that’s about it. To a certain extent, they’re right. They’re the kind of vehicles that are good in comparison: Not as big and thirsty as SUVs, more useful than crossovers and wagons. By that measure, minivans are hard to beat and people-and-things haulers. The flip side is that minivans are almost always completely free of passion. Even the company that started it all, Chrysler, can’t seem to do more to make its vans appealing than cram more features inside.

A lone exception is the 2009 Honda Odyssey. I recently spent a week with one, and although the basic vehicle has been around since the 2005 model year, it’s still the act to beat in the minivan arena for one simple reason: It’s pleasant to drive. Not M3 pleasant, of course. But when you put the Odyssey up against the likes of the Chrysler/Dodge vans – including the Volkswagen Routan – the Odyssey will be the one that you’ll actually want to spend time with.

The reason is simple. Objectively measure minivans and they all come out roughly the same, whether it’s in cargo room, hauling capacity, horsepower, etc. They’ll all get you and your stuff and/or family from A to B without complaint, and if you’re willing to pony up, they all offer roughly the same creature comforts. However, the Odyssey is the only van with reflexes good enough to even mention, and for someone like me, that makes all the difference.
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