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Honda Odyssey vs Dodge/Chrysler minivans
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Comments
They were driving a used 1992 Astro that they still drive. His wife bought a new 1988 Honda Accord 4 door sedan a few years before they got married and had the transmission replaced at about 60,000 miles. :sick:
He drives the Accord to work.
Just some Emotorcons for hans :P
True, but there are many vehicles on the road that are "best selling" AND considered best in class.(i.e Toyota Camry) Since, minivans are generally a 20-30's thousand dollar purchase(the range where most vehicle purchases take place)...it is not logical to lump them in the same category as 60 thousand dollar sports cars.
Basically you have say, one million buyers who vote each year for DCX vans(by buying them)...and 500,000 who vote for Ody vans(by buying them). And then you have the mag rag reviews, who vote by not buying, but by taking a test drive. Where would a logical person put his money???
Well, to answer my own question. The logical person would look at both, then chose the one that best suited his needs/wants(not some magazines...or the companys sales numbers)
Then you have those whose logic exceeds Mr. Spocks himself...they would purchase a Mazda MPV. :P
As it has been suggested before, a lot depends on how much money that logical person has.
I don't remember seeing exact sales numbers for fleet purchases. "great many" can mean anything. Does anyone really know? or have a "great" source for this, since I don't consider this dead just based on opinions.
It's hard keeping track of all their problems when one needs to store another link for it. Plus its not fair to potential buyers, who should be educated on the good and the bad.
DCX is back to 0% for 60 months. Giving them away also helps.
And your source of this information is?????
Sure I could easily afford a Honda Ody. I could easily buy two and pay cash for them. But I'm retired now and the money I saved buying the Dodge, almost paid for our 18 day trip for me and my wife to Europe last year. Besides, the Ody didn't have the stow-in-go seats I wanted and to get the power rear hatch would cost over $30,000 for the Ody.
I really liked the GPS on the Honda, but after checking around, it made more sense to buy a portable one. While it's not got as big a screen as the Ody and won't let me see behind me, it also didn't cost me $2,000.00 extra to buy it.( Less than five hundred with tax and three year warranty.) Plus, I can use it in any car I'm driving, which you can't do with the one in the Honda. It even has a battery so you can even use it on a bike or boat.
What I'm saying is, for the value and what it does, Honda couldn't beat it for the price. The fifteen hundred I saved on the GPS, will come in handy on our next trip to Vegas, and my GPS will tell me how to get there, just like your Ody.
I "believe" it's about 1/64th of sales then. I pulled my "belief" from someplace where the sun don't shine. Same place for you?
Look at it this way: DCX sells more vans as fleet sales than Honda/Toyota sells as fleet sales. I don't anyone would debate this. So?
Even if you take away fleet sales, DCX still sells more vans than either Honda or Toyota.
Again, so? What's the point?
For the DCX fans, this just means that the DCX vans offer more value for more people. This neither 'proves' nor 'disproves' what van is 'better'. What it DOES mean is that (apparently) DCX knows what it's doing with regard to minivan design. Much more so than either Ford or GM.
Do those high sales numbers mean it's the 'best' minivan for me or thegraduate? No, perhaps we've got slightly different criteria from DCX folks.
Life would be pretty boring if we ALL drove DCX vans, just as it would if we all drove Hondas.
I know its not complete information, but at least it gives a general idea, that it is 15-20% of sales. Bloomberg Business' website reports that Ford and GM have close to 40% fleet sales of their Freestar/Uplander vans, so Chrysler at least has THEM beat, but then again, the Chrysler van is a lot better than these, period.
Thanks but this really doesn't help.....That 17% could have been leftover Neons.
Dusty
The New York State police and US Border Patrol are now buying Durangos. Michigan and Ohio have just signed large fleet contracts for Dodge Charger police cars. Chrysler has been notably missing in the police car arena for some time (since the Diplomat series ended), so fleet sales should be on the increase for them.
In the microcosmic form of our local Enterprise Car Rental, there are two Dodge Caravans, two Mazda MPVs, and three just added Ventures.
Dusty
From january to sept of 2005 it was 25.4% of sales. Im sure the minivan section is slightly higher!!
link title
Look under 3rd Quarter fact sheet.
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Anywho, last time I checked, the Odyssey/Sienna didn't have a smaller, $17-22k alternative to the Caravan.
That may account for the sales difference?
DrFill
It's because I had 3 as company cars and Dennis also said he had one. When I had my fleet car thru Wheel Inc. almost all the field guys had caravans! Most stuff in this forum is SUSPECT!!!
I've had 2 SWB Caravans with 3.0 engines...96 and 99, both very trouble free. But I know Tyco, as a corporation chooses one vehicle via PHH or Wheels as "The" car....currently it's a Taurus. At the time, I was on the Chrysler sales team so they made exception for OEM teams and I had my Caravan. I now call on Visteon (Formerly Ford Electronics) and I'm stuck with the Taurus. (POC).
So what I'm seeing here - NO BODY KNOWS for certain, just everyone's personal opinions.
You sure you weren't watching "The Jetsons"? The Starship Enterprise was powered by a dilithium crystal. Nuclear reactors were considered primitive...kind of like that minivan you're driving. (just kidding)
jpnewt was directing his post to jipster.....who drives a Mazda MPV. I believe the comparisons in jpnewt's post were between the Ody and the MPV, not the Ody and the Caravan.
To be truthful, all this back and forth regarding fleet sales just makes my eyes glaze over.
Personally, if I were in the market for a van (or truck or car or whatever), the % of vehicles sold as fleet sales (whether it is high or low) would have ZERO interest to me.
Zip. Nada. Zilch.
Just as the total number of units sold has no importance to me. My criteria for choosing a vehicle may include performance or safety or reliability or cost of ownership or utility or style or any number of other factors.
But the ONLY reason I might chose a vehicle based on sales numbers would be to chose one with the LOWER number of sales (all else considered roughly equal) just so I can break away (somewhat) from all the other lemmings.....
Thanks but this really doesn't help.....That 17% could have been leftover Neons.
The DCX fleet sales of minivans.
My apologies for not making that perfectly clear. I mentioned GM's and Ford's vans later on, I assumed that would be enough to clarify that I was referring to Dodge's minis.
You continue to post partial information. So regulate yourself. I don't care if you down the Honda product I've seen lots of things on here and they make me laugh! I do have fleet data from forbes for Dodge caravan in 2002 fleet=60,493 and overall sales = 244,911 so about 25% are fleet for that YEAR. As usual you have NOTHING but opinion!!
More systems for less money
It was??? Your "facts" were so far off...I didn't know who's minivan you were speaking of. The Mazda MPV has more front headroom than Ody. It DOES have a moonroof as an available option. You can "buy" a MPV for around $4,000-$6,000 less than compariable equipped Ody. It doesn't have climate control...but we didn't want climate control. We have it on our Buick Regal...I think it(climate control) bites...prefer manual controls much better.
The MPV is a big vehilce,though not a big minivan, which was what we wanted. The perfect size, space, features, safety, quality, reliability for our family. NOW...THAT is why it is the BEST minivan...for me. That, my Clingon friend...is pure logic.
The preceeding post was comparing the Ody to the MAZDA MPV, not any DCX vans.
Thank you. :P