Among the half-a-dozen minivan contenders left standing, the Honda Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna stand out—the Odyssey for being a driver's car, and the Sienna for its great interior. The Sienna also offers a few useful technology features not yet available on most other minivans: adaptive cruise control and Bluetooth. Equipped the way you want it, a technology-oriented Sienna will set you back about $40,000, even though the tech options are dirt cheap.

A minivan can do most anything an SUV can do, while delivering 20 percent better fuel economy. But you've heard this before, and you also know it takes a rugged individualist to go against the popular sentiment that minivans are so 1990s. If you can get beyond the minivan stigma, you'll find in the Sienna more useful cockpit technology and driver-assistance technology than in any other minivan—adaptive cruise control and Bluetooth in particular. Add the all-wheel-drive option, and you've got three desirable features that Honda doesn't offer in the Odyssey. (Honda is adding Bluetooth to the 2008 Odyssey.)

For long-distance freeway cruising in which autocross-caliber handling isn't necessary, the Sienna provides a wonderful cocoon for parents and kids or even two adult couples, and passable room for two or maybe three more in the third row. The back rows get a decent DVD player mounted in the roof, while the front seat gets a JBL audio system (on upgraded models), Bluetooth, an auxiliary input jack, and an aging but still passable touchscreen navigation system.

In a vehicle meant to be kid-friendly, it goes without saying that a rear entertainment system is available. On higher-end vehicles with the right options packages, you get 12-volt accessory outlets front, center, and rear. You also get two 115-volt outlets plus AV inputs for the overhead LCD panel, allowing you to bring along a game console or plug in a camcorder.

When you go for an upgraded JBL audio system on cars with navigation, the capacity of the available CD changer drops from six to four discs, and the audio information overlaid at the top of the navigation screen is barely useful: It tells you disc, folder, and file number when you play an MP3 or WMA CD, but not the name of the album, artist, or song. The front console has a line-in jack. There's no iPod connector officially, but third parties such as Dice Electronics make adapters that run about $150 plus installation.

The Sienna links up to Bluetooth phones, at least the ones I tried, and that's an important caveat: Every phone is different, and while it's a good sign if you can get two or three phones to work, that doesn't guarantee every phone works or that all features on other phones are supported. Try before you buy and, if necessary, get a different phone, or buy a different vehicle.

Incoming call information does display, but I've seen it displayed more lucidly on other cars. Infiniti in particular does a nice job of overlaying information about the current task (hands-free calling, audio tuning) onto the LCD.

To get Bluetooth, you've got to sign on for an options package running $2,800-plus for 2008 models; it was $4,500-plus for 2007 models.

We've chronicled before the slide of the once-leading-edge Denso navigation system in other Toyota and Lexus reviews, but basically, voice control requires maddening pauses before each input. And in the manner of all cowardly automakers (in the face of the American tort system, maybe they're right), once your Sienna is rolling, Toyota disables just about every nav system bell and whistle except buttons for home, to navigate to a handful of preset destinations (though not recently entered destinations), or to change the zoom factor and volume. (Toyota, like the others, makes no exceptions if the seatbelt sensor indicates there's a passenger in the right front seat— it's still disabled.) That way you won't be distracted entering or correcting a destination and get in an accident.

Entering the wrong information happens a lot; you may find you really wanted Warren Boulevard West, not East, or that the destination's postal address may be Far Hills but the nav system thinks it's in Far Hills Township, and the two are 50 miles apart. Women who have to pull over on deserted highways late at night to re-enter destinations may be able to think of a different safety hazard than driver distraction. But nobody has sued over that one yet.

On the plus side, entering information via the touchscreen is straightforward. On expressways where the highway divides or you have to take an exit, the displays shows how many lanes go left and how many go right, so you know how far over to move. This is especially useful if you're in the right lane and it's exit-only.

Aside from the tech features, you'll be favorable impressed by little amenities, especially on the higher-end models or with the options packages. The center console between the front seats can be removed, side windows in rows 2 and 3 have sunshades, and there are plenty of cupholders, including ones for the Big-Gulp-size drinks that define the mobile American culture. In the middle row, the shoulder harness on the right-hand seat anchors to the seat instead of the car body, which makes it easier to flip the seat down and out of the way for passengers getting into the third row. The middle-row windows on the sliding doors roll down; not all minivans offer that. The third row is split and folds flat into the floor, allowing you to carry five or six passengers and a lot of cargo.

Higher-end models have an overhead mini-console mounted above the rearview mirror with a garage door opener, an outside temperature display, and a fuel consumption computer. The information displays belong at dashboard level; it's hard for over-40 drivers with reading glasses, which focus down, to make out the display.

