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Vans & Minivans Honda Odyssey Article Comments - 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan vs. 2007 Honda Odyssey Touring
184 messages, Last post on Jan 16, 2009 at 4:58 PM
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The Breeders' Cup: The Battle To Be the Best Minivan Post your comments here! 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT vs. 2007 Honda Odyssey Touring
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| but that Odyssey vs G35 thing... um.. | |
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I agree with the rating given to the Honda and placing it over the Dodge. The Honda is very slick and you simply have to drive these others back-to-back with it, to truly understand the engineering behind all that slickness. The basic engineering of the vehicle is very sound, like all Hondas, but obviously they have to skimp on certain things, to bring it under a target pricepoint which is fine by me. I travel on business a lot and get to drive vehicles ranging from Volvos, Toyotas, Dodge/Chryslers to Chevrolets and Pontiacs. Unfortunately, I have not seen a single Honda in any rental agency, till date. Bad for rental customers but great for Honda owners from a resale standpoint ! |
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| Why no Sienna in this comparison test? It has a significantly different powertrain since Edmunds.com last tested the 3.3L 215 horse (new SAE) iteration. A FWD XLE with NAV, rear DVD, power fold third row, back-up assist, Bluetooth, tow pkg, etc... is $36,100. Toyota finally got its act together and made VSC standard, as well. | |
A couple of weeks ago I was trumpeting that the "new" chrystler van was a warmed up version of the previous and all I got was flak. This still overoptimistic article validates all the points I made there. Unfortunately, not only does not measure up, it is also a poor value. I wonder what a bunch of goofy accountant's and "investors" from a company that knows nothing about cars (cerberus) hopes to do with their new aquisition, my guess is split it up and sell the salvageable parts. Chrysler will not be around in 10 years or so. 
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Replying to: 6sptl (Sep 04, 2007 5:06 pm) Let's hope your wrong. We have lost enough American companies. I think it does measure up and a lot more. Besides having all the safety features Honda has, it has a lot they don't. Things like power saver, that turns off your lights after about 20 min. in case you left them on. Only van with self leveling shocks, two DVD's, that can play two different movies at the same time, or video on one and games on the other. It can also be fed up to the front dash monitor, when the van is stopped. Television, A 20 gig hard drive for storing music or pictures. Only van to offer a intergrated child boster seat. A 506 watt 7.1 surround system, with a minivan first, subwoofer. Only van to offer a six speed transmission. A intergrated drop down survellance mirror to see what the kids are doing in the back. Only van to offer stow-n-go or Swivel And Go seats and table. Only van to offer automatic rear seat one touch stowing. That doesn't even include all the other stuff it has. There is a model for what every family needs or wants. Plus only company to offer a life time warranty on engine and drive train. I think it more than measures up.
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We owned a 1996 Town and Country for 11 years. We put 125,000 miles on it. My wife loved it and I enjoyed it. When it came time to replace it, we decided to follow the bandwagon (Edmunds, Consumers Report, Motor Trend, etc.) and switch to the Odyssey. It is NOT a bad car; it is a GOOD car, but it isn’t the “machine of perfection” that every automobile writer says it is. I’ve looked at, but not had a chance to drive, the 2008 Town & Country (AKA Caravan). Fit and finish is better than the 1996 (or even the 2007). Interior design is measurably good looking and of higher quality than the previous editions. The fit and finish of the Odyssey is very good but far from “perfect.” The Stow ‘n Go seating of the Chrysler minivans are truly easy to “remove” (fold); one has to know before going shopping at Costco that you are going to buy a 60” HDTV if you own an Odyssey because you have to remove “before you go.” With only about 9,500 miles, our Odyssey (purchased new) squeaks and rattles almost as much as the Town and Country did at 125,000 miles. (Mostly from the sliding doors, folding seats, and rear hatch.) The Odyssey seat belts are hard for my 5’2” wife to grab and put into place. The radio is, without doubt, the worst car radio I have ever owned. The Town & Country was better; my 2001 Cadillac is better. We have the same stations preset on both the Odyssey and the Cadillac and drive them in the same geographic area – and most of the stations are almost unlistenable in the Odyssey. They are clear as a bell on the Cadillac and were on the Town & Country but sound like distant stations behind a hill in the Odyssey (We live in a big valley and none of the stations are blocked by any hills or mountains.) The dash display of radio, clock, and air conditioning data is unreadable when sunglasses are being used by the driver. Our middle of the line 96 Chrysler had a compass, an outside thermometer that accurately told the temperature, displayed miles to empty, estimated mpg. Our middle of the line 2006 Odyssey has none of this. (Well, it does have a thermometer, but it is so radically inaccurate and inconsistent that it is useless.) I could go on, but I close with the fact that the Odyssey upper glove box door makes it impossible to open the passenger door because the door handle cannot be pulled when the glove box is open. In a crash, this is potentially lethal. It is silly and unfair to nitpick the "feel" of a knob and ignore errors in design like this. Edmunds, and others, paint a too rosy picture of the Odyssey. Based on my experience with our previous Chrysler minivan, the experience to date with the Odyssey, and my careful examination of the ’08 Chrysler, I hope that I get to drive the latter soon. |
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Replying to: marine2 (Sep 04, 2007 8:31 pm) 
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Replying to: 6sptl (Sep 05, 2007 6:12 am) first of all MB doesnt make ANY FWD trannies so the 6 speed in the Dodge was developed by Chrysler, not MB. Secondly, it doesnt seem to me that Edmunds said the Caravan was unrefiend at all, they just said the Honda handles better. You went off on a anti_detroit tangent that doesnt seem to have much to do with the Grand Caravan at all. What in the comparison suggested the Dodge was poorly engineered and made? |
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I read the quick comparo of the new Dodge vs. the Honda with interest; we owned an '01 Grand Caravan and '03 T&C. Plenty of friends and neighbors have Odyssey's that I speak with regularly, so I have a point of reference. The Chrysler/Dodge twins have it all over the Honda when it comes to the features and options, no question. Same was true of the last generation of both. The Honda has the better powertrain, same was true in the previous generation. Biggest difference was in ride and handling. Last generation of both were pretty close, with a slight edge to the Honda. Seems the same is true today. The biggest difference is in VALUE! While the Dodge/Chrysler carry a higher sticker, they're almost immediately discounted heavily, and substantial rebates are not far behind. The Odyessy is discounted far less and rebates, while not unheard of on Honda's, are far and few between and usually the Factory to Dealer type. So real trnsactional prices typically favor the domestics. In Atlanta, $7-8000 discounts are not uncommon on the Chrysler/Dodge. Honda's, maybe $3500-4000, tops. Resale value wise, bye-bye Chrysler. Our 3 year old loaded Grand Caravan with 60k retained a whopping 24% of it's original transaction (not sticker!) price. A 3 yr. old Odyssey holds about 50%. Unless you're planning on being buried in the Chrysler, you'll get more back from the Honda. Maintenance wise, our Chrysler's were not perfect, but the problems were pretty minor. From what I've gathered from friends with Honda's, their reputation for perfection is rapidly eroding as well. A/C's, power doors and even transmission issues seem to be the common thread. Until the domestics can get their build capacity on an even keel with demand, they'll continue to offer deep rebates and flood the market with rentals that drive resale into the ground. When time to look for a new people mover, I'm afraid I'll be leaning heavily toward a Honda or Toyota, my first import in over 15 years!
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