Price: $51,740
Gas mileage: 18 city and 24 highway mpg

Macho factor: Arguably not a minivan, all-wheel-drive and 400 foot-pounds of torque.

Sporting the highest car price on this list, Mercedes-Benz might take issue with calling it a minivan. But that provides good cover to a guy who wants to claim it's a sport wagon or whatever other label is handy.

We chose the turbodiesel BlueTEC because its EPA-estimated 18 city and 24 highway mpg make it a more fuel-efficient car than the gasoline-fueled R350 and on par with the rest of the minivans on this list.

Torque is what gets a vehicle rolling. Although the R350 BlueTEC's 3-liter turbodiesel makes just 210 horsepower, it generates a whopping 400 foot-pounds of torque, which gets this wagon moving in a big hurry. A seven-speed, driver-shiftable, automatic transmission hustles power to all four wheels.

Capable of seating seven, folding the second- and third-row seats creates 85 cubic-feet of maximum cargo space.

Listed as standard are full power accessories, automatic wipers, power sunroof, a leather-wrapped tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel with redundant audio controls, dual-zone automatic climate control, trip computer, and an eight-speaker Alpine audio system with six-disc CD-DVD changer and auxiliary input jack.