The style, the engine poweris excellent, power doors are great with kids and your hands are full, roominess in the back is great for groceries due to the well where the fold down seat goes. It drives like a car, tight maneuvering. Not one squeak or rattle, very high quality. I have yet to have any problems with the van. The third row seat is which folds down into the floor beats trying to lift it out of the van if the extra space is needed ( I have attempted this with the chryslers and it is practically impossible for a woman alone to do). I love the climate control which works in the front and the back of the van.

The stereo system is weak.

We waited 3 months after ordering for this van and it was well worth the wait. We paid MSRP. No haggling with this van. The dealerships are great to work with. I highly recommend this van over any of the others, especially the overpriced, problem ridden chryslers. If you want comfort and reliability, chose the Honda Odyssey. I have yet to find a Honda dealer/service that was ever a problem compared to Chrysler dealerships where it is a constant battle for servicing and recalls etc.

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I have had 2 Chrysler Town and Countries which I could not wait to get rid of. They were nothing but mechanical problems among other things. This van is great to drive and totally reliable.

Build Quality. Ride, handling, fold-down 3rd row seat, ability to fit a 4'x 8' sheet of building material in the van. Horsepower, reliability. Power doors (which I hope will be trouble free). Audio controls on steering wheel. Quadruple 5-star crash test ratings from the government and the Insurance Institute for frontal, side and rear crashes. Resale values are high in case you're only planning to keep the van for a few years.

Swishing sound from the gas tank. Stereo system is a bit weak. No leather upholstery available from the factory.

Owned the car only a few days but I like it very much. Due to its size I don't need to also own a pickup truck to haul plywood and the like (I'm a do-it-yourselfer). Interior flexibility is great - my wife can fold the rear seat in seconds as opposed to trying to remove it as is the case with other vans.
Rides very well and with the Honda reputation for quality and longevity, I anticipate having the vehicle for at least 10 years barring the unforseen.

If you're shopping for a minivan and can afford paying in the mid $20k range then you must at least consider the Odyssey. In hindsight the LX model is probably a better deal/value. The one *major* plus for the EX model is in my opinion the power doors which is only the case if they don't malfunction. The other EX standard equipment such as alloy wheels, painted door handles, etc. is much more fluff than substance. Dealers are willing in most cases to offer leather seating but you're better off getting it done on your own rather than having the dealer serve as middle-man, - you'll possibly save several hundred $ dealing directly with an automotive upholsterer.
I'll be happy to offer another review in a year or so. I found this website very helpful to me and I hope my review is helpful to others.

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Dodge Grand Caravan. Toyota Sienna. Sienna is a nice van but smaller than the Odyssey (doesn't pass the 4'x 8' sheet test). Dodge vans have historically had reliability problems particularly with the transmissions. Also Dodge vans have had subpar crash test ratings in the past. Crash test ratings for the 2001 Dodge vans haven't been released yet.

See previous review a month ago for strengths. I want to add that the "HOME LINK" system in the EX model is fantastic! You can tune 3 buttons in the van's upper console to 3 garage remote controls, then throw your garage remotes away! You can then operate 3 garage doors with built in buttons. I also like the 3 sets of controls for front, middle, and rear passengers to control their own air and heat, the climate control system is outstanding. I've had no mechanical problems with the van at all so far.

There is no video system option.

I wrote a review a month ago but since that time i've had a video system installed and wanted to post about the experience. I've received an email from someone who read my prior review and said they would find that information helpful. So I hope that others find the following info helpful as well.

I had a "STEELHORSE AUTOMOTIVE" Model No. SVC35MSH installed. It's a video screen that is put in the ceiling of the van and it folds away (pops open) the unit also has 3 additional lights for reading that you can press and they turn on. The screen is crisp and clear and you can remove it and take it with you if you are worried about theft.

It comes with 2 headphones that turn on when the user puts them on, and off when you take them off, they are wireless. The kids love them! So you can have them use headphones and watch tv while you listen to the stereo/cd player or just silence. You can also not use the headphones and they can listen to the tv through the speakers in the van. My kids are ages 4.5 and 2.5 years.

