I needed to drive my family 800 miles (and back) to visit my in-laws. None of my cars are large enough, so I rented a minivan from Alamo. They had by far the best rate.

Alamo gave me the choice of any car in their minivan lane. Aside from a Dodge Grand Caravan and a Toyota Sienna, they also had a Toyota Sequoia, Saturn Outlook, and Ford Flex. I went with the Ford, since a previous test drive had found the seats to be extremely comfortable. It also had more space behind the third row for our luggage than did the Sequoia and Outlook (the minvans do best here). Luggage for five people fit. A bag for the sixth went on the floor between the second and third rows.

The Flex proved exceptionally well suited for traveling 800 miles in a single day. The seats are comfortable and the ride is smooth and quiet.

The biggest surprise of all, though: this massive vehicle got about 25 MPG running a fairly steady 75-80 with three adults and three kids aboard and the A/C on. (Manual calculations were a few tenths short of this figure, the trip computer read a couple tenths higher than this figure.) Running about 65 MPH on a later stretch, the trip computer read over 27–average, not instanteous–until I hit some hills.

I’m amazed that such a large, heavy vehicle can do so well. My compact Mazda struggles to reach 30 at similar speeds. Then again, the Flex’s 3.5-liter V6 is spinning about 2,000 RPM at 75, while the Mazda’s 2.0-liter four is spinning about 3,500. Extra gear ratios help.