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Vans & Minivans Honda Odyssey Honda Odyssey vs. Toyota Sienna
5230 messages, Last post on Dec 06, 2009 at 7:16 AM
You are in the Honda Odyssey Forum. Your Host is Karens
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Replying to: speterson1 (Jul 21, 2009 9:16 am) Thanks for the suggestion! Do you know if it's possible to get the build in Nav without the Entertainment option? |
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We toiled over which minivan to buy for about a year. We test drove so many minivans (used, new, imports, domestic etc.) that it was comical. We went so far as to rent a Chrysler, a Sienna and a Honda. In April we finally decided, and bought a new '09 Odyssey. In all of our test drives, we thought the Honda was the clear winner. To me, even though the Sienna comes in second place, it finishes a distant second place. The Honda was a little more expensive, which was one of the things that delayed our decision. We really wanted to like the Sienna, Sedona, and / or T&C, in the effort to spend a little less ... but in the end we bought what we thought was the best minivan. Had we bought any of the others, we would have felt we had settled. Three months after purchase, we're extremely happy with our decision. |
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After checking out a number of van's and crossovers my husband and I have settled on either an Odyssey or a Sienna. We've test driven the vehicles and this was what we noticed. -Odyssey has agile steering but more elevated road noise. -Sienna has the 2nd row seat that moves forward. (Nice for us because we want more kids). -Odyssey has neat storage cubby in front of 2nd row. -Sienna has nicer driver and front passenger seats. The Odyssey left us feeling like our knees were in the dashboard, didn't get that in the Sienna. So weighing the pros of each, I think it's hard to determine a clear winner. I like that Honda's pricing is more upfront than Toyota's, I hate all the bizarre packages.
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Replying to: mrscoffield (Jul 25, 2009 8:11 am) |
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| i have a 07 EX ,25000miles so far. only complaints were about soft brakes. latest TSB was installed at 19000 miles ,still soft on initial start up. Becky my service writer told me today !! dont worry about 1st start up,after that the brakes will be good . darn if i dont agree with her and im a mechanic. just returned from a 4500 mile trip and brakes were great even towing my small trailer. 800 lbs. with a 400cc scooter on it . for fun i looked at a 09 seinna today. two quick comments, front seats way too tight for me, 5' 11 at 260 lbs. also why is toy so ugly compared to ody. thanks ike in nm. | |
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Replying to: mrscoffield (Jul 25, 2009 8:11 am) In my opinion, the Odyssey is an easy winner. As for your specific observations: -The Odyssey is quicker, brakes faster, responds and drives WAY better than the Sienna. -Road noise ... if there's a difference, I couldn't tell. - What year were you looking at?? the Odyssey's second row moves forward too. -The second row storage in the Odyssey is as you say, "neat", but not really worth mentioning. You have to lift up the carpet to get to it. Not super convenient. Also ... I don't think it's big enough to hold the little second row center seat. - As for the first row seats, if it's a body geometry thing, then I can't speak to that (everyone is a different shape ... I'm 6'2", and I'm comfortable) But, comparing leather seats to leather seats, it's not even close ... the Odyssey's seats are higher quality than the Sienna's. -QUALITY. Just as I mentioned about the seats, the overall quality is the biggest difference. The Odyssey is more refined. You'll likely spend a little more for the Honda, but you also get a nicer vehicle. In my opinion, the Sienna wins in only two situations. 1. If you have to have AWD, buy a Sienna. 2. If you don't want to spend the extra money for the Odyssey, buy a Sienna. Outside of that, the Odyssey wins in every category.
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Replying to: bwires (Jul 28, 2009 3:31 pm) Also, a lot of people value a smoother ride and I would agree with the many people on this forum who say that the Sienna has less road noise. For us it wasn't a dealbreaker and we thought the Sienna went a little too far with the soft suspension as it gives it somewhat floatier, boat-like cornering compared to the Odyssey. Our Odyssey's second row storage stores the center seat just fine; it was specifically designed to fit in there and if you follow the directions in the owner's manual it should be no trouble.
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Replying to: phil78 (Jul 09, 2009 10:12 am) Phil - keep in mind IIHS has not actually tested a Sienna in rear-end crashes yet. The rating is based only on a static measurement, not the dynamic test with the sled and the crash test dummy. So it's not definitive. On that very site they show an example of how a Ford outperforms a BMW in the dynamic test, even though they are positioned similarly (and the BMW "looks" more expensive), so the actual safety involved much more than meets the eye. We should reserve judgement until they actually test a Sienna. I noticed the lack of a dead pedal in the Ody as well, something exacerbated by the fact that it's supposed to be the driver's minivan. |
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Replying to: bwires (Jul 28, 2009 3:31 pm)  Seriously? Source please? Tests I've seen put the Sienna way, way ahead of the Ody in acceleration. In C&D tests it won in every single acceleration test by a wide margin and still got better observed MPG by +3mpg. And the funny thing is C&D's 0-60 is among the slower times quoted for the Sienna. I've seen as quick as 7.0 seconds to 60mph. One owner went as far as video taping an acceleration run. I thought the Ody's leather was hard, we weren't impressed. In fact 3 out of 4 people in my family voted for cloth if we'd get an Ody, and the funny thing was we liked the LX cloth, not even the EX (2007 models). The LX cloth was soft and velour-like, while the EX just seemed fuzzy and didn't look durable. Ody has plenty of strengths but you are dismissing even the obvious Sienna advantages. I'll add some more: * 1.4 seconds quicker to 60mph (C&D) * significant observed MPG advantage (also C&D) * the 3rd row can be setup for tailgate seating * power controls to vent the 3rd row windows * trip computer even on LE models * adult sized 8th seat available The 2nd row with 3 seats is much wider and can accomodate 3 adults comfortably, so anyone looking to shuttle more than 4 adults around at any time would be best served by an 8 passenger Sienna. Ody handles better while the Sienna is more isolated, but if you want a quiet van so the kids can watch movies the latter is a better choice. No van "wins in every category", it's all a matter of what your priorities are, and what matters to you. |
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Some comments on other posts above... For Nav operation, there is an override, and with the internet it doesn't take much effort to figure that out. I choose a portable Garmin, either way. Cracovian: definitely check the tires. Even if the tread isn't worn out, they may need to be replaced, depending upon their age. I have 25k on the OE Dunlops and they are not as quiet as they were when new, but not objectionably so. I'll give them another year, then replace them. As for loading DVDs, don't worry much about that. It mattered when the kids were little, but now even my 6 year old can load movies by himself. The packages are confusing but search back for an earlier post I had, where I laid out which Sienna packages were roughly equivalent to the Ody LX, EX, EX-L, etc.
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