'97 Honda Odessey
The Odessey follows Chrysler's pattern of front-drive with a transverse engine. Honda's definition includes some obvious things missing from the current crop of minivans. First of all, the van has four swing-open side doors, just like a sedan. This doesn't really fit the description of a minivan. Second, the seats aren't only removable, but they also can fold up like origami into the floor of the van. The third-row seats, with just a few twists of the wrist, folds up, leaving a flat floor. To get the space for the folded third-row seat to hide in, Honda moved the spare tire to a vertical position on the wall of the passenger compartment, just behind the rear-wheel hump. The middle-row seats lift out and are very light, even lighter than the ones in a Chevy Lumina.
