Interior size, engine performance, sports car handling and feel for a minivan, the grade control logic transmission was amazing feature especially in the Rockies, fold down seat, acceleration and passing that is the envy of many a sports car.

sliding rear dors open and close slowly, but I suspect that is a safety feature. Clunking sound coming from gas tank.

WE purchased the 2002 Ex Odyssey model in late December 2001 in anticipation of driving across Canada to the Yukon and Alaska which we did in the summer of 2002. I spent 2 months looking at ane testing all major minivans. The closest competitor we considered was the Sienna and the Montana. We chose the Odyssey, not based on price but on other reviews, Honda quality, size and specially the 240 hp engine. The fold down rear seat certainly makes life easier. In the space of 7 weeks we put on 18,000+ km ( 12,000 miles) as we criss-crossed the continent. The Odyssey peformed flawlessly. Even fully loaded with a family of 4, dog, camping and sports gear we got excellent highway gas mileage. The van cruised effortlessly at 130 kph to the surprise of a few motorcyclists on ther AlCan highway.

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Toyota Sienna 2003, Pontiac Montana 2003, Chevy Venture 2003, Windstar, Caravan

fast and realiable

individual dealers are sometimes a trouble

Currently i drive a 99 Honda Accord, only one thing has broken, the pin on my crankshaft pulley feel, undoing the brake belts and powersteering,etc. i took it to honda dealership, they charged me 25%, i said hold on this car is only 35000 miles and i know my warranty is out but your still charging me. i talked with the guy and he finally said i will fix it for free, so i was happy. this was a big deal, my family is a long HONDA owner. We have bought 2 honda accords and civic, all perfect, reason for selling was to get a newer car. no problems. I still drive the 99 accord and quite happy, but if that part breaks again, i will give HONDA some piece of my mind, i think that honda should get my s2000 ready if another major problem like that occurs. HONDA is number one in CAR and Driver and i believe that. REMEMBER people that dealerships aren't owned by HONDA, their individually owned, Honda makes cars someone else sells, so you see that the representatives at the dealership don't quite reflect the people at the HQ... Also to the person whom posted, watch out for the false info guy, naming off some people whom not to trust, how do we know your not from mazda, toyota, or other companies trying to down grade this company. AND NO I'm NOT PART OF HQ, trace my message you can see that i'm my own person with my own mind. SORRY If its harsh. But i do plan to buy a HONDA ODESSEY although i hear there are a lot of problems with the tranny, i will look into that before i buy, that very interesting though. I know that i talked about my accord, but that i wanted to give you readers a background experience that i have over the many years of owning a honda product, i EVEN HAVE A HONDA LAWN MOWER, still works fine.

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honda accord honda civic going to get a odessey THIS IS TRUE INFO.....

fast and realiable

individual dealers are sometimes a trouble

Currently i drive a 99 Honda Accord, only one thing has broken, the pin on my crankshaft pulley feel, undoing the brake belts and powersteering,etc. i took it to honda dealership, they charged me 25%, i said hold on this car is only 35000 miles and i know my warranty is out but your still charging me. i talked with the guy and he finally said i will fix it for free, so i was happy. this was a big deal, my family is a long HONDA owner. We have bought 2 honda accords and civic, all perfect, reason for selling was to get a newer car. no problems. I still drive the 99 accord and quite happy, but if that part breaks again, i will give HONDA some piece of my mind, i think that honda should get my s2000 ready if another major problem like that occurs. HONDA is number one in CAR and Driver and i believe that. REMEMBER people that dealerships aren't owned by HONDA, their individually owned, Honda makes cars someone else sells, so you see that the representatives at the dealership don't quite reflect the people at the HQ... Also to the person whom posted, watch out for the false info guy, naming off some people whom not to trust, how do we know your not from mazda, toyota, or other companies trying to down grade this company. AND NO I'm NOT PART OF HQ, trace my message you can see that i'm my own person with my own mind. SORRY If its harsh. But i do plan to buy a HONDA ODESSEY although i hear there are a lot of problems with the tranny, i will look into that before i buy, that very interesting though. I know that i talked about my accord, but that i wanted to give you readers a background experience that i have over the many years of owning a honda product, i EVEN HAVE A HONDA LAWN MOWER, still works fine.

