Call us Mars and Venus. As a married couple, my husband and I fit into a traditional mold in many ways. He tackles any job that requires a tool. I prefer to do the laundry, mostly to save my clothes from being boiled in hot water until they are shrunk to fit my five year-old.

My husband is also passionate about cars, a subject many women – including me – don’t get such a charge out of. Concepts like horsepower, torque, displacement and power-to-weight ratio fascinate my husband but make me daydream about taking a nap.

So when we began talking about buying a bigger, more family-friendly vehicle over four years ago, we approached car shopping from totally different perspectives. My hubby wanted to look under the hood and ask questions about cylinder deactivation, and I wanted to know about exterior color options.

After interviewing numerous car salesmen and reading articles in Car & Driver, my husband eventually concluded that a minivan was our best choice. I was skeptical. Everyone knows the minivan has image issues. Only in my early thirties, was I ready to drive a vehicle that says to the world, “I have big responsibilities and I don’t party much anymore.”? Nonetheless, we took the plunge and purchased a (silver) minivan with all the options over an SUV.

I am now a veteran minivan owner, and I can say that the ride has been great. With apologies to Edmonds.com (I needed help with my terminology), here is what I like about my van:

· Passenger access: The doorways and seats in a minivan are the right height for placing infant seats inside without stooping into a car or stretching to reach into an SUV. Because of a lower floor height, my kids can climb into a van by themselves at an earlier age than they could with an SUV.

· Sliding doors: In tight parking situations, it is much easier to deal with sliding doors than traditional vehicle doors, which might get dinged into the next car. I am lucky enough to have remote sliding doors, and I can let my kids in the vehicle even while juggling my purse, camera, and laptop computer.

· Cargo capability: Vans actually win over SUVs for hauling capacity (see the article sourced below). In my van, I can haul more luggage and baby gear around than any mom with an SUV. Or in my husband’s world, he could drive around with a 4x8 sheet of plywood if he needed to.

· Safety: Minivans get better safety ratings than large and small SUVs. From a parent’s perspective, that speaks volumes.

· Economy: Minivans use a lot less gas than SUVs. For example, the estimated highway gas mileage of the Honda Odyssey is 25 miles per gallon, while a Ford Explorer gets 19 miles per gallon. Vans also cost less to buy, maintain and insure. Money saved… a huge advantage today.

To be fair, SUVs score higher when it comes to towing capacity and all-weather capability. However, neither of these issues has been important to me; I don’t own a U-Haul trailer and I live in the Southeast where you are expected to stay at home at the first sign of snow.

Yes, the minivan may have the “soccer mom” image problem but I have learned to dearly love mine. It helps that a lot of my friends are now minivan owners too, so in my peer group I don’t stand out as the one driving a kidmobile. And my husband, Mr. Mars Himself, promises that he still finds me attractive even behind the wheel of a van. He had better. After all, we’re in this wonderful life stage together.

For an informative article comparing minivans with SUVs, go to http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/125389/article.html.