After many months of borrower-ship of a 2021 Honda Odyssey EX-L, my wife Julia and I have thoughts about our first minivan as a couple. This was her first time in the segment; she grew up with full-size American pickup trucks and, as an adult, rotated through Japanese and German compact cars.

I, on other hand, have vast experience with minivans, both professionally and personally. After our Chevrolet Caprice Classic Ltd station wagon, my parents went on a minivan bender. First, it was a blue 1985 Volkswagen Vanagon GL. Then came our white egg van, a 1991 Toyota Previa, that helped me score 100 percent on my driver's test. And for a number of years early in my career, my daily driver was a 1996 Honda Odyssey—the first generation with regular, not sliding, doors. More recently, I took part in our comparison test of the top four minivans in the segment.

So what did we love and hate about our time with Honda's finest front-drive, sliding-door'd MPV? Let's start with the cons:

As King of the Highway Brian Vance noted on his summer road trips, the Odyssey's air conditioning system can struggle when every seat is taken and it's hot outside. Third-row passengers suffer the most. Cool air just doesn't seem to reach back there.

There is just the slightest delay between dipping the gas pedal and the wheels moving that you'll notice in the Odyssey if you're switching between it and another car. Not a big deal—especially if it's the only vehicle you drive.

This isn't really Honda's fault but ours for not checking the boxes of options we would have liked when spec'ing our Odyssey. First thing we missed: Honda's CabinWatch camera system, which comes standard (along with CabinTalk) on Elite and Touring trims of the 2022 Honda Odyssey. We had a rear-facing baby seat mounted in the passenger-side seat of the second row for our entire time with the car, and we had to attach a mirror to the middle headrest to see what our son was doing in his seat. Far easier and safer would have been to use Honda's built-in, rear-monitoring camera system to check out the scene. If you have young kids, we highly recommend considering such camera systems when cross-shopping minivans.

This isn't really Honda's fault, either, but it would have been great to have an onboard vacuum cleaner to suck up all of the detritus that comes with a baby on a road trip. The HondaVac has been a staple of the Odyssey since 2014, but with the closure of the supplier ShopVac, Honda stopped offering this option right around the time we were ordering one. Only now do we realize how much it was missed. Chrysler still offers its integrated Stow 'n Vac vacuum on the Pacifica (sourced from RIGID).

It took some convincing to get Julia into the minivan, but she quickly grew to appreciate how practical it is for all facets of parenthood. Still, she struggled just a bit with fading into the crowd-especially in shopping center parking lots. More than a couple of times, we found ourselves hitting the clicker next to an Obsidian Blue Pearl Odyssey and wondering why its automatic tailgate wouldn't open, only to realize our Odyssey was parked over there.

Julia is now a sliding door convert, which is likely a "no-duh" to the minivan faithful. But take it easy; this was her first experience with doors that fully open at the push of a button in tight spaces and on both sides of the vehicle. While holding a screaming or sleeping baby, this practicality and efficiency can not be overstated. Our Odyssey's sliding doors were particularly sturdy, having stood up to multiple joyrides by one of our colleagues' young children.

We also very much appreciated the built-in sun shades in the sliding doors—so much so that we bought a set of accessory sun shades for her car in advance of the Odyssey's departure. The simple, sturdy, manual operation (instead of automatic, motor-powered alternatives) means one less thing to break.

Let's just say we love everything about the Odyssey's second row, which is where our son Evan and at least one parent spent all of their time. As noted, ingress is very easy because of the sliding doors, but also the huge aperture created as the door slides backwards.There's no danger of banging a kiddo's head or appendages as you load 'em into a seat, or snapping in or pulling out said child seat from its base.

The second-row seats are just a nice place to be. Firm and supportive, they recline just enough to take a nap (at least when the baby does), and offer plenty of toe, knee, and hip room. Removing the skinny middle second-row seat also increases options; the aisle created between the seats grants access to the third row, and it was a perfect place to stow long items, like a surfboard.

The Odyssey's second-row seats also can slide side to side, which was handy if we ever needed to service the baby (or create distance when a crying fit commenced, by child and/or parent).

No matter where you touch, our Odyssey has a quality feel to it. From the infotainment system controls (we loved Apple CarPlay) to the sturdiness of the interior and exterior door handles, and especially the seating and door surfaces, which we had to wipe down quite often. Our Odyssey put in dual work as our family hauler and MotorTrend photo support vehicle, and it held up well to the varied abuses. The vibe is "Thank you, sir, may I have another? I can do this all day long."

For all the cajoling it took to get my wife to accept minivan supremacy, she did admit that invisibility is a two-way street. "Some days, I like how invisible I am in the Odyssey. It's so great. People just let me take my time. There is no pressure to drive sporty or fast. I can drive as slow as I want, like we have a baby on board, because guess what? We do!"