-September 2024 Special Lease Deals-
2024 Chevy Blazer EV lease from Bayway Auto Group Click here
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee lease from Mark Dodge Click here
2025 Ram 1500 Factory Order Discounts from Mark Dodge Click here
2024 Chevy Blazer EV lease from Bayway Auto Group Click here
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee lease from Mark Dodge Click here
2025 Ram 1500 Factory Order Discounts from Mark Dodge Click here
Comments
Any how, glad to hear you're having a better experience now.
We crammed 7 and lots of luggage for a road trip to the beach this weekend and averaged 26mpg (07 Sienna LE FWD), our all-time low for a highway trip. It was the heaviest load I've carried, so that makes sense.
One of the reasons we got rid of the HONDA was the cheap plastic everywhere especially inside all around and felt very stressed with all this money spent, you end up w/o quality interior/exterior (paint had started to come off)...
I can go on and on... but you get my point...
I just think that's acceptable in a minivan.
Don't recall whether you've ever said what year it is - why wasn't it repaired under warranty since the paint was obviously defective?
I went to two different supervisors at American Honda before I finally was told to see the Honda PSR, or something like that - basically an arbitrator who works directly for Honda but has an office at the dealer - who took a look and said it was normal wear and tear and would not be covered under the warranty. Unfortunately, I did not go to them before the regular 3/36 expired, although it was covered with extended warranty to 100k, but I was told this did nothing for the body or paint. He told me that he thought I probably hit it too hard with a pressure washer. Well, after seeing how thin the paint is on this thing, I'm not surprised he would say that. I just expected it to be more durable than that. There are literally at least hundreds, probably thousands, of little pin-hole sized chips (some are typical looking chips, others are lines about one to two mm's long) everywhere on the body, mostly on the hood... but not limited to the hood. Against the dark blue paint, they really jump at you. Using black colored wax helps, but still... I had made up my mind by that time anyway that I did not want to keep it. All I can say is the paint on our previous van, a '98 Pontiac Montana, held up much better after 6 years and 109k miles and it only left my wife stranded four times in the six years we owned it, compared to probably six or seven for the Ody (however, the Pontiac DID blow an engine... and a rear main seal a couple years later... and had countless minor and major electrical problems - worst car ever made in my opinion).
Well, I don't recall saying I "dumped" the Honda. I did buy the Sienna - the Honda is still in my driveway. I just think it's a good idea to keep a spare Actually the Honda is for sale, so hopefully it won't be around too much longer. There's a whole lot of 'em for sale right now which is making for a slow market, apparently. The dealer would only give me about $16k for it, and it books between $16.3 and $19.6, so I figured I'd sell on my own.
I just think that's acceptable in a minivan."
ateixeira, you are so diplomatic
cccompson, do you work for Honda? I am and have always been very careful at the carwash and have never put the wand closer than maybe three feet from the car, so I don't know how I could've abused it, as was suggested. I wasn't conceding any points to the Honda rep, I simply said that I had made up my mind that my Ody was going to go anyway and I could see that it was going to be a battle if I was going to get anywhere as far as getting the paint fixed to my satisfaction. The paint that peeled behind the driver side sliding door was thinner than paper. There is no excuse for that on a $30K plus car. I fixed the spot where the paint peeled off, now I have replaced it with the Sienna and I'm sure some Honda loyalist will purchase my Ody and be very happy with it, in spite of everything about it that I was dissatisfied with.
Using too-high pressure will strip paint completely, you'd see a tear or lines in the paint at the edge of the spray. Not pin holes.
Don't ask me how I know.
Sounds more like it was contaminated at the factory prior to paint, and the paint was laid on unevenly.
gotoyota - let me get this straight, you even had an extended warranty? They still didn't help you? :confuse:
If so, that's sad. You would hope Honda would go out of their way to help in a borderline case like this, at least for a customer that paid more for the warranty.