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honda accord honda civic going to get a odessey THIS IS TRUE INFO.....

Superb handling and performance.Especially if you use premium gas (93 octane). The difference is performance is quite noticeable.

I have to bring my vehicle to a Honda dealership for oil changes because other mechanics carge a "premium" for using a 5W-20 oil (difficult to procure). Again, Honda maintains that the clicking/clunking sound you hear when applying the brakes, especially in stop and go traffic is normal. Their designers should understand that this is not a very good attribute to have. I will certainly keep this site posted on any developments.

I have always had Hondas in the family (Civics and Accords). Each of these vehicles were driven to 100,000 miles without any repair, other than the normal maintenance. Thus, the decision to purchase a Honda minivan was an easy decision, despite the fact that it was more expensive than a Toyota Sienna (my second choice)and I had to wait about 2 months. Within a week of purchase, I had to return the vehicle because of steering wheel vibration, especially at high speeds. At around 15,000 miles, clicking/clunking sounds could be heard whenever brakes are applied, especially in stop and go traffic. The dealer said that this was a normal occurrence with Honda vehicles and in fact presented a document dated 9/98 stating so. Arguing that this was not a problem with my other Honda vehicles did not resolve anything. Therefore nothing was done and the problem has become more pronounced and very annoying. Calling up the 800-Honda customer service wasn't fun either. I had hoped to get some insight into the problem and hopefully, steer me in a direction where I would feel safer driving the van (remember brake noises?)and secondly, prevent a hefty repair bill (if something was intrinsically wrong with the braking system).First, they will not return your call (three weeks and no response. You have to follow up on your case) and second, they will insult your intelligence("its normal, it happens to every one, including me!" Well, except two of my good friends who bought their Odysseys about the same time I did!). The ride and handling of the vehicle is superb. Gas mileage is decent. But I am afraid the much vaunted reliability of Honda is very much in question. I probably will have to purchase an extended warranty for this vehicle, something I never did for any of my previous cars. If one does the math, the already higher cost of the van plus the extended warranty package will make the Odyssey awfuly expensive, compared with other minivans. Not worth it, in my opinion!

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Nissan Quest I had this vehicle before Honda came out with a minivan and it performed well. The acceleration and handling was good. Interestly enough, Consumer Reports gave this vehicle poor relia

I believe the vehicle has a nice body and strong engine. It also handles very well.

Radio sound package could be improved. Garage door opener has never worked Seats are a bit small for American bodies ( I am 6'1'' @200lbs) Clock light recently stopped working Power doors are too slow..( wish Honda would offer EXL package with manual doors)

Ultil recently, I was pleased with my first Honda product. Vehicle was purchased because of Honda's reputation for reliability and extensive positive review. After my 30,000 mile warranty services, car had developed a sporatic transmission problem that the dealer says is difficult to diagnose because the transmission does not act up during dealer testing. Basically, mostly during rush hour, the transmission acts like it is hanging up between gears. The engine races...but transmission does not engage. Dealer said that they only changed the transmission oil. This is an annoying problem and I am concerned because my warranty will be up in a few thousand miles.

