Guest posting: Carl's review of our new Honda Odyssey

Last week we picked up a new 2011 Honda Odyssey. While it was hard to give up our Accord because it's been such a great car, we really needed the extra space to haul around Connor and Chloe along with all of their supplies. Sometimes it feels like we need a baggage train to bring it all along!

Despite the mixed feelings about giving up the Accord, the Odyssey is turning out to be a great choice. The obvious benefits are the additional seating and cargo capacity, which have already been put to good use on some trips around Dallas with Connor, Chloe and their GiGi (Sandy).

Beyond the obvious though, Honda has added a ton of nice bells and whistles to the Odyssey. We opted for the model with a rear DVD entertainment system, so Connor & Chloe can enjoy shows while we're on the move. We drove around yesterday playing Toy Story and they really seemed to have fun watching the show while still taking a peek out the windows now and then. A few other nice tech features are the 8" LCD screen in the dash which allows you to display photos as wallpaper (completely superfluous, but cool), an iPod USB connection that allows you to see your playlists and album cover art (totally necessary and not superfluous), power sliding and rear doors and a back up camera.

While most of this is just nice to have and not completely needed, it's made it a little easier to make the switch from car to van. Overall we're very happy with the choice and would absolutely do it again.