The soccer-mom stigma attached to minivans may be the most undeserved rap since the original George W. was busted for pruning that cherry tree. The fact is, the minivan is the most universally loved vehicular format ever invented. Unruly kids straighten up at the first flicker of the video screen. Gramps and grannies appreciate the effortless access and jolt-free ride. Moms and pops who try a minivan out of necessity often drive them for the rest of their car-consuming days. On the international one-to-ten efficiency scale, minivans top the charts with eleven-plus earned points for their ability to load the most people and possessions per square inch of shadow and for their willingness to transport those payloads for a reasonable energy expenditure.
Inventing the modern minivan was the most memorable accomplishment of the late Chrysler Corporation. Competitors were astonishingly slow to pick up the scent, so Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth dealers sold millions of them while engineers leisurely fine-tuned their designs, until Honda finally got around to launching a serious threat--the second-generation Odyssey--in 1999.
The Odyssey and a 2001 Chrysler Town & Country LXi, which recently survived Automobile Magazine's Four Seasons gauntlet, prove that the mini part of the name has become oxymoronic. They're both several inches wider and taller and hundreds of pounds heavier than a Cadillac DeVille.... Read full article