Ahhhh....The Station Wagon...that great vehicle of yesteryear. The Station Wagon was THE family car to have when I was growing up. Remember the rear facing seats in the "way back?" Now that I have a family with kids of my own, I understand that it wasn't the "really cool" seats in the back my parents were after; it was the convenience of being able to haul the entire family, including the dog and whatever else might be needed, with comfort and a bit of room to spare.

Fortunately, the station wagon has grown up too. Yup...it's the Mini Van. They were the hit of the 80's and 90's and of course the Millennium. Everyone who has kids gets a taste of needing the bigger, multi-purpose vehicle that will transport everyone and almost anything.

Oldsmobile has been making mini vans for nearly 11 years. And, they have almost perfected the ultimate people moving, family-friendly driving machine. The Oldsmobile Silhouette Premiere has enough standard bells and whistles to make even the most "I will NEVER own a mini van" person take a second look.

The very first feature to catch my eye when I looked inside was the video system. A small screen retracts from the ceiling, just behind and between the driver and front passenger seat. No more fighting for the middle row of seats, even the kids in the back could see with no problem. The system also comes with 4 wireless headphones and a remote control. No wires to tangle or destroy here! This system is definitely a great feature. However...word of caution here...if you have younger kids like mine (ages 6, 4 and 2), they will always want it on and you will have to help them with the headsets. The power switch for the headsets is located on the ear pieces and the kids kept accidentally turning off the power to their set which, as you can probably guess, made them scream, cry, hit and/or throw the equipment to the front claiming it was broken. The novelty may eventually wear off to where it is used only for long road trips, but be prepared for non-stop videos when you first buy the van. Although it was nice, once the headset problems were taken care of and they were settled to drive down the road in peace and quiet!

Another nice feature is the seating arrangement. The middle row has two bucket seats with a space between them. This allows for easy access to the third row of seats, especially handy when you need to return the headset that was thrown in your direction to be "fixed". The third row seats can be pushed forward and will lay flat to create additional cargo space. In fact, there are several different ways you can configure the seating. This is great when you need the extra room to haul stuff. The Silhouette also comes with an all leather interior option. There can't be a more kid/family friendly interior than leather. All you need to do is wipe it clean. Spill a juice box or ketchup on cloth seats and all you have is a mess and stains that will probably never come out, not to mention the smells that linger even after the mess has been removed. The extra money you spend on leather will save you in the long run. Cloth seats never make it more than 2-3 months without a major stain. After that you are forever paying to have them cleaned. Get the leather!

Some other great features...the keyless entry system has a feature that allows you to remotely open and close the passenger side rear door with a touch of a button. This feature was very handy. It allowed the kids a head start to getting into their seats without having to wait for us to get to the car and open the door. And there is a switch on the overhead console so you don't have to stand at the door waiting for everyone else to get in. You can get right in and once you see everyone else is in, close the door from your seat. The Silhouette comes with two sliding rear doors. Only the passenger side rear door had the touch button. I wondered why they didn't make both of them automatic, but I also didn't see any real need for it either unless you were parked somewhere that allowed access to only the driver's side.

Silhouette Premiere offers many standard features that are sold as options by other manufacturers. Almost everything on the Premiere Silhouette is standard: heated 8-way adjustable front seats. On-Star system, side-impact air bags, and rear parking aid, which signals you when you are getting too close to an object directly behind you, are all standard on the Premiere. If you are a "left or right" person when it comes to directions, the electronic compass is quite handy when you are driving somewhere with directions like "go north two miles then turn east at the stop light". My wife especially liked this feature, no further explanation needed here!

The steering wheel has remote controls for the stereo. A nice feature, but the design of the steering wheel makes it difficult for people with small hands or short fingers to actually reach them without having to move their hands.

The front seats, even with 8 ways to adjust them, were a bit uncomfortable. The armrests were set too low which left me nowhere to rest my arms without slouching.

The Drive - equipped with a 3.4 liter, V6 engine, Silhouette also comes with a touring suspension, P225/60R touring tires and an automatic leveling and air inflation kit. These features allow adequate "get up and go" and smooth driving.

Since my kids were so quiet while watching their movie, I was able to notice what seemed to be more than enough road noise while driving.

Overall, I was impressed with how well this vehicle drove on the highway and around town. But my guess is that most people who are in the market for a mini van are more interested in the great features included, the drive comes second.

The Silhouette Premiere is definitely the "premiere" mini van when it comes to great features and extra bells and whistles. This van has so many extras that you might forget that you are actually sitting behind the wheel of a mini van. Be sure to give this one a test drive if you are in the market for a mini van.