Room, ride, fold down rear seat, bench/captains chair center seat, center console, dual climate control.

Bumping noise from rear of vehicle. Gas in tank and rear suspension. This appears to be cost of fold down rear seat. Not a bad trade off. Stereo could be better. Lack of delay for rear wiper.

We've had no problems to date. Glad we skipped the fluff of the EX and stayed with the LX. Engine and transmission much better than the wild shifting maniac that is my 96 Accord. The van gobbles up stuff especially those bulky home improvement products. I find myself looking to take more things on vacation just because we have the room. The seats take a little getting used to but find them to be quite comfortable. Moderate road and wind noise on the highway. Only took me 10 days to get mine once we made the decision to purchase. No markup but still paid sticker which wasn't bad when compared with the invoice price of comparable vans.

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Toyota Sienna - nice van but smaller and more expensive even at $200 over invoice similarly equiped.

Quality- continues to have no defects since door handle replacements. No other repairs have been required for anything.
Gas mileage- continues at 25 highway, 20 city, 13 towing a 4600lb trailer.
Driveability- I take LONG trips and often go 600-800 miles in a day with little fatigue due to the vehicle.
Handling-all weather performance has been outstanding. Towing performance is excellent (I use an Air-lift suspension system).

Honda needs to get the rear sliding door sticking problem solved. I have used Dow-Corning DC-4 silicone lubricant grease on the seal since the last (third) handle replacement (all at Honda's expense) and this has stopped the problem, but the gasket shouldn't be that sticky to begin with.
Also Honda should make the front seat firmer in the seat. I'm over 300-lbs and by big butt compresses the rear part of the drivers seat cushion, which can be a true pain in the ass, but I must say the seat is resilient and hasn't taken a "set" or deformed. Fabric fit and finish is still excellent with no apparent seam stretch or wear.

After over one year ownership, I continue to be extremely pleased with this Odyssey. It now has almost 47,000 miles (that's 850 miles per week!) and over 8,500 of that was done towing a 19' 4600-lb Airstream travel trailer into the mountains.

Absolutely no other van can compare to this for my needs.

I don't have the same complaints others have about the radio. Mine works and sounds fine. Wind noise is not excessive in my opinion, and is not a fatigue factor.

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None

Strong engine, great acceleration. Love the climate control. Fold down Magic Seat excellent idea. Deep well in the back is great for putting groceries in (they don't slide around) or keeping a baby from moving when doing a diaper change. Love the power sliding doors. I've read a review saying rebound on the doors is bad but i have not experienced this problem. (I accidentally set off the door remote in my pocket when taking son out of car seat and door rebounded just fine off me.) Great visibility out of this vehicle as well. Stereo sound is pretty good, this van has 6 speakers (my other car is a BMW and it has 11 and of course not as good as this but come on what do you want it's a van!). Haven't used traction control or cruise control yet but itching to try it. Love the fact that there is an anti-theft system built in and a separate one for the cd player. I also love the space in this van, very roomy. I'm glad I didn't settle for the LX. The features of the EX are worth it!

Seats could be more comfortable. When remote is in my pocket it sometimes opens the doors, this can be dangerous in a parking lot when you think the van is closed and walk away and the doors open due to pressure on remote in pocket (my solution is to ALWAYS lock the van which then cannot open the doors without unlock button being depressed twice first). I wish that the doors automatically locked after the ignition is turned on, this was a car jacking safety feature I had in my theft system in my dodge caravan and I miss it. I also miss the built-in child seat feature I had in my caravan. The tether child restraint system is OK but you still have to monkey around with installing child seats and it's a real pain. Would have liked the built-in child seat option to purchase with Honda. No video entertainment option would have liked that too for long trips. I'm looking into having one installed by a third party vendor now. Also the shifting lever/arm of the transmission is awkward, but you get used to it.

