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Vans & Minivans Honda Odyssey Honda Odyssey vs Dodge/Chrysler minivans 
7485 messages, Last post on Mar 23, 2008 at 7:43 AM
You are in the Honda Odyssey Forum. Your Host is Karens
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Replying to: srs_49 (Feb 04, 2008 9:31 am) They have a really poor history of failures. There was a class action lawsuit for the '99-'01 models. The '02-'04 models also have numerous failures reported. The '05-'06 models have the same transmission as the '02-'04's so don't expect longevity there. '07+ Odysseys have a redesigned 4-shaft tranny shared with the Pilot & Ridgeline trucks. Have to wait for reliablity data on these models. Overall, if you can afford one, I think you are better off with the Honda. They drive like new after 150k+ miles & are worth a good trade when you're finshed. I know that re-sale is not a factor in your decision but it is nice to see at least $5k for an 8 year old van (We got $5k for a 2000 Odyssey with 165k miles). |
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Replying to: srs_49 (Feb 04, 2008 9:31 am) |
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Replying to: marine2 (Feb 03, 2008 6:24 am)  That snow did a number on the underside of the vehicle. I don't know if other cars have issues with rust and snow damage like ours did. I kept it garaged and hosed it quite a bit, but darn! Of course, we have a 93 shadow and the paint on that was never terrific. Sensors do occasionally malfunction, but that I had heard from a friend who had an imported van. I just have never trusted power sliding doors myself. Us getting power windows was a big step for me  I spoke to another close friend of mine who has a caravan one year newer than mine. We almost wet our pants laughing because all the stuff going wrong with mine is happening to her right now. Luckily she has a friend of a relative who can fix them for cost of parts. I was afraid to know what it would cost for us. We just give up, kwim? Luckily dh was able to find a used Tacoma that he wanted and they were willing to take the van. I feel like we cheated them in the deal. ROFL. |
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If you looked at my carspace, you can see what a work horse those vans are. I can load it up moving my Daughter, like I did. Or carry two electric wheel chairs or scooters at once and still put a passenger in the back. Which was the main reason I bought my Dodge, stow n go. Great idea Chrysler had. Sets it apart from all the rest.
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Replying to: marine2 (Feb 05, 2008 3:47 pm) Thank God it never left the kids and I stranded like it did my one girlfriend. I had to pick her up an hour away in the middle of the night at -45 degrees northern NY winter. I will say this, it was practical when the kids were little, when it wasn't in the shop, of course But I did find out that my van could hold 3 half frozen kids, two addtl adults and the tow driver on the floor. yes, the tow drivers truck wouldn't kick over. rofl I had to drive him up to Watertown to get some addtl fuel for his hydraulic lift maybe, can't recall, and then drive him back to his truck and it STILL would not start. But my little caravan kept on ticking But I'll pay a little extra maintaining the Honda and hopefully won't have the repairs like the van. I wonder if it has to do where they were manufactured, or just that myself and two very close friends got lemons, altho we bought ours in different states, NC for us, OK for one and MO for the other? hmmm.....
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Blackexv6 and sebring95 - thanks for the comments. Yeah, I've been diving into the transmission issues on both vehicles. I'm leaning towards a late model T&C, either mid '07 on or earlier than May '06, that still has the longer period power train warranty. Don't need 8 passenger (or even 7, for that matter) capacity any more, so that feature of the Odyssey is a a non-issue. I think in the end it's going to come down to money, or more properly, value. Unless I stumble upon an Odyssey who's price difference is significantly less than the $5K-$8K I mentioned in my earlier post, I'm going with a low mileage T&C. |
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Replying to: marig0107 (Feb 06, 2008 7:31 am) Well you can see we have a family of Dodge/Chrysler minivans and my brother wouldn't have bought another if he had bad luck with it. We wouldn't have bought one either if he had. Sis and I are both first time minivan buyers. Mine was much cheaper to buy than the Ody and cheaper to maintain than our Honda Civic. The insurance is even cheaper on my Dodge than the Civic too, which shocked the heck out of both of us. Our next major expense coming up on the Civic is the timing belt. The Dodge has a chain that doesn't need replacing. While the resale value won't be as good as on the Honda, it won't make much difference as long as we keep our vehicles. We kept our Eagle for 11 years before buying the Civic and with the warranty on the minivan, I plan on keeping it for a long time. While Chrysler did have a lot of problems in the past with their minivans, Honda also has some big ones with auto transmissions and engine problems. Still have some with their sliding doors the last time I looked. If you buy a new Chrysler/Dodge minivan now, your helping to keep millions of dollars in profit in America, creating more jobs for Americans, not Japanese or Germans. Best of all, unless your only using your van as a people hauler, you can't beat the benefits of stow and go and all that storage space. Made me get rid of my truck.
