Las Vegas, Nevada.

When considering a road trip, several things come to mind. Comfortable transportation is obviously a must, as is luggage space. Then of course, if you're taking along the family, you need to make sure that you have plenty of room for everyone. After all, sitting on Aunt Bertha's lap might have been fine when you were a kid on a short trip to the family cottage, but now that you've grown up feasting on Big Mac's at Rotten Ronnie's and she's undergone that hip replacement, it might not be such a smart idea.

When you truly think about it, if you have a family and you're heading off on a motoring holiday, what you really need is a minivan.

Of course, that word is about as fashionable today as my wardrobe, so as fast as they can, the manufacturers are ousting their minivan lineups and replacing them with crossover vehicles.

Never mind the fact that Dodge is still producing its faithful minivans and selling them like crazy, most manufacturers term them old school and are out there struggling to basically come up with a minivan that isn't a "minivan"!

Obviously, each manufacturer has its own idea of what makes the perfect family vehicle. Some see it as a mixture of part minivan, part SUV. That sounds great until you realize that SUV's are now looked upon as gas-guzzlers, and that every tree-hugger wants to throw rotten eggs at you if you drive one.

Others seek to build what resembles a super-sized station wagon, but come on now, wagons aren't exactly flavor of the month in Canada anymore, are they.

So what do you do? Who do you listen to? Well if you want my advice, you can't go too far wrong in taking a look-see at what the Dodge brand is up to now. After all, they basically invented the minivan, at least in North America. They understand what a family requires from a vehicle, and they've just brought out what I think is the perfect family transporter.

The new Dodge Journey certainly has a lot going for it. It appears to blend Minivan, SUV, together with a big helping of car. The vehicle is stylish, it can carry up to 7 passengers, it drives like a car, and best of all, the Journey comes at a price that families can actually afford without robbing your kids of their education fund.

The lineup starts with the SE model at just $19,985. For that, you get a nicely equipped five passenger vehicle. This model features the company's famous 2.4L 4cylinder world engine. When coupled to a four-speed overdrive automatic transaxle, this configuration provides more than adequate performance together with decent fuel economy (19/25 mpg city/highway).

If required, and for approximately $3k more, you can move up to the SXT model, which along with many added standard features, boosts performance utilizing a 3.5L V6 and a six-speed transaxle as standard fitment. (This configuration returns fuel economy ratings of 16/23 mpg city/highway for the FWD, and 15/22 mpg city/highway for the AWD version)

Of course, this being a Dodge product, for a further modest outlay, there is also a sporty RT model available.

Speaking of which, all models are available with seven passenger seating, and the best thing is, you won't have to sell the kids to provide it.

An AWD system is also available on the SXT and RT models. In fact, if you go completely wild and spec the Journey out with Sat-Nav, leather, and all the bells and whistles available, you'll still be barely over $30k.

I'd say that Dodge has seriously got its pricing right on this one, and yet, in my mind, that's actually not the best part of the deal. What I liked most about the Dodge Journey is how the designers have really thought the vehicle through.