Though the competition has heated up, we feel that the new Dodge Caravan is still one of the best minivans you can buy. It offers 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 Dodge, 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 Toyota Sienna. Though these vans are comparably priced and offer loads of neat features, we feel they can't match the road manners of our two Best Buys. Also garnering Recommended ratings are the Chrysler Town & Country and Chrysler Voyager. Though they are mechanically similar to the class-leading Caravan, they don't offer the breadth of model choices.

The 2003 model year should be the last for Astro and GMC's similar Safari. General Motors has evidently decided that sales no longer justify keeping these rear-drive mininans, let alone replacing their vintage 1986 design, the oldest on the market. In year-to-year sales, Astro was down 39 percent for the first nine months of 2001. Safari, which sells at about a third Astro's volume, was down 44 percent for the same period.