Can you lay all the seats in the back down flat or to the side - like the Honda Element? I have been casually looking for cars that can handle both big dogs and you can sleep in if my son and I go camping and it rains..

Yeah. You can lay down the second and third row seats. Also, it's supposedly good for towing because they come with trailer sway control standard (I think).

Any Minivan just doesnt do it for me...Unless you have an army of children...with people who have two kids or even one...My pickup truck works JUST fine.

And I'd buy a Subaru Wagon or Audi/VW Wagon before i EVER bought a Mini Van.

Even the Wifey is anti mini van...I love it

Yeah...I thought that too until I actually sat in a WRX, Legacy wagon, and Jetta wagon....

WRX was a tiny shit box (this is going back 3 year), Legacy was tight on legroom for the wife. VW's were just as cramped.
Having to move the seat all the way back and having barely enough room for a toddlers legs just didn't cut it.

so we bought a Mazda6 wagon (instead of a minivan)

Thanks!

Oh, one other thing that I like is that you can fold down the front passenger seat if you have very long items to carry. That's useful for me when I have to carry longer pieces of building materials for home projects.

Come to think of it I really like the Mazdaspeed 3 Wagon.

I don't really care for minivans but the Flex is pretty cool looking and has some nice features as well. Congrats.

I know minivans are great vehicles and people that buy them usually love them...but I don't have kids and have no desire to own one.

I would drive the Flex...especially with AWD. Yeah I know...you can get AWD in minivans too...I still don't want one. :lol:

The Mazdaspeed 3's are pretty cool too and I'd take one of them over a minivan as well.

Some people say the new MazdaSpeed3 has too much torque steer. My wife wouldn't want the speed version anyway. So her next car will probably be another blue Mazda 3 hatch. Fun car. You can feel some of the cheapness in it but it's surprisingly nice for the price. The last one we bought for her was $17k.