Yup. I bought the extended warranty thinking it was an extension of the factory 3/36, which is how the finance guy pitched it. In most ways, it was, but it did not cover rust, corrosion, or as I found out, paint defects. They were great about fixing my passenger side sliding door when it failed to close properly at 46k, to their credit, but they wanted nothing to do with the paint. I even pulled out the big guns and told them it looked like I was wrong to expect my Honda to last like my Toyota's had, and maybe it was a mistake to buy it and maybe I should just go trade it in for a Sienna, but all I got was "I understand.... I can see why you feel this way.... I'm sorry you feel this way...." and in the end, they did not fix what I believe is a defective paint job, and way too thin to begin with. You have to see it to believe it. It looks great from several feet away, it's just when you get close to it, like when you wash or wax it - then you see the flakes. And when you look underneath the top of the rear hatch, for instance, they didn't even apply a full coat; the paint just fades into gray, and it's all curling up and flaking off there, which makes me wonder how long until it starts peeling around the outside, where it's visible.... It has NEVER been involved in ANY accidents, it has no bodywork. I just didn't want to let it consume my life trying to get them to fix it. So I moved on and bought the Sienna.... now if I can just get someone to buy that Odyssey sitting in my driveway...
To be honest, it almost sounds like your van was hail damaged and re-painted before you ever bought it.
Did you buy it new? How many miles at the time? How much time between the build date (on the driver door jamb) and the day you took delivery?
Don't really agree that dark blue is a "very difficult paint to do right." There was some talk (here or on another thread) about blotchy silver paint on some Odysseys. Due to it high metallic content, silver can be tough to get consistent color.
On my '05, the blue is only ok - there's too much orange peel (typical of the industry) and the left corner of the rear bumper is horribly mismatched (almost a purple color) against the quarter when viewed in bright sunlight. Again, though, that's not terribly unusual with soft painted parts.
On yours, the problem is just weird. Most severe factory problems I've seen relate the paint coming off in sheets due to poor adhesion - this seems to be most common with blues, silvers, and grays.
The paint that peeled behind the driver side power door came off in what I suppose could be called a sheet. When I discovered it, there was about 1.5"x.5" size area where the paint was just missing (inside the door frame, so it was somewhat inconspicuous) and at first I thought some wax dripped down there and I just missed it (done that plenty of times before) so I wiped it with a rag, and then more paint came off. Then I noticed there was approximately an inch by .5 inch or so above and below it where you could still see a bubble in the paint, so I ended up cleaning that off, and since it wasn't on one of the outer surfaces, I did the repair work myself using touch up paint from the dealer (no prior experience unless you count all the model airplanes and cars I did as a kid). It actually looks pretty decent and you can't even see it now, unless you know where to look and what to look for... but the little pin hole size chips all over appear to be the same kind of thing, just smaller. It looks like the paint simply lost adhesion, like you said, just in smaller areas... But I have noticed a couple tiny little spots where the paint appears to be raised up slightly around the "hole". Another scenario I've considered is that due to the paint being so thin, maybe it's possible that rocks and other objects could flip up and hit it from the side just as well as the front and that's causing the damage??? :confuse: I dunno.
I've never noted much difference in factory paint thickness between any of the manufacturers.
At the other extreme, paint that is extra-thick is not desirable due to chipping potential, i.e., a stone chip will likely be more pronounced if too many coats of paint have been applied.
if i'm not mistaken, i think the paint is being influenced by environmental regs isn't it? i mean, the formulations used to be much stronger but the process involved environmentally unhealthy chemicals. maybe these other vehicles are painted overseas?
My problem is that so far I have sent the vehicle back once for poor workmanship on the repaint. I have not seen it yet since. The dealer is try to get Honda to go for a full repaint of the entire affected area for consistency since the blends are extremely noticeable on a silver vehicle.
How many coats should I allow them to do before pressing them for a sand down. I do not want the paint to be too thick as ccompson said it chip[s easier and is harder to repair?