I've only had the Odyssey for a week now so this is a preliminary review. I'll be back after a year or so to report if there are any mechanical problems. I bought this van for its reliability and that is what is paramount in my mind. My dodge caravan was a nightmare in terms of repairs.
For those of you who don't know yet, it's very hard to get your hands on a Honda Odyssey. People I know have waited 4-5 months for the van. I called 15 different Honda dealerships and almost no one had them in stock. Those with the 4-5 month wait were charging MSRP ($26,840.00). Those with them in stock only had 2 or 3 and they wanted 3-4 thousand dollars over MSRP (that's why they had 2 or 3 in stock!). I got mine in 3 weeks for $500 over MSRP and how I did it was that I called all the dealerships and told them that if anyone on their waiting lists backed out of the deal that I was prepared to buy the van CASH IN HAND at anytime, any color and that I would be willing to pay $500 over MSRP. I got calls from 2 dealers to do that. The first sold the van before i could get to the dealership (it was a 30 min drive) the second one I had learned my lesson and I gave a deposit over the phone. I just wasn't willing to wait 4-5 months with the warranty on my dodge caravan running out! It's hard to get a test drive. I had a chance to see both an LX and an EX at an auto show that was in town. I consider myself lucky to have had that opportunity but what was really nice is that I got to compare this van with many others at the show. My second choice was a Toyota Sienna and once I got in it I saw that it did not compare in roomyness and it had no disappearing third row seat. The interior of the Sienna also didn't seem as quality to me as the Odyssey.
The stars I'm giving are based on 1 week of use, i may be back to revise it after a year of use.

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Dodge caravan. Doesn't compare mechanically. Dodge had spongey brakes, wind noise, horrible acceleration. But Dodge has Honda beat on ergonomics. The seats in the dodge were much more comfortable. But i'll take a little discomfort over the mechanical problems of a dodge ANY TIME!

Magic third seat, best looking mini-van out there, drives well, convenient with my two little ones.......

sliding door malfunctioned within first year, but they replaced with a new one within 30 minutes

I am truly happy with my Odyssey and have never had problems with any of my Honda's until the sliding door on my Odyssey malfunctioned. The dealership that helped me was more courteous, helpful and speedy than most businesses I have ever been too, although I expect that having had a problem with a $27k + rig that is less than one year old.

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Drove Quest for a week on vacation (rental) - Honda is much nicer looking and I like the way it drives better.....

FOLD DOWN SEAT.

NOISE FROM REAR COULD NOT BE FOUND BY DEALER, IT TURNED OUT OT BE CLUNKING FROM GAS TANK WHEN FULL, AND SLOSHING WHEN HALF FULL (BAD BAFFLE DESIGN. I FOUND BULLETIN FROM HONDA THAT THEY KNOW OF PROBLEM AND HAD NO INTENTION OF REPAIRING THE PROBLEM. I WAS ABLE TO RETURN IT FOR FULL REFUND FROM DEALER, IT WAS TWO DAYS OLD AND I WAS NOT GOING TO LIVE WITH THIS NOISE PROBLEM.

HONDA HAD A GOOD IDEA WITH THE FOLD DOWN SEAT BUT VAN FOR THE MONEY IT'S INTERIOR IS VERY PLANE. VERY NOISEY WIND, AND CLUNKING FROM GAS TANK POOR SOUND PROOFING.

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2000 TOWN AND COUNTRY, MUCH MORE PLUSH AND QUIET. SOUND SYSTEM SYSTEM EXCELLENT.

We like the fold-down rear seat, adjustable second-row seats (can be either separated or bench -- having the squabbling siblings separated is a major sanity preserver), deep cargo well, lots of glass, traction control (standard on EX), Michelin tires, and safety, safety, safety.

As others said, road noise is greater and the AM/FM+CD sound stinks, but usually the kids are making so much noise it doesn't matter :-). Acceleration is OK for a 2-ton-plus vehicle, but not super. The steering wheel is angled a little high, even at lowest adustment. That's about it, we're happy! Oh, unlike others, I don't think the seats are uncomfortable in the least, and I have a sometimes-bad back myself.

We're a family with 3 *active* boys (soccer, swim team, scouts, tennis, skating, camping, Pokemon league... you know the drill), 2 tired parents (see above), and a fleet consisting of a well-liked '93 Camry and a worn-out '91 Ford Escort wagon -- which all adds up to Minivan Time. Our requirements were safety, roominess, reliability, comfort on long trips, maneuverability, fuel economy (which is a relative thing for a van, granted), and value for the money. We were NOT concerned about style, paint color, leather seats or interior colors (when you haul six kids home after a nice muddy boy's soccer game, the interior's gonna turn brown anyway, so why worry?) I wasn't concerned about paying sticker price, I'd rather look at value for the money than money alone, and after reading some of the horror stories from California and East Coast I feel lucky we got away with sticker price for a van on the lot. We contacted 10 dealers in 3 states, and found exactly 6 vehicles in stock, and 3 of the 6 were Canadian models (nothing against kilometers, but I'm a miles guy myself.)

We'd buy the Odyssey again in a heartbeat.