We mounted the vcr unit under the front passenger seat. That's just about the only place to put it in the odyssey because (1) the driver's seat is powered so can't go under there (2) the captains chairs can
slide together to make a bench seat so as to not interfere with that action it can't go there (3) the 3rd row seat is a fold away magic seat so it can't be mounted under there. I had to give up the drawer under the front passenger seat so the video player could be installed there. I'm happy with it, it's easy to change tapes from the front seat.

It has a remote control so you can operate the vcr (except loading tapes) while driving. Also playstation and nintendo can be plugged
into the vcr and then it can be used to play video games on the tv screen. I'm very happy with the unit.

In case you're interested the unit cost me $1359.28 (including installation and tax). That also includes a 3 year warranty which cost me $80.

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1998 Dodge Caravan, no comparison really.

Very comfortable to drive, plenty of power (for a minivan.. It's not a sports car after all), plenty of room, folding down rear seat.

Bottom of front bumper cover cracked the 2nd day I owned it which will require the whole nose to be replaced to fix. Gas sloshing around in the tank. The damn gas gage reads incorrectly (more below), sliding door warning buzzer going off for no apparent reason. Factory radio definately leaves something to be desired.

First of all I want to state for the record that I love this vehicle. Honda makes an outstanding automobile (I also own a 2001 Accord EX V6). We looked at all of the various types of minivans before purchasing with things like style, safety, and options being considered very important on our list. The closest competitors were the Mazda MPV (a bit small for my taste but a very nice vehicle also), and the Toyota Sienna (too damn many of them on the rode already). I believe I was sold on this vehicle when I took it for the test drive. This big beast gets out of it's own way! It is a joy to drive and is VERY comfortable. The biggest drawback IMHO is the lack of a sun roof (like the MPV) but hey, you can't have it all...
Ok, enough praises... I have to mention the stupid gas tank. You would think that for $28,000 + Honda would have a vehicle where the gas gage reads correctly. I brought it back to the dealer the first week I owned it when I realised it read empty with at least 7 or 8 gallons left in the tank. I was told that they changed the design of the tank on the 2001 model to a flat bottomed tank and that they had only had a couple of complaints about this problem. I find that VERY hard to believe. I would think EVERY owner of this vehicle would complain about this problem. I even took it to another dealer where they said they had never heard of this problem and promptly replaced the sending unit (which did absolutely nothing to fix my problem but wasted 2 hours of my day). Hopefully Honda will do a recall and replace this very poorly designed tank with something that works correctly.

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1989 Dodge Grand Caravan - It doesn't compare... This vehicle (even with the minor annoying bugs) has the Caravan beat hands down in every way.

Power, power and more power. Yeah I realize its not a sports car but wow.The transmission is a joy. After one year of ownership, only one minor door seal replacement under warranty. The controls and instruments exude practicality. Power doors work great.

Sorry, haven't found one yet.

We have driven the vehile for one year now both in town and on the highway and it has met all of our expectations. This is a great vehicle for a family of four who travel heavy.

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Dodge Caravan and Ford Windstar. The Honda is cheaper when comparing apples with apples, more practical and built better. All around a better vehicle.

Power, realiablity, style

Not as many creature features as the Dodge Caravan, but that's OK, the realiability factor out ways that 10 fold.

Although we just purchased our Odyssey, we are already happy with it, as well we should be. After starting to experience transmission problems with our 1997 Dodge Caravan, and reading the reviews on Dodge, we traded our Dodge for our Odyssey as quickly as we could. We purchased the LX model, as it appears Honda is still working the bugs out of the automatic sliding doors. We just completed a road trip to the Smokey Mountains, and I was impressed with the power. Negotiating the tough grades was not a problem.
Unfortunately I did not track my actual mileage, however I would say it was very compariable to that of our 97 Caravan.

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1997 Dodge Caravan

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The paint scratches very easily and the electric sliding doors are very unreliable and need adjusting / fixing at the dealership once a month !

The Odyssey minivan is overall an excellent vehicle spoilt by a few irritating problems, in particular the electric doors on the EX model. We have been back to the dealership multiple times to have the electric doors fixed or adjusted. A buzzer indicating that the doors are still open goes off without warning and aparently without provocation when the doors are obviously closed. At other times the doors have refused to close, making it impossible to drive the vehicle, requiring my family to be rescued by friends in another vehicle ! My dealership is very competent and as helpful as they can be, but Honda have not yet approved an official remedy for this very common electric door problem, therefore my dealership is powerless to help. Until Honda fixes the problem with a design improvement, I would advise potential customers to buy the LX model which does not have electric doors fitted.