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None

Fit & Finish. Reputation

The seats can not be configured to carry long loads and 4 people at the same time

The Honda Odyssey is rated as the safest minivan by the latest issue of Consumer Reports Magazine. I found the safety belts to be a serious safety deficiency, which you really should re-look. Please take a common baby seat with a detachable base (ours is a Graco Snug Ride, model number 8457TMJ) and install it in a second or third row seat. Using the belt tensioner correctly, (pull all the way out, let go, snug the belt tight you can get the bay seat base to nestle quite well against the car seat bottom. Then just to make sure you are ready to go, wiggle the base, but not too darn vigorously. Mine base nearly tilts 45 degrees. To compensate, if I buy a Honda vehicle, I will need to use the belt clip to achieve good safe fit and hold the seat belt from slipping within the baby seat base. On the other hand, the Jeep seat belt (and Chrysler mini-vans) work just fine since it binds the belt at the buckle, preventing movement of the base. This is because the belt can’t slip around as the base is wiggled. Please try this and let me know if there is something special about the Honda, which compensates for this design quirk. FYI- the Honda dealer was unaware of this design feature (floppy baby seats). If I really do need to use the belt clip, then I would say that the Chrysler mini-van is patently safer since it doest require the driver to be smarter then the vehicle.

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Dodge Caravan

Comfortable ride, Roomy interior, third seat convenience, 240 hp engine, visibility.

Sliding doors rattling. Small front seat armrests. Transmission concerns.

Purchased EX-L in April, 2002 and have driven 13k miles. We are very pleased with overall comfort, safety & performance of van. From this site and others, I'm growing concerned with possible transmission and automatic sliding door defects. So far I've had minor problems with Airbag warning light and automatic siding doors not closing at times. I found extended warrantys available on Hondawarranty.com from a MA Honda Dealership. Does anyone have feedback or experiences with this or other extended warranty companies? Most I've seen are about $1100 for 7 years, 100k miles. I didn't purchase the warranty initially due to excessive sales pressure from Honda finance rep. I wonder why Honda only provides 36k warranty?

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1980 Honda Civic (first car), 1981 Honda Civic, 1985 Honda Accord

Overall good design and build quality, efficiency and utility. Good handling, good in snow.

Brakes are probably undersized for this vehicle hence frequency of repairs. 4 cyclinder much rougher than Japanese engines but then again I've never heard any American 4-banger that could match foreign makers. I think the rest of the world takes these engines much more seriously and so spends more $$$ on their development.

I think it is time for a reality check here. I last wrote a positive review about my minivan in March '01. Since then I've had all 4 brakes and front rotors replaced. I'm also facing at 45K a head gasket replacement. But know what? My original rating is going to pretty much hold and this is why. Ignoring the folks who have 10+ year old cars and are creeping up on 200K miles, (you have an old car, old cars break) that leaves the rest of us whom I guess could have bought the Honda Odyssey could we have afforded it. But let's do the math. The Honda starts at $24K and the Voyager $17.5-a $6.5K differential that most of us would have to finance. Ignoring the fact that this "holy grail" of mini vans has problems of its own, we're talking about enough money to cover perhaps $8k in repairs! I'm not saying Chrysler shouldn't be building better cars, but these vans remain the value leaders in this catagory.

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Chevy Minivan. Really boring to drive.

transmission, and lots of minor problems

The engine and transmission have been reliable. Everything else has either quit working or fallen off, at least once. Power sliding door has failed 4 times and opened on the highway twice. Weak air conditioning. Dealer says this is normal. Eats tires. Original tires were worn out at 24,000 miles of highway driving. Dealer says this is normal. Seats look comfortable, but aren't after an hour or so. Minor problems have been made into major problems by awful dealer service. Early in the car's life I had to have a brake job done: approximately 19,000 miles. At 81,000+ miles, the transmission died with no warnings. It died while my wife was driving home and she was stranded

Folding back seat, CD-Stereo, superior Climate control and ventilation, ride, comfort, handling, acceleration, cruises nice at 75MPH, good highway mileage (~25 MPG), lots of room, good dealership.

sometimes you can hear the gas sloshing...and only sometimes but it's not bothersome.

After driving this van 20,000 miles during the last 15 months, I am happy to say that the only trips back to the dealer have been for oil changes and the PM's listed in the manual. Overall we are very satisfied with it and would highly recommend it.

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Looked at Toyota and Mazda mini vans.