It's also worth noting that the disappearing seats are widely regarded as not being as comfortable as traditional seats, since they have to be sized and designed to fold away.
Despite that, the Houdini Factor has caught on big time with the majority of automotive critics, who are inordinately fond of clever technology, even if no one uses it. Add the presence of these seats to the other stellar attributes of Odyssey and Sienna, and it's not surprising that they are widely regarded as the leading lights in the segment.
Even if they are the best entries in the minivan segments, Odyssey and Sienna are certainly not the best buys in the minivan segment because they cost a lot more than vehicles that are almost as good.
Many of the people who buy Odyssey and Sienna know little about them except that they're from Honda and Toyota and are therefore smart and easy choices. So they pay full price, or even more, to get them and to avoid thinking about their decision.
They're welcome to do that, of course, if they have the money to spend, because it tends to make better bargains of the other vehicles in the segment.
No matter which vehicle is judged to be the best in a segment, it's virtually impossible for it to be so much better than its competitors that it rates hugely higher prices. The current minivan market is like the final race in an Olympic event -- someone will win by a tiny margin, but the other finishes are almost as good.
What's particularly ironic about this is that people don't use the Houdini Factor very often, and this is obvious to anyone looking into minivans all over North America. Check out the seat configuration of 100 minivans and you won't find 10 where all of the second and third row seats aren't empty, and five out of 100 where all of the seats aren't upright.
Passenger interest in the seats seems to come from that streak in human nature that wants to over-prepare, ''just in case.'' That desire is certainly not the worst part of our collective psyche -- if you can afford it.
But there's the rub, since many people can't afford paying for seats that fold completely flat so they can carry a washer-dryer combo or enough lumber to build an outdoor hockey rink or any of the other things that almost no one actually puts in a minivan.
For those people and other smart buyers, there is now an excellent deal on an excellent product from Ford to take advantage of. In the future, consumers in other segments are likely to be just as well served.