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This is our 1st ever minivan. We did 2 months of book and Net research, talked to all our friends/relatives, started conversations with drivers in parking lots, quizzed mechanics, and test drove everything. Eliminated all domestic marques except Chrysler products early (which was tough because we're a Ford family.) Narrowed finally to Toyota Sienna and the Odyssey. Went with Odyssey because the Sienna cost more with options (most of Sienna's options are standard on the Ody EX), and because the Ody was roomier.

Good VTEC engine with lots of power,fold down seat great for hauling big items

Honda really blew it with the automatic sliding doors. After three months of owning our van, my wife experienced problems with the rebound on our doors. She was removing items from the van and accidentally activated the door with the remote control. The door started closing on her and she could't stop the door from closing even with excessive force. My wife is not a big woman (about 100 lbs) and I thought to myself "how can this be?" Well, I decided to check the doors out myself and I too was unable to stop these electronic doors from closing. It took a good amount of my body weight (about 165 lbs.) and me lifting the door off its track to finally get the doors to rebound. My wife and I have two children ages 5 yrs. and 3 yrs. old and they would not stand a chance against the tension needed to rebound these doors. I took the van back to the dealer and even had a field engineer from American Honda flown in from Illinois to check out my sliding doors. They all said that my doors are operating "normally" even when I was able to repeat the problem right in front of them! Unbelievable! They are not even acknowleging my complaint as valid. They said all EX models have this characteristic! If you own this model try at least 10 times to "rebound " these doors and you'll know what I'm talking about. Also had the latching motors replaced twice on my driver side sliding door.

Safety is a big issue with these electronic doors.

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None

smooth ride, plenty of pickup
fold down seat (no need for external storage)
lots of space

sliding doors have many problems
shift control in the way of the radio control

We had our Odessy for one month when the electronic doors would not work. We took it into the dealer for repair and they said it is a very common problem. Honda is trying to figure out how to fix it with a module they can put into the vehicle. These problems were really common with the 2000 model and were supposedly fixed with the 2001 ... apparently not. I was driving along the highway with my 22 month old daughter in the back seat when her door slid open. Also, the paint on the vehicle is easily scratched off leaving only the white primer. We have the metallic green and there are already large white scratches all over it.

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Toyota about the same

Honda name and reliability, electronic doors, invisible 3rd row bench, the tray that folds down in the middle between driver and passenger for easy access to back, the ability to move the 2nd row to bench or captain chairs is great.

I wish the back "trunk" door was electronic and opened by remote. Poor radio reception

I am Honda family person. I found a line and I like the features, the feeling of owning a Honda vehicle that you will be taken care of and minimal problems will come with owning a Honda. Even though the tranny went out, I take it with a grain of salt, considering a lot of minivans have that problem.
We are a family of 5, kids between 4 and 9. Whenever they are not getting along (or I think they need to calm down), we can separate the bench in the 2nd row very easily.
Before I traded in the 2000 for the 2001, I did a check and talked to people, just to see if I was missing out on anything by only considering the Honda line. The vehicles they suggested didn't measure up to a Honda though.
I love the hidden seat feature. In my 2000, I transported a lazy boy recliner.
Family and friends are amazed at the versatility of this van. As a short woman,

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87 Honda Accord: My first Honda, very beautiful, was stolen!
?? Mazda Pickup: Very good small truck, not practical for our family though.
92 Honda Accord Wagon: We loved but outgrew it. It was great.
00 Odyssey: traded in for electronic doors. The doors on the 2000 were very hard to open at times and my kids couldn't open them, the transmission had to be replaced right about 10,000 miles.

1. Engine Performance - although we were somewhat surprised by the fuel economy for a V6.
2. Handling - a big van that can be fun to drive
3. Fold down rear seats - are very convenient

1. Gear shift handle is in the way of radio controls when in drive.
2. The folding table between front seats seems to hid everything. I thought I had lost credit cards that were eventually found in the space between the table and front passenger seat.
3. The seat belt latchs for the second row seating seems to be to far from the edge of the seat. Trying to latch in kids that are always seating on the latch is annoying. A poorly designed seat!!!!!!!!
4. Sliding door is always sticking!!!- the biggest gripe of all- in our winter climate the door seems to freeze with the slightest bit of moisture. My friend has the same problem with his electric doors on the Ex and has been to the dealer twice in the first 8 mos. of ownership

Overall the Honda is a good, and I hope, reliable vehicle. They need to get back to the drawing board and work on some of the finer details before I'll consider buying another one. ie: ERGONOMICS

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1998 Grand Caravan SE ( my wife wants it back !!! ) Never had a problem except removing the damn third row seating. Too heavy !!