Chrysler started the minivan trend back in 1984, and they remain one of our Best Buys today. Though the competition has heated up, we still feel that the Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Voyager are two of the best you can buy. They offer all of the creature comforts in a pleasing package at a fair price. Our other Best Buy is the Honda Odyssey. It's a little bit smaller than the Chryslers, but more sporty to drive, and it has a super-convenient flip-and-fold-away rear seat.

Trailing at a close second are the Recommended Chevy Venture and Ford Windstar. Though these vans are comparably priced and offer loads of neat features, we feel they can't match the road manners of our Best Buys.

With fewer than 3400 sales in all of 1999, this dated minivan doesn't register on buyer radar screens, appealing instead to a handful of iconoclasts who still remember the rear-engine Microbus and Vanagon of old. EuroVan will reportedly be redesigned for the 2002 model year--the model's first complete overhaul since its early-1990s debut--but that's probably for Europe. VW has been doing so well with other models in the U.S. that the next EuroVan might well be delayed in reaching this market or even dropped altogether.

The present EuroVan is basically a civilian version of VW's lightest European commercial vehicle, but the company does sell a more conventional minivan over there. Called Sharan, it's a front-drive VW design produced since the mid-'90s in cooperation with Ford, which sells its own version as the Galaxy. The present "Sharalaxy" is about the size of Honda's original Odyssey, which some analysts say makes it too small for most U.S. buyers. However, a new and possibly larger Sharan is due in 3-4 years, and VW may be planning it with an eye to U.S. sales.

More intriguing by far, VW is reported to be studying a new Microbus as another nostalgia wagon a la New Beetle. It's almost a no-brainer idea. After all, the neo-Bug has not only been popular itself but has helped boost sales of VW's other U.S. models, not to mention working magic for the brand's image. A "New Bus" would presumably keep the good vibes flowing. The one major problem with recreating the Microbus is passing U.S. crash tests, which require a certain amount of impact-absorbing front sheetmetal; the original rear-engine design put front occupants over the front wheels with almost no "crush space" ahead. Not that a New Bus wouldn't be a line-for-line copy anyway. Like the New Beetle, its styling would only reinterpret the original look, hopefully with the same winning results. And, of course, the mechanical and interior packages would be bang up to date. Dealers are already salivating at the prospect, but it remains to be seen whether VW can revive The Box like it did The Bug. If it can, you can forget the EuroVan, though most observers say a New Bus is at least five years away.