However, many other manufacturers boast of these types of vehicles also, so what makes the Journey so special? Well, I’ll tell you. The designers at Dodge have gone to great lengths to understand family requirements, and have come up with what I think are some cracking ideas for the Journey.

One thing which always bugs me is when we are leaving the family vehicle parked somewhere and my wife says, “I think I’ll leave my purse in the car”. Now you can either place it in the rear under the pull out cover, if you have one of those, or, you can try and hide it in the vehicle and hope that nobody spies it through the glass. I then spend the entire day visualizing smashed windows on my return to the vehicle.

Problem solved, because if you lift up the front passenger seat cushion in a Journey, you’ll discover the perfect little cubbyhole in which to hide your valuable items, including a decent sized purse.

Speaking of cubbyholes, did I mention the two hidden under the rear foot wells? Now these are really clever because they can hold cans of drink for the kids in the back, and being plastic, they’ll even hold the ice. I suppose if you wanted, you could even carry Goldy and Flipper, the family goldfish in there, although I wouldn’t tell the kids that one, if I were you!

The Journey also looks after its front passengers’ thirst with a cold Chill-Zone compartment included in the dashboard just above the glove box. There are also plenty of cup holders throughout the vehicle and some nice sized bottle holders set in the door panels.

The quality of some of the interior components might still be a tad behind one or two other manufacturers, but things seem to be improving. I particularly liked the illumination on the instrument panel, very attractive and easy to read.

We now come to the drive, and the Journey does well on that score also. Power comes from a 2.4 L 4cyl (173hp) in the Base and SE models, and if you step up to the SXT or RT models, you’ll get a healthy 3.5 L V6 (235 hp).

Ride quality is rather good in the Journey and the vehicle handles the twists and bends with ease. However, if I’m brutally honest, I would have preferred somewhat firmer shock absorbers, which is something that I seem to often mention whilst reviewing Chrysler products.

The Journey carries a host of safety features like advanced multistage front/side/side curtain airbags, four-wheel disc brakes with ABS, and electronic stability control.

All in all, I think that the Dodge Journey offers the family buyer a lot of vehicle for the money. Ok, so it’s basically a sportier, better looking version of the company’s 90’s minivan, but with the option of AWD added. Think about that for a moment. Those sold in huge numbers and therefore, I reckon we’ll be saying exactly the same thing about the Journey in years to come!