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Honda Odyssey vs Dodge/Chrysler minivans - READ ONLY

7485 messages,  Last post on Mar 23, 2008 at 8:43 AM

You are in the Honda Odyssey Forum.

What is this discussion about? Dodge Caravan, Honda Odyssey, Chrysler Town and Country, Chrysler Voyager, Plymouth Voyager, Van

Messages Page 604 of 749

#6030 of 7485 Re: DON'T BUY A DODGE/CHRYSLER MINIVAN!!!!!!! [dennisctc] by socalawd

Jan 16, 2006 (10:02 am)

Replying to: dennisctc (Jan 16, 2006 5:07 am)
ave repeatedly stated that DCX owners don't need to post many of their deals, because they don't have to run around the country seeking out a "deal" when DCX offers very competitive pricing and features. Look at the Ody pricing area - 11,000 postings!!!!! Same thing with problems....If DXC vans were as bad as you bashers say, and selling at 2 times the Ody rate, the problem area would be over flowing with problems.
 
Yes you have said it many times but it seems to me if 11,000 posts for prices paid then they know about this site. As for the Dodge I look for comparitive prices for all my cars before I buy. I'm just not gonna go into a DCX dealer and say what can you do for me. That just dosen't make any sense. I think your misreading what you see. If lots of DCX owners were on here you'd have twice as much in the 2005+ dodge thats just a 1061 posts but Odyssey 2005+ has 4605(So half the sales and 8 times the interest). Ody is consistantly a top 10 research car DCX vans not in the top 100. So useing real life logic more Ody owners are useing the internet to make there purchase! Therefore more Ody owners are posting. It really so easy to understand. BTW how many people do you know that say they flew somewhere to get the Ody since last summer(6 months) I bet you can't state too many if any at all thats just more propaganda.

#6031 of 7485 Re: DON'T BUY A DODGE/CHRYSLER MINIVAN!!!!!!! [dennisctc] by socalawd

Jan 16, 2006 (11:30 am)

Replying to: dennisctc (Jan 16, 2006 5:13 am)
Obviously ALL lemons Us DCX owners should just buy a horse and be done with it!! (NOTE THE SARCASM SOCALAWD)
 
Yep it has better gas mileage and no smog forming emmissions.(there are some bad gases there) Problem is that you might get your hands dirty and we can't have that. I don't get the sarcasm I think you would be better off!!

#6032 of 7485 Re: Autoshow Pics... [dennisctc] by thegraduate

Jan 16, 2006 (11:39 am)

Replying to: dennisctc (Jan 16, 2006 5:44 am)
Wow, DCX has done it again. The Aspen is a carbon copy of the Durango, except the Aspen has headlights like that of Chrysler's minivan.
 
Why bother with a rebadge if you aren't going to make it worthwhile? At least the Pilot/MDX looks are MUCH different, inside and out.
 
Back to the minivans, shall we?

#6033 of 7485 Re: Autoshow Pics... [thegraduate] by kfdmed

Jan 16, 2006 (3:31 pm)

Replying to: thegraduate (Jan 16, 2006 11:39 am)
But the Durango and Aspen are both better looking than the the MDX/Pilot. The MDX is ok but the Pilot is sooooooo generic/plain vanilla looking. Honda has the worst exterior styling designers/engineers.

#6034 of 7485 Re: Autoshow Pics... [thegraduate] by dennisctc

Jan 16, 2006 (4:55 pm)

Replying to: thegraduate (Jan 16, 2006 11:39 am)
Why bother with a rebadge if you aren't going to make it worthwhile? At least the Pilot/MDX looks are MUCH different, inside and out.
 
From what I saw, the interior of the Aspen is much more upscale. Aspen Interior. Real wood trim/steering wheel, 2 row heated seats etc.. Its suppose to be much quieter, 2 optional 4 wheel drive systems (not just AWD). It's a true SUV, something that could pull the Airstream I dream of owning someday
 
Also, in some areas of the country, maybe there's only a Chrysler dealership and up until now couldn't offer a 4WD SUV.

#6035 of 7485 Re: DON'T BUY A DODGE/CHRYSLER MINIVAN!!!!!!! [socalawd] by dennisctc

Jan 16, 2006 (5:16 pm)

Replying to: socalawd (Jan 16, 2006 10:02 am)
Yes you have said it many times but it seems to me if 11,000 posts for prices paid then they know about this site. As for the Dodge I look for comparitive prices for all my cars before I buy. I'm just not gonna go into a DCX dealer and say what can you do for me.
 
How many more DCX dealers are there than Honda dealers? Isn't DCX the leader in Minivans, having built them for over 20 years and as such are a well known commodity? For years when you said "Minivan" all one thought of was Chrysler.
 
Ody is consistantly a top 10 research car DCX vans not in the top 100. Again, it's less of a commodity, more of an unknown, and it's easier to stop by a DCX dealer for many people. You've got over 20 years of Minivan experience for DCX vs 7 for Honda?
 
BTW how many people do you know that say they flew somewhere to get the Ody since last summer(6 months) I bet you can't state too many if any at all thats just more propaganda. As the greatest president once said "There you go again" putting words in my mouth. I have seen sooo many desperate Ody buyers emailing or calling numerous dealerships frantically for a "Deal". I don't believe I stated people were flying around to buy them.

