Video: 2009 Honda Odyssey

Still, the Honda Odyssey, one of the more prominent players in this shrinking segment, it's got a car like driving experience and high quality interior, but it trades in some of those utilitarian minivan features you might expect in some of its competitors. Let's check that out and see if the good outweighs the not so good, and the Odyssey is right for you. Honda's got these fold into the floor, third row seats. They've been one of the, kind of the pioneers of doing that. Most other minivans offer that now. I gotta say, the others have Honda beat, and this is why. You fold these seats down. This one, not quite light enough to lift on its own. You're going to have to drag it with this thing and tumble it in. This one, you can kind of pull it. Requires a little bit of strength there. The Sienna from Toyota, it's got, you know, struts to kind of assist with that and the seats don't have to tumble backwards. The Chrysler minivans actually have optional power operated things that they just go in when you push a button. Second row, fairly decent. The seats move forward and backward. They also recline as many minivans seats do in the second row. I've got plenty of leg room. Head room's decent. Getting into the third row, not a bad situation. Honda's got these sort of sliding forward second row seats like a lot of SUV's have. Pretty simple procedure. You don't have to tumble the seats forward like a lot of minivans require. They come back into their original position and now you're in the third row. Put this down so you can see me. Third row room. Not a bad setup either. I've got plenty of headroom. Leg room's good even with the seats situated as they are. We just drove the Odyssey back to back with the Sienna and the Town and Country. And what struck us is that the Odyssey is a little more fun to drive in some cases. Unfortunately, the engine isn't quite as swift as the engines in the Town and Country and the Toyota Sienna. The safety ratings, crash test ratings are excellent for this car, and reliability ratings for this generation have come out pretty well so far. You'll have to take those things and the cabin quality, decide if that's enough to weigh against the cars modest power compared to other minivans, as well as some of the utilitarian aspects where it kind of wanders behind the competition in certain cases. Look at all those things and decide if the Odyssey at the end of the day, is right for you. (upbeat music) <v Announcer>For more car related news, go to cars.com, or our blog, kickingtires.net.