The Sienna offers adaptive cruise control, something that's more common—or less uncommon—on higher-end sport sedans, where it's easier to mask the $2,000-to-$3,000 cost. Sienna uses a laser-based system, which costs less than radar. Others have found radar-based systems to be more accurate, especially in rainy or misty conditions, but the laser systems still work well enough to be considered. ACC lets your vehicle pace the car ahead, slowing when it slows; if there's no other vehicle ahead, it functions as standard cruise control. On crowded expressways during commutes, or late in the day on all-day trips when your attention isn't 100 percent, ACC is a godsend.

People who buy a Sienna over an Odyssey must do it in spite of the buying process. You only have to go through it once, but oh, what a lousy feeling. With a Honda Odyssey, the online configurator works like this: What exterior color do you want? Do you want good, better, or best trim level? Leather or cloth and what color? And do you want the technology package (with all the stuff you really want)? That's it.

With Toyota, you have to choose front-drive all or all-wheel-drive, a choice Honda perhaps ought to have. Then comes color selection. Then you wade through multiple options packages of not-always-related items. On the first screen, after choosing only the model, the configurator for the top-of-the-line Sienna Limited reported I already $480 in options, and when I backed down to the XLE, it reported I had $3,170 in options. Moving on to the real options pages, I found for the Limited a smorgasbord Option A package for $3,105 that ranged from fog lights and a towing package to upgraded audio, rear parking sonar, Bluetooth, leather upholstery, and a power moonroof. Rear-seat DVD and two 115-volt outlets add $1,280.

There was no option for navigation, although the site says it's offered on the XLE. On the Limited, you can get rear-seat entertainment and a Sirius satellite tuner (also fog lights) for $1,169, or the same plus navigation, Bluetooth, Sirius satellite radio "capability," and a backup camera for $2,240. Stepping up to Option Package F, $3,420 total, you add xenon headlamps and laser control. That was for a 2007 model; the price appears to have come down for 2008, to $2,870.

If those numbers are correct—and the quirks of the Web site gave me pause—that's a good deal for $2,870 or $3,420: backseat DVD, upgraded audio, passable navigation, Bluetooth, high-intensity headlamps, and adaptive cruise control. That F package throws in these unrelated options: a trailer-towing package and alloy-wheel locks. (A different model's package combines DVD player and carpet mats.) Confusing as it may be, the price is right: On a German SUV (they don't make minivans), you'd be looking at $7,500-plus.

Toyota's Lexus subsidiary has the world's bulkiest manuals, and Toyota itself isn't far behind. Nobody offers more warnings and cautions than Toyota. Some pages (see our slideshow) have three times as many warnings as information.

This review has more negatives than positives, but that's just because the Sienna gives you lots of little nits to pick. The daily driving experience is first-rate.

Toyota Sienna competitors include the Honda Odyssey, along with the Hyundai Entourage, the Nissan Quest, the Mazda CX-9, the Subaru Tribeca, the Buick Terraza and Chevrolet Uplander (they're the same vehicle), the Ford Taurus X, and the resurrected-for-2008 Chrysler Town & Country. Mostly, though, it's the Sienna versus the Odyssey. The Odyssey handles a bit better, shuts down two or three cylinders when they're not needed, and outscores the Sienna in most satisfaction polls. I found the Sienna's interior more appealing. Honda offers a better navigation system, will be getting Bluetooth in 2008, and has a much more appealing Web site. Toyota gives all-wheel-drive as an option, which may appeal to some; the adaptive cruise control option; and affordable high-tech options.

If you go the Sienna route, choose your options carefully to stay below $40,000, and note that not all options or options packages are listed on the Web site. Stability Control, a vitally important safety feature, is standard for 2008 but wasn't before. All-wheel-drive makes sense if you tow a boat or small trailer or have a country home on an unpaved road; otherwise it costs you a couple miles per gallon. Best of all, kids who might be mortified to be seen in a minivan—how uncool!—should appreciate the privacy glass in back on most models. Friends won't know they're inside, where the comforts are every bit as deluxe as on a high-end SUV.

Play Slide Show/All Shots (13)

$24,840.00 - $41,815.00

EPA rating: 18 MPG city / 23 highway (2007)

More technology options, plus available all-wheel-drive and a leather-lined interior, make the Sienna a viable alternative to the Honda Odyssey for comfortable cruising. Good luck deciphering the Web site, though.

Available all-wheel-drive. Available laser cruise control. Luxurious interior touches (pull-down side shades, removable console).

Confusing Web site options and pricing information. Bluetooth requires $2,000-plus options package. No iPod option. Aging navigation system.