Looked at some recently, ended up buying a brand new (87 miles on it) Mazda CX-9 last week for the same price as a 2 year old 30k mile Honda...

We used to have a real early model Honda Odyssey that we used for beating up the desert in Abu Dhabi back in the early nineties I think the model was called FL350.
It had a great roll cage (that we tested several times) and neat options like hand throttle and brakes on the steering wheel, variable speed drive, balloon tyres and locked diff (actually, it didn't have a diff come to think about it!).












http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1354714947.jpg

I have an 06 Odyssey with 211,000 miles. Major service done at 106,000.....$2,500.00 !!!
No problems at all ever, runs great, gets good mileage, I'd go anywhere in it....I have to, it is my company car. We have three Odysseys, an 06(mine) an 07 and a 08. No problems out of any of them.

As I said in my earlier post, we bought our '00 as a CPO. It had 24k on it when we got it. Only reason we sold it was one day my wife said she was done with driving a minivan as the kids were old enough for their own cars and she wanted a red Mustang convertible. I took her at her word, went out and washed the van, emptied it of all our stuff and told her how much I'd take for it at CarMax. She said they'd never offer that much but I could try.
They hit my number right on the nose. She was pissed as she had to go about a week without a car. Did I say I really miss that van now? It had 75k on it when I sold it and was in great shape. (sigh)

2005, first year of the previous body style. It has been great so far. Rotors do warp, DVD system had problems (on our third), but all in all, could not ask for a better vehicle. Wife recently told me that we should never sell it (after 7 years of ownership, I think that says a lot).

Bought wifey a new '07 which I soon nicknamed the "battering ram." Aside from her backing into things with it it's a good driver. Just went over 100K miles and was in for the dealer service. Replaced a noisy RF wheel bearing but otherwise a strong, smooth vehicle. Comes off a stop light like gangbusters for a minivan. After the first backing mishap (didn't see the big brown UPS truck directly behind her) was repaired I stopped having her little nick-and-ding incidents repaired.

Every Hasidic Jew in Brooklyn owns one, and beats on them. They seem to hold up well.

A 2007 Honda Odyssey with 102K miles is worth right around $10K, depending on so many things

A similar 102K mile 2007 Chrysler Town & Country is worth about $5K

Both are equally likely to break from here on out, the Chrysler is just less expensive to fix.

I personally had a 2005 T&C with every option and 194K miles when I sold it that never had one problem...zero. Just normal wear items and maintenance. We took it in on trade with 177K from the original owner (they had us find them the same exact 2007 T&C with very low miles) Here are photos when we sold it:

<img src="http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq219/stcroixmotorsports/05%20Town%20Country/IMG_2413.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/>

<img src="http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq219/stcroixmotorsports/05%20Town%20Country/IMG_2418.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/>

<img src="http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq219/stcroixmotorsports/05%20Town%20Country/IMG_2363.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/>

<img src="http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq219/stcroixmotorsports/05%20Town%20Country/IMG_2362.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/>

<img src="http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq219/stcroixmotorsports/05%20Town%20Country/IMG_2382.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/>

<img src="http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq219/stcroixmotorsports/05%20Town%20Country/IMG_2437.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/>

<img src="http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq219/stcroixmotorsports/05%20Town%20Country/IMG_2393.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/>


We sold it for $4500


We missed it so much we later went out and bought a 2004 Town & Country Limited with every option and 153K miles. Again, no issues whatsoever, as we had records since new and talked to the original owner at purchase.

<img src="http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq219/stcroixmotorsports/04%20TC%20Limited%20Black%20152K/IMG_5564.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/>

<img src="http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq219/stcroixmotorsports/04%20TC%20Limited%20Black%20152K/IMG_5571.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/>

<img src="http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq219/stcroixmotorsports/04%20TC%20Limited%20Black%20152K/IMG_5567.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/>




YMMV




...

Have an 02 130K

trans & motor mounts

have an 02 with 210k on it. only issue was the 5 speed transmission which was an issue with the 02 along with the acura sedans. got a rebuilt at 110.5k, honda extended their warrantee to 109k. mine went out just after the warantee but they ponied up for the part and i covered the labour which was 800, not bad but i think if i hadn'd put in an aux cooler it most probably would have gone out within the warrantee period. engine now drinks about an half quart between 3k mile changes, that's with 5-30 oil, so i would think that's pretty tight still. its got good power but isn't great on gas... better than the 911 or the e36 but not great compared to the new ones. dvd, powerdoors great still.

Well, we bought the Honda and traded in the Protege5. Now I know why folks buy Hondas. This is a very nice vehicle.

I'm driving the Suquinox now and the wife drives the van. It's not all bad considering that the Protege's rear calipers were constantly needing attenion due to sticking.

Congrats ... we love ours. '08 with 55k miles on it and no issues so far.

Was also considering a used Odyssey back in 2007.

For the same $$$, bought a brand new Kia Sedona (big rebate).

The Sedona has been fantastic. I was skeptical about
Kia, but they have won me over.

Relatives who were Honda & Toyota owners have bought 3 Kias and are happy.

I'd by another one in a minute. The new Optima is a contender for my next daily driver.

I haven't driven a KIA but 2 fellow employees have purchased them and are happy. The Optima seems like a very nice car for the money.

Are the Honda and Chrysler rated the same in reliability these days? I'm not sure how you arrive at the conclusion that they are equally likely to break? That's just not true. From a quick Google search seems pretty apparent that the Chrysler is rated lower in reliability. I don't think there's a significant difference in the cost to repair if we're talking about dealership repairs. And, if you look at third party shops, you can find a decent lower cost Honda mechanic. Honda places aren't inflated like many MB or other luxury brands.

Google "Honda Odyssey transmission issues" (or variations thereof) and perhaps you'll reconsider that position.

I only speak from professional experience

It sounds like you may be speaking only from 17k miles of ownership of a single high mile example out of thousands rather than professional experience. Transmission issue or not, the empirical data (if you look at US News or Consumer Reports, or choose whichever) suggests that they are not "equally likely to break." I've just seen you nitpick or take others to task for lessor unintentional misstatements. Happens to all of us. SmileWavy

I know you don't post much but you've been here awhile

My personal ownership experience isn't what I'm talking about, which is why I said my professional opinion

I'll stand by my statement: "Over 100K miles, both are equally likely to break." That's my professional opinion.

YMMV

I've never heard anyone complain about their Honda Van. We went the '02 Toyota Sienna route, after my friends went through their American van phase they all bought the Toyota Sienna too. We've never had a major issue with it, now on 163,000 miles. We have heated leather seats, auto doors, JBL factory system, traction control, abs, alarm, roof rack, sunroof, etc.

Rides much better than other vans out there. Quiet, smooth ride, kid capacity, and comfort are what it's all about.

Was there a point at which Odyssey vans seemed to have fixed the transmission problems? I've been thinking of buying a late-model Odyssey/Sienna (i.e. CPO, coming off a lease, etc) such as what MRM did a few years ago.

I currently have an '05 TL (purchased new), a model which was also supposed to have been plagued by less-than-stellar Honda transmissions. Fortunately, other than a window motor we've been mechanically problem-free.