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Comments
My question to anyone interested is this..
Is the Desert Rock color considered a dark or light color?
TIA!
mick
With the AC in use during summer, I cannot detect any difference in comfort level(i.e. regarding heat radiation inside the vehicles) while driving any of the vehicles. So as far as we are concerned, colors make no difference unless one intends to not buy a car with AC or not use it if you have it.
Colors DO make a difference in the inability to hide dust and dirt.
bottom line guys- its a great SAFE van for your wife to drive the kids around, ie a great second car.
As a prime vehicle, in retrospect, I would have loved to pay more a few bucks more for more refinement in these areas.
To would be buyers - take one for a good long ride and when in doubt wait another year. HOnda Brass has people screening these sites for comments.
I wanted to thank each of you for your information and advise regarding our recent purchase. We are now owners of a black/ivory '05 EX-L. My family and I moved up from an '02 MPV (due to a new baby) because it offered us so much more room for a family of 7 (well, 10 if you count our Lab and 2 birds :-). Sadly, we dealt with several local dealers who wanted $1500.00+ over MSRP AND wanted to lowball us on our trade-in. One even threatened us by stating should we buy our vehicle elsewhere- any service we required from their dealership will be considered less than a priority
We had to go out of the state to get a good deal on our trade in. Deland Honda located in Florida was the only one we found willing to give us more than trade-in-value on our ’02 MPV van. (We had 70,000+ miles on it, but it was in good shape with TV tuner, DVD player, roof rack, etc). This all began thanksgiving weekend as we were driving back to GA and happened to see a billboard on I-4 for Deland Honda exit 116. We decided, “Hey what do we have to lose.” We exited the interstate and finally found the dealership (it’s small to average in size). We got there about 6pm and they were getting ready to close. They had 2 EXL’s on the lot that was just delivered; but they were the wrong color. (They had just sold the black EXL-R&N that morning).
Anyway, they stayed open and talked to us. Although it was past closing time, they treated our children well. The boys made themselves "at home" in the showroom - but amid all the "sit downs" "stop its" and "that's enoughs" :-) we were able to determine that this dealership might be the one to earn our business. The sticking point for us was not paying anything else on the MPV. (The sale guy originally started at the same price we were quoted by the other dealers in GA (Tampa and Orlando, Florida) also - we went back and forth on the amount we were willing to accept. The GM (he dealt with us directly - not just playing games between the sales guy and the "hidden boss"). By the end of the conversation, they offered us more than what we had been quoted but it still was not pay-off. Finally, we left and told them we would call them back and let them know our decision. When we did call back the next day (last Sunday of the month) it was to tell them that were would continue to look elsewhere, but the GM stated that he would meet our asking amount on the trade. Needless to say, we were still cautious about how things would end up and waited for the "other shoe" to drop.
The GM (Tom) stated that he would have to order the vehicle. The following 2 weeks we held our breaths and waited for the bait and switch to take place. He returned our calls each time we called to check on the progress and later informed us that the vehicle was in production for 19 Dec and would be delivered in 2 -3 days. True to his word, on 22 Dec Steven called and announced our Ody’s arrival. They were willing to drive it to us in GA but we were returning to Florida for Christmas and decided to pick it up ourselves on the 24th. When we got there Steven met us and had the van sitting in front of the dealership. While the entire waiting process took us about a month, the actual dealership time was about 1:45 minutes on the day we closed the deal and probably 2 hours the day we initially negotiated the deal.
Considering everything was done by faxes, telephone calls and e-mails prior to us arriving, it was certainly a great buying experience. One that I would recommend to anyone who is looking for a dealership with great selling practices and even greater customer service I obtained their permission to list them here as they pride themselves on being a no pressure dealership. Steven (Sales), Tom (GM) and Marty (F&I) made this experience a excellent one.....Well, all in all my family and I are happy with the purchase and the great features of the Ody. We are planning to install a Panasonic 9" LCD DVD/SD player (roof mounted) and Pioneer AVIC-N1 navigation system with the backup camera (saw it in this forum) on Thursday. I hope that my experience can help someone else to locate and purchase the vehicle of his or her choice. Good luck and I recommend that you try www.delandhonda.com - they came through for us just when we were thinking about waiting until the summer.
H. Ramsey
p.s. Will post pictures once it quits raining here in GA <smile>
We lost power while driving, the engine malfunction light came on and the VSA went off (VSA off light came on). After that, we couldn't go over 20 miles/h.
Towed it to the dealer, but they're not sure what's wrong yet and are pulling the data to send to the engineers at Honda. There are also other 05 Odysseys in the shop there that have been there a couple of days with the same problem. What's going on?
--> Andy
Good luck!
--> Andy
The "run flat" tires (not an option), transmission shifter on the console (I'd buy a Sienna for that) and the generic exterior styling all combined to turn me off to this vehicle.
After examining the feedback here, it seems to be a wise decision. It will be interesting to see how long the dealers will demand and get MSRP for this vehicle. The answer to that may upset some of the "Gotta Have The First" crowd.
Both cost about the same $35k MSRP.
I am tall and like the power pedals in the touring for extra seating flexibility. I also like the built in parking sensors. Leather is preferred. Black leather, specifically which only comes on the touring. Run-flats leave me cold but the better stereo is nice. But the real reason for me to prefer the Touring to the EX-L is the power pedals and parking sensors.
$35k hits some resistance threshold for me on a van. I would prefer to spend $30k on the EX-L but I want those power pedals! :-)
I am guessing an EX-L with