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Replying to: marine2 (Feb 06, 2008 10:34 am) I've recently bought another one too. In spite of all the negative image that has been assigned to these vans I have yet to WITNESS one that is really bad. Oh I hear all kinds of horror stories but never have I SEEN any in the people I know who own them. My new T&C van STILL is not in so I have to rely on my old 2000 T&C. I am now at 178,000 miles with only 1 breakdown (fuel pump - 167,000) In spite of their alleged reputation I still had to take this old van on various long trips recently - when most people would not trust their very high mileage autos. Since X-mas we did 1 800 mile trip, 1 700 mile trip and 1 300 mile trip. The old grey mare didn't bat an eye. Says alot for reliability to me. Mine was much cheaper to buy than the Ody and cheaper to maintain than our Honda Civic. The insurance is even cheaper on my Dodge than the Civic too, which shocked the heck out of both of us. Our next major expense coming up on the Civic is the timing belt. The Dodge has a chain that doesn't need replacing. One thing I have noticed is that some American auto owners don't maintain their auto's like foreign car owners do. When I was shopping for a van I stopped by the Toyota dealership. I was still deciding between putting $550 into my old van verses buying another and donating the broken down one to charity. As I discussed this with the salesman we discussed what further COULD go wrong with my vehicle. Here I discovered that Toyota routinely changes the water pump at 100K (my van still has its original), change the spark plugs every 80K (mine weren't changed until 167K), redo the struts/shocks at 100K (mine weren't done until 143K). My husband recently did the recommended routine maintainence of his BMW at 60K. They changed spark plugs and perhaps a belt (not sure exactly what they did do) but the bill was $1200. I don't think I've put that into my old van yet. While the resale value won't be as good as on the Honda, it won't make much difference as long as we keep our vehicles. We kept our Eagle for 11 years before buying the Civic and with the warranty on the minivan, I plan on keeping it for a long time. I'd be careful about predicting the resale value of the Odyssey. Recent price cuts, over production - issues with their transmissions which, as the older one rack up the miles - will become better known, competition from newer makers will probably effect their resale value over the next few years. It is hard to predict the future, but the laws of supply/demand do predict a declining value. While Chrysler did have a lot of problems in the past with their minivans, Honda also has some big ones with auto transmissions and engine problems. Still have some with their sliding doors the last time I looked. Add air conditioning condenser and braking problems to that list. Hey I'm sure Chryslers have problems - I just would never put Honda above Chrysler for the reliabilty of their minivans. Now I can almost hear the steam coming out of the ears of the Odyssey owners. |
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Replying to: maryh3 (Feb 07, 2008 12:26 pm) We took the Civic in for a 30,000 mile maintenance and came away with a bill for over $340.00. You maybe right on some Americans vehicle owners not servicing their vehicles enough.My brother is one who doesn't maintain his minivan the way he should. He'll go 6-7,000 miles before changing the oil and filter. He was in need of a brake job on his old one but never got it done before trading it in for this 2006 Dodge minivan. He blows out the dirt on his air filter two or three times before replacing it. I don't know how he's been so lucky to only have the freeze plug go out on it since he's owned it. Now that I think about it. That may have happened because he didn't change his anti freeze enough. I'll have to ask him when he changed it last. Thing of it is, these dealers can charge you so much for servicing your vehicle. I wanted to take our Honda some place else, but the wife won't have it. Picture of our three minivans. (One is the old one my brother traded in for his 2006 and our Honda Civic.Click on picture. See what a work horse my van is. Love stow-n-go http://www.carspace.com/marine2/? 
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