They should wet sand it down to give a good base for adhesion which will take off some of the clearcoat. They won't put on any more paint than they have to!
Summary of minivans:
Odyssey 19,324
Sienna 11,099
Caravan 9548
T&C 8838
The Quest and Entourage are really hurting.
It's a shame GM gave up. The Uplander was a lazy update, if you ask me. And they used the pushrod 3500 engine.
GM made a much better effort with the Lambdas that will eventually replace those vans.
Toyota does have more fleet sales than Honda, but get this.
I'm shopping for a minivan rental for next month, in Tampa. I got quotes for 4 days in an Uplander: $220. Sienna: $630!
SIX HUNDRED THIRTY DOLLARS? What the?! :mad:
All I can say is they must give those Uplanders away to fleets. Though it's nice to know that the rental company thinks the Sienna is worth nearly triple the cost.
I'm not paying $600 plus, though, for 4 days. That's ridiculous.
My father in law rented a Sienna back in December last year in Illinois and I think he paid $300 something for about the same number of days... I wonder what gives??
I might get a convertible. There's only 4 of us, not that much luggage. I'm curious to try a new Sebring anyway. I'm just afraid I'll get stuck with a PT Cruiser, as that would *not* have enough cargo space.
First off, the rental agency offered a Chevy Uplander, not a Chrysler. You're putting words in my mouth. :P
Any how, prices are up slightly now, at about $280.
The Sienna is $643. :sick:
My point is this - in the new-car market, an Uplander carries a small price advantage, maybe $22k vs. $25k for my Sienna. So you save only 12%.
But in renting, you save 56%!
Imagine if you could buy a brand new Uplander for $11,000. You might overlook a lot of flaws for that price.
Any how, we decided we will be packing light and just got an intermediate sedan. I'm not even sure exactly what we'll get - G6 maybe, though I'd rather sample a Saturn Aura if they have it.
I think he meant the Chrysler Sebring Convertible you were mentioning. I could be wrong, but that's how I interpreted it.
I said we would not fit in a PT Cruiser.
I said I would consider a Sebring. It's so new I'm not sure if it's even been crash tested yet.
Besides, we both own vans and this is a van thread.
I wouldn't mind a 2008 Grand Caravan as a rental at all. It's just not offered by this rental company.
Didn't mean to imply that you did; only meant to try and clarify the Chrysler you were referencing in your post.
I wouldn't mind renting a 2008 Grand Caravan at all, in face I've stated in other threads that I'm interested in test driving one.
hansienna is mistakenly assuming I have a bias against Chrysler. Last time in Florida we rented a Sebring.
So, while times have changed, its still hard to look into a brand when we've been bitten not once but twice by them.
Lately, I tend not to say much about Chrysler at all unless factual, since I know I carry this bias. I can't see myself personally spending money on a Chrysler product at any point in the distant future; it may not be logical, but hey, its my money, I don't have to be!
Twice Bitten, Shy Forever?
ALL seats are MORE comfortable for me than the comparable seats of the 2006, 2007, or 2008 Siennas that I have sat in.
The "Plus 1" seat (middle seat 2nd row) of the Odyssey EX is comfortable for me if the armrests of the outside 2nd row seats are in the up position and are slid forward or back the same distance. NONE of the 2nd row seats of either a 7 or 8 passenger Sienna are comfortable for me (or my daughter).
My wife likes the Sienna front passenger seat better than the Ody because of the little storage bin under the padded armrest of the front doors. The 3rd row seats are easier to access in the Sienna than in the Ody because the Sienna 2nd row seat folds forward and tumbles whereas the Ody 2nd row seat slides forward and then folds forward.
Both the Ody and Sienna have excellent "toe space" under the front seats for 2nd row passengers and under 2nd row seats for 3rd row passengers but the Odyssey seems to have more leg room for 3rd row passengers when 2nd row seats have the same amount in each.
The Sienna is a very nice minivan but the Odyssey is a little bit nicer. :shades: