I had the wife test drive the Odyssey and Sienna last night. She liked both, but thought the Odyssey was nicer. I sat in the 2nd row both times, and thought the 2nd row seats in the Odyssey were slightly more comfortable for adults. We're going to test drive the Nissan Quest and Chrysler T&C tonight.

It looks like all the cash-for-clunkers are gobbling up the Honda & Toyota minivans. Is it still scheduled to end on November 1st? I might have to wait until November/December for all of this government-funded demand to die down.

Don't buy the nissan or Chrysler they are crap..

buddy of mine got a dealer to give him the honda tourning for 32 plus tax etc

I dont think that program would last till Nov the first billion went in a couple weeks.
but its the USA we just keep printing money

Counterpoint: My 99 Dodge Intrepid has been the best vehicle I've ever owned. Nice & big, gets great gas mileage (I average 32mpg, mostly highway), over 130k miles and I've never had a problem.

I do know a lot of people with Odysseys and they all love them. I'm certainly leaning that way, but I at least want to try the other two and see what they're like.
I'm looking at the EX. I'm hoping to keep the cost under 24, but I think that's going to be hard with the Honda.

look on the Edmund's forum for prices paid you can get a good idea of the lowest a dealer will go...when I the ex-l back in 06 I was able to get it for 31000 OTD
I know before this rebate people where getting some pretty great deals like my friend that got the 40k touring for 32..good luck

that 4500 rebate if Obama was smart he should of made it for GM cars only..
make the USA investment get a return for that 50 billion

It's scheduled to end when the money dries up which will most likely be before Nov 1. Personally, I might wait until the cash-for-clunkers demand dies down. It won't last long, the dealers will be right back where they started and will be ready to bargain again (my opinion).

Hey, if you can wait a year I'll bet there will be many 1 year old cars for sale from people that got sucked into the cash-for-clunkers program and couldn't afford the cars in the first place, even with the rebate.

32K OTD on Touring ? that's great price. Although the incentive on Odyssey drops to $1250 from $3500 or $2500 in July. I'll test drive the Odyssey soon since I run out space so easily on my Pathfinder. I did trade in Sienna for Pathfinder. It's boring drive for me and I drive a lot. I already put 22K on my pathfinder and it's not even one year old yet.

I cannot find any info on incentives for the Odyssey. Where did you find this?

Car manufacturers will sometime have a promotion for only one region. If price is a big factor, attempt to get the local Honda dealership to come close. While warranty work can't be refuse by the dealer that didn't get the sale, lets just say you better have patience.

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ee93eaa/23853

I have one dealer that always tell the incentive. It's incentive from honda to dealer to sell 2009 Odyssey. Most dealers won't tell the customer. They rather keep the incentive instead of giving or sharing to customer.

There are two type of internet sales. First one, it's just like traditional sales. They get commission based on profit made. Avoid this since they prefer to make huge profit for dealership so they can get bigger commission. Another one, they get commission based on how many cars sold. Sometimes, they sell car at cost just to clear inventory. I got my Nissan Pathfinder for $23636 + TTL with MSRP of $34210. I had to come next day to wait for internet manager ( off on that day ) to approve the sale since floor manager won't approve it. Carmax wants my Pathfinder for $21500. Not bad after 22K miles driven.

I'd suggest just email all dealers within driving distance. You can even email dealer far away and try your local dealer to match. Although, many dealers are reluctant to give written price since they know, you'll ask local dealer to match it. No harm trying though.

I actually did that this morning. I also decided to try the Costco Auto program to see if that will get me a better price. Does anybody have any experience with that?

Honda is announcing a new 2010 CrossTour in 14 days. Maybe the other cars will be less popular/cheaper.

Summer Clearance
Your window of opportunity is wide open to get a great offer with special APR and lease rates on a brand-new Honda during the 2009 Honda Clearance, but only until September 8, 2009. With dealers eager to see you in a Honda, Summer Clearance is a great time to shop. You can also enter the 2009 Honda Clearance Sweepstakes for your chance to win a $5,000 pre-paid debit card*. No purchase necessary. See Official Rules
for details.

link to sale

Click to view attachment

We have an '06 Ody EX-L. Personally, we didn't think the benefit of the Touring outweighed the additional cost. The run-flat tires are also relatively expensive to replace.

It's not true that Odys are problem-free. Issues with rattles and squeaks from the sliding doors are very common across all model years. Other common problems are whistling from the windshield and power steering issues. We needed the P/S pump replaced on ours, and have had many issues with doors rattling, and a "clunk" from the steering column when you first get going (also a common complaint). This is only after about 40k miles.

Don't get me wrong -- it's a good van - the fold-flat seats are nice, and it's very roomy; however, I don't think it's a *great* van.

