My Honda Odyssey LX 2003 has 44,000 miles on it, never had a single mechanical problem, and goes 350 miles on a tankful on highway.
If you have three children who need car seats, you need a minivan. No car, including "wide" Volvo or Subaru Legacy, would accommodate three car seats on a back seat safely. As we were expecting our third child in 2003, we choose a Honda Odyssey LX. We choose it over competing models Toyota Sienna and Ford Windstar for two reasons: Honda Odyssey has more power and it has slightly better safety tests results. All three models were most safe cars (for a reasonable price) in the market, both in single-vehicle and multiple-vehicle crushes. I rented a Dodge Caravan once, and, compared to my Honda Odyssey, it felt as if they forgot to put brakes and engine on that thing.
Honda Odyssey is comfortable for long trips. It has lots of cup holders kids use to put their belongings in, a fold-out table between front seats, well-designed sun shields. It is not the quietest car, but would let you talk or your kids sleep on highway speed. Seats are very comfortable. I'm ten inches shorter than my husband, but we both could drive Honda Odyssey comfortably. I had to do paperwork on Honda Odyssey's passenger seat and I wish it had something like fold-out desk instead of glove compartment. But it would probably interfere with safety. Like in most minivans, in Honda Odyssey you can open front doors windows, and partially open back windows. The user's manual is very clear and easy to use.
We chose Honda Odyssey LX trim over EX because it was cheaper, and non of the EX features seemed worth the increase. Honda Odyssey EX has power sliding doors with remote control on a key fob, which seems to me rather dangerous. EX has auto-off headlights which I missed in my LX model. LX plays a warning chime if lights are on, and driver's door is open after engine is shut down, but it doesn't help if I exit through another door. I do not care for leather seats and navigation systems some Honda Odyssey trim levels have. EX also has roof top rails I couldn't reach from my tiptoe. Even empty rails would decrease fuel-efficiency, and I didn't feel any need in roof-top trunk when moving all family permanently across the country. Honda Odyssey has ample space inside. It has the fold-away third bench that goes into the trunk floor leaving flat space behind the second row of seats. The space is enough to fit two adult bikes and three children's inside.
See also: trailer hitch, bike rack.