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This is an updated review. Took 2500 mile trip, mostly interstate travel. Got between 24 and 26 mpg. Driver seat very comfortable. Front passenger not as comfortable because can adjust only front-to-rear. Rear passenger seats very comforatable, and lots of room for three aduults on a 10 day trek. Wind noise very acceptable--remembering this is not a Mercedes. Handling was terrific. Few initial "rattles" have either been adjusted by dealer service or worked themselves out.

The Navi system was fun and useful. It does not always tack the route "locals" would take, but it certainly gets you to your destination. It is good to have a map just to order up a "detour" route if you think it has mapped out one that is longer. The Navi appears to be one of the best on the market, and I am hoping that Honda will make it even better with the free updated software it says will come out every year.

Sound system is very poor for a car of this quality. Hard to adjust front-to-rear and speakers produce too fuzzy a sound. Bass/treble balance also cannot be maintained from music to talk.

Shift lever is not too bad once you get use to it, but there is bound to be a better design out there. Need digital features such as: outside temp, fuel consumption (gals. to empty), mpg, etc--like one would expect on a $25,000-$30,000 vehicle. Still the fuel guage does not register very accurately and the low fuel warning light comes on with about 7-8 gals left in the tank. This is irritating but once the car's mileage was generally know, it was not much of a problem to figure out when we needed to stop for gas. the question is whether the consumer should have to think about these things. Still, around town the gas mileage varies extremely and does not measure up to expectations form the sticker figures.

Many of the intitial concerns spawned because of the method by which these vehhicles are sold are actually alleviated once the car breaks in. It reains a top, if not the top, choice in the field, and we do not doubt we made the right choice when selecting it from among its competitors.

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I love the rear fold down seat. I find the seats very comfortable. The split center seats are also very large and comfortable. I love the intermittent front wipers - they slow down even more at stop lights! Also the rear wiper becomes intermittent after the first few swipes.

I don't like the sloshing that the gas makes with a full tank. There is some road noise. Brakes sometimes grind. Gas mileage could be better but it's not as bad as I was expecting after reading other reviews. We're at about 18-20 mpg in the city.

We love the Odyssey, paid sticker and waited about 3-4 weeks. We bought the van without having ever driven one. No dealer in the DC area had one on the lot to test drive. The key seems to be to check several dealers for prices. There are a few in the DC area that charge a few thousand over sticker price just to insure that our low opinions of car dealers are correct. We opted for the LX - couldn't justify the cost of the auto doors. We love the ride, the kids love it, and I can easily fit in 3 bikes with the rear seat folded down. The drive is great.

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We test drove the Toyota Sienna but it wasn't roomy enough. I really did like the feel of the Sienna and the tight steering.

Good acceleration, good stability, excellent head room, lots of luggage space even with 7 occupants. Lots of other good features mentioned in the other reviews. I will focus mostly on the weaknesses.

So far my experience with city mileage has been dissapointing. Not getting more than 12.5 miles per gallons in local driving. The sticker claims 18 mpg with a range of 15 mpg to 19 mpg. Driven 1000 miles so far. The dealership wants me to wait till the first oil change (3750 miles. Apparently Honda uses a motor oil with abrasives. I don't know if that could result in such a huge deviation in mileage.

The radio really stinks. How can a 30K vehicle have such a lousy radio ?

Honda does not provide a casette player standard on the EX model. We paid an extra $250 for something that's standard on most any vehicle.

The rear right blind spot visibility is not good. Honda should add a window defroster on the rear right as in Toyota Sequoia.

The electronic sliding door is a little slow.

Make sure you have the child lock on the sliding doors if ferrying little children. It is very easy for them press the door opener.

Leather seats are not yet an option on the 2001 EX. Custom installation by SoftTrim (thru the dealer) cost us an additional $1300 but worth it.

Generally I am happy with the 2001 EX. However I find my city mileage unacceptable.

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Much better value than Toyota Sienna - more room and power.
Ford Windstar has better rear right visibility, though less roomy and less powerful.