A good place to do research on common complaints and issues for the Odyssey, along with DIY-type help is odyclub.com.

Also, if you do your own maintenance, remember that (1) vans are heavy, (2) the engine compartment is very hard to work in, and (3) low ground clearance in front may mean you need to get new ramps (I did).

We also liked the Ody better than the Sienna - the Sienna felt like it had very imprecise steering. The flip side, is the Sienna comes with an AWD option, which is nice if you're in snow country.

As an alternate data point, one of our friends has the Chevy Uplander and has been very happy with it. She got it because it has AWD, primarily.

Good luck and have fun picking!

I talked to a coworker who had the AWD Sienna with run-flats. He said he went through 13 sets of tires in the first year. They kept going flat. He said the good news is that when they go flat, you can drive it to the dealer to have them replaced.
Wow. You are the only person I've heard have anything negative to say about the Odyssey (other than price). Thanks for the warning!
Ugh! I currently have a Chevy Venture (same as the Uplander before they tried to make it look a bit more like an SUV instead of a van) and it is not a great vehicle. Chevy has stopped making minivans altogether, so I don't really have to warn people away from them anymore.

I have a Pilot and love it. It's not perfect, either. (3 door locks don't work anymore- it's a 2004 with 55K miles)

another site to check for Consumer Complaints, Technical Service Bulletins (TSB) and Recalls is
http://mycarstats.com/

they send me emails whenever there is an update or recall.


edit: what makes the Pilot different than other SUVs was that the Pilot is based on the Odyssey, a passenger van, not a truck. Other SUVs have all been based on a truck.

I believe the Jeep Grand Cherokee was the first SUV to be built on a unibody chassis instead of on a truck frame.
Also, the Acura MDX was based on the Honda Odyssey platform, and preceeded the Pilot by a couple of years.

I want references.

the Jeep Grand Cherokee (1993) was the first SUV to be built on a unibody chassis instead of on a truck frame.
Also, the Acura MDX (2001) was based on the Honda Odyssey platform, and preceeded the Pilot (2003) by a couple of years.

Ok, I think I have a new van.
Gotta transfer the vehicle from another dealership, so everything should be finalized either Monday or Tuesday. I'm crossing my fingers that nothing unforeseen happens before then.

What'd ya end up with?

Let us know how it all works out.

cool!! what color??

UGh. Don't even remind me. I ripped the front bumper off coming down off my ramps ; it had ridiculously low clearance. My wife tags the parking curbs constantly...

crashed my Pilot today in a fender bender. I wasn't going 10mph (parking lot) and this 21 year old in a Dodge RAM PU1500 (HUGE truck) turned into me.



Click to view attachment

Sorry dejavu.

I picked up my new van today! It's a Silver 2009 Honda Odyssey EX. Seems nice so far.

Have fun with it!

nice.. how much u manage to haggle?

sorry to hear dat.

I didn't. I used the Costco Auto Program. I paid $300 over invoice, minus $1250 dealer incentive for getting a 2009.

They gave me $4000 for my trade-in, which is in line with what Edmunds quotes, and much higher than the $1800 the Toyota dealer was going to give me. The body was beginning to rust pretty bad on the rocker panels of my Chevy. I knew it needed at least one repair that would have cost me $480 to fix, and my mechanic was recommending another $200 worth of service, and I wanted to get rid of it before it was due for inspection again, so I was happy to get 4K for it.

garsh, I think you will be quite happy with it. Silver is a great color for the heat!
What an excellent deal!! wow!

check this out, you are in one of the best/safest vehicles according to this chart!

source
(see page 8)

Thanks dejavu! Pretty interesting.
My old Intrepid seems to rank pretty well too.

I looked at the MSN specs for the Odyssey and was puzzled on two different sets of MPG for what seems to be the same drivetrain. Elsewhere, I found the more upscale models had an engine with a 10.5 to 1 compression ratio, while the lower end vans engine was 10 to 1. Now is higher octane gasoline required for the van that gets better milage or is that a moot point.

EX-L and touring uses Variable Cylinder Management™ (VCM®) technology.
This VCM® engine is programmed to run on 3, 4 or 6 cylinders, based on the power requirement (compared to only a 3- or 6-cylinder mode in the previous-generation VCM® engines). Powered by the intelligence of i-VTEC® technology, VCM® quickly and seamlessly activates or deactivates 2 or 3 cylinders. So you get the best of both worlds: V-6 power when accelerating or climbing, as well as the efficiency of a smaller engine while cruising.

No, it runs on 87. As maestro says, the VCM feature is what changes the MPG. My van has that feature, and except for a little light on the dash when it's on, you can't tell a difference. The 3 cylinder feature reminds me of my wife's old Geo Metro