#6036 of 7485 Re: DON'T BUY A DODGE/CHRYSLER MINIVAN!!!!!!! [sebring95] by dustyk

Jan 16, 2006 (6:12 pm)

Replying to: sebring95 (Jan 16, 2006 6:29 am)
Well, I'd have to run a report from the system to give you a current number, but I can tell you we don't usually run anything past five years or 85,000 miles because of resale anyways. There are exceptions. For example, right now we're experiencing a high rate of premature paint and rust-through on Ventures, so some of these are being wholesaled early.
 
Typically on mini-vans we experience transmission rebuilds after the 45-50,000 mile mark. That seems to depend on the make, the geographic area, and sometimes the driver. In recent years the Windstars are usually the first to require a rebuild, while the Chryslers seemed to be the first to require either an adjustment or TCM reflash. GMs have usually been the most problem free initially but just seem to crumble all of a sudden, and when they break they seem to require the most expensive additional repairs (sun gears, input shafts, clutch packs, etc.).
 
When you buy a thousand vehicles of any make you're going to see some transmission infant mortality. In the early '90s Chrysler mini-vans seemed more prone to this than Ford or GM. But even in those years the Chrysler versions usually required the least amount of money to fix...assuming you had a competent and qualified servicer.
 
After experiencing a severe failure rate of transmissions in the late seventies and early eighties on GM cars, we adopted a mandatory transmission maintenance program that required fluid and filter changes at 30,000 miles. We've since gone to 25,000 miles on mini-vans. On Chryslers we require the use of the specified ATF (ATF+4). I'm pretty sure that I won't be violating any contract agreement here, but failure rates on GM cars were at one time over 50%. Nowadays across all makes and models it's at or near the national average, about 7%. Our mini-vans have always been higher.
 
We only have a handful of non-Chrysler, Ford, or GM cars, or mini-vans. All of our light, medium, or heavy trucks are of native manufacture. We have Hondas in the Marysville, Ohio area because we service our equipment there, four Odys to be exact at last count.
 
Most native Asian car companies do just about everything they can to discourage fleet sales. In fact, I can only think of Nissan and Toyota that have a fleet purchase program. As you've noted, they don't discount and the warranties are usually less. Historically they've been more stringent with certified required service while GM, Ford and Chrysler have not. And they don't ever seem to be in a negotiating mood, either. Because of pricing, no matter how much more reliable they are it generally costs more to go Asian.
 
Regards,
Dusty

#6037 of 7485 Re: DON'T BUY A DODGE/CHRYSLER MINIVAN!!!!!!! [dustyk] by sebring95

Jan 16, 2006 (7:33 pm)

Replying to: dustyk (Jan 16, 2006 6:12 pm)
Interesting. Thanks for the info. A little off-topic, but I always enjoyed going over to the fleet guys and sifting through data. They hated me because I was always looking for savings plans and they just wanted the status-quo. We had a much different service use than your company, as we were putting 30k-40k miles on them a year. 4 years/120k miles was the average service life. The miles didn't hurt the value all that much. A tranny rebuild was averaging $1200 at the time and wasn't adding a penny to the resale value so adjusting to get out before a rebuild saved tons. Plus we could usually squeeze them out the door with barely legal rubber

#6038 of 7485 Re: DON'T BUY A DODGE/CHRYSLER MINIVAN!!!!!!! [sebring95] by dustyk

Jan 16, 2006 (8:42 pm)

Replying to: sebring95 (Jan 16, 2006 7:33 pm)
Most of our fleet cars and mini-vans are leased. GE being the primary paper holder, and have a two year minimum. Older lease agreements made it more cost effective to bail out when vehicles gathered too many miles - around 50K was the top stop at the end of two years - we had a condition clause that made it better for us to ensure good vehicle condition at the end of term. But things have changed over the years and we are opting to buy more rather than lease.
 
Out light duty maintenance vehicles (half-ton trucks and vans) and most of our mediums are now owned or on long term lease. Our heavy trucks are leased (Freightliners, Sterlings, older Top Kicks, etc.) and we have a number of private cab owners that pull our trailers. We were a long time GM LD truck fleet until we got fed up with poor reliability and costly repairs. Converted to F150s in '95 for 4x2s and Dodge for 4x4s. Our rotation buy in 2003 and 2004 were RAMs exclusively. Our 2005 buy is F150s, but they have been much worse than the previous generation and we've picked up a couple of new Chevys this year.
 
Regards,
Dusty

#6039 of 7485 Re: DON'T BUY A DODGE/CHRYSLER MINIVAN!!!!!!! [dennisctc] by socalawd

Jan 16, 2006 (10:03 pm)

Replying to: dennisctc (Jan 16, 2006 5:16 pm)
How many more DCX dealers are there than Honda dealers? Isn't DCX the leader in Minivans, having built them for over 20 years and as such are a well known commodity? For years when you said "Minivan" all one thought of was Chrysler
 
So how is buying a minivan different from buying a car?? But maybe thats why none posts here they have a local dealer to take care of all there problems.
 
Again, it's less of a commodity, more of an unknown, and it's easier to stop by a DCX dealer for many people. You've got over 20 years of Minivan experience for DCX vs 7 for Honda?
 
But then they'd come on the internet?? Not very convincing. I know lots of people are looking for Honda's.
 
greatest president once said "There you go again" putting words in my mouth. I have seen sooo many desperate Ody buyers emailing or calling numerous dealerships frantically for a "Deal". I don't believe I stated people were flying around to buy them.
 
No thats your job. It was the easiest car purchase I have ever had 4 emails and a price 200 over invoice. The worst Cerritos Dodge HIGH PRESSURE deal switchers!!!

Messages Page 604 of 749

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