room, engine

My test minivan had high wind noise

I am in the market for a new Minivan. I testdrove every model available and cut my choices down to Honda Odyssey or Chrysler Town&Country. But today was released "The ratings from the 2002 edition of The Ultimate Car Book, published in cooperation with the Center for Auto Safety" The book rated cars, small trucks, minivans and SUVs by crash tests, safety features, repair and maintenance costs, fuel economy, complaints, warranties and insurance costs. ---------Cut and Paste from report-------Top-rated minivans are: Mercury Villager, Chrysler Town & Country and Pontiac Montana. The Saturn L scores best among family sized cars . --------------------------------------- I dont see Odyssey there so I''ll go with Chrysler Town & Country.

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Every minivan

Love the magic seat, and it handles well. The traction control work when needed.

Where to start. It took me 38 minutes to defog the front window the other day, and the blower in the air system sounds sick! The steering wheel is both off center and crooked. No light in the glove box, and the seats are just not comfortable, mostly because the arm rests are too low.

Have had the van for about 2.5 months, having traded in a 1994 Mercury Villager that was needing more and more work every month. So far like many things ie)size, handling, easy parking. Unfortunately there are a number of things seriously wrong as well. So far the gas mileage is not great, and the engine downshifts very roughly, especially going down hill, but I hope both of these will resolve after the engine ''breaks in''

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Mercury villager

comfort, space.

THE ENTIRE VEHICLE

Great ride, lots of room, doesn''t make up for the mechanical issues. With only 20K miles brakes needed replacing, a/c compressor squeals constantly. Sliding doors problem, transmission problems as well.

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Intrepid

Weee have had the Odyessy for 5 days and love it so far. Traded in a 96 cadillac concours, and if you want to hear about a BAD car write me sometime, any way have own several Hondas over the years(Have a 98 honda accord ex v6 in the garage and would not part with it. Have been reading the reviews and several people have compaint about fuel leaks. what was or is the problem. Have never heard that about a Honda. Will write more about our experience with our van.

It''s a Honda. Power Handling for large size. Magical disapearing back seat. Plenty of room for the kids and their stuff.

Dealership Cheap tires on LX Short seats Sound system Floor mats optional

Nice Van. We''re a family of four and the large size comes in handy. The cargo well in back swallows luggage. The power (210 HP VTEC) is a bonus. However, too much road and wind noise enters the cabin for my taste. For some reason though, it has gone through two power steering pumps, and the driver side sliding door sticks such that I actually ripped the door handle clean off trying to get it open. All seems fixed now (under warranty of course)

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94 Mercury Villager (junk)

I loved my salesman-but he had sold us our 99 Accord too!

My dealer fired my salesman. Everyone has one....I line up at school to pick up the kids and I am one of three silver Odysseys

I have owned the Odyssey for 9 months having traded in a 1997 Trans Sport that was losing transmission. We immediately took it on a cross country trip; through TN, MO, NC, VA, PA, DE, OH, IN, IL, WV, etc. It drove well through the mountains and fine at the beach. I have over 20K miles and so far my only problem is the power window on the front passenger''s side and it was only today it wouldn''t go up without help from a hand. My power doors are okay....I usually hit the open button the same time as the kids hit the door and we sometimes get stuck but we wait a second and try again so it is our fault, not the van. The well in the back has to be one of the greatest things along with the disappearing seat-this comes from someone who owned the short wheel base Trans Sport and fell backwards out of the tailgate with the cumbersome seat one time while trying to remove it.

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82 Civic, 90 Accord, 92 Civic, 99 Accord 97 Trans Sport and 95 Passport

Great running van and smooth engine. Good dealer and service.

Is this what Honda has fallen to? Power sliding door problems should be investigated by the government. Defective transmissions.

Great van without the problems and there have been a few. Never thought that could be said about a Honda. Have had numerous problems with the power sliding doors, jamming in the open position, not working at all to opening while driving (scary considering kids were in the van). Coupled with that problem, which seems to be ongoing, is now it needs a new transmission (at 40,000 miles). It is obvious tha Honda has some very serious problems with this van and needs to come clean on this. How many other people have had similar problems and is this what the new owners can expect?

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Nissan Quest

Roomy, good stereo, sliding doors, alarm, very tiltable chairs, folding rear seat.

FUEL gauage. There are 7 gallons left in the tank when the light comes on. You never know when your about to stall or can go another 150 miles. I have put 2000 miles on the car so far with most of them being highway miles. I have barely gotten 19 MPG.

First, we never considered buying anything other than Honda. Our Accord has 170K and is going strong. The size and cargo area sold us. The sliding doors and remote access were extras we didn''t figure on. It drives great and has ample power. I do miss third gear in this car. I love the Accords ability to get moving. I paid below MSRP only because I haggled. They don''t have much room to haggle when it comes to MSRP, but our dealer really pressured us into extras. We gave in with a really tired 2 year old and limited budget nagging us. Came back next day with win/win attitude. They worked the numbers for four hours until they meet my monthly budget. They did that by knocking off 800 from the MSRP, throwing in the window tint, cargo tray, exterior protection package, door ding protection, 6 year-100K warranty, and 5 FIVE oil changes (only two came with their small package). If your not in a hurry to buy, then you have haggle room. Let them know you will walk away. I essentially got my vehicle for the same price as my nieghbor got their LX that has NO upgrades at all.

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Honda Accord, CRX

It''s a nice family van, the kids love it.

None

Drove about 5,000 miles and has no problem so far. The interior is nicer compare to the other vans. The 240hp engine is strong and pretty quiet. I can hear some wind noise when driving on the freeway but other than that everything else worked perfectly.

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Plymouth Voyager

Appearance, handling performance, disappearing rear seat, and cargo capacity.

Poor sound system, horrible brake life, horrible transmission life, poor rear shocks for a vehicle with it''s supposed superior towing capacity. High priced repair parts that can only be purchased through Honda. Arrogant attitude of dealership throughout the sales process caused by limited or no stock and long lead times. This problem should go away as word gets out about the mechanical problems. At this point, another weakness will be poor resale value.

Until recently, we thought this was the "dream car" of minivans. It drives and performs more like a car than a minivan, and had very few quirks. About the only thing we had to complain about is the poor sound system, and the fact that many parts like wiper blades and air filters are expensive and aren''t available through anyone but Honda. On the downside, we have had problems with the brakes almost since the start. At about 8,000 miles, they began "grinding" as though the pads were already worn out. The dealership told us that the pads and rotors just needed "deglazing". At about 18,000 miles, the dealership told us the front breaks needed to be replaced. There is obviously something wrong with how they are engineered, either material-wise, or size-wise, to fail so early. At 30,000 miles the transmission needs to be replaced because it shifts hard and sticks in first gear. While we''re lucky that this happened under warranty, I am more than a little concerned about what''s going to happen in the future when we have to pay the bill (the service manager at the dealership stated that we''re lucky this time because it would have cost over $5,000 this time.

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Dodge Caravan, Ford Aerostar, and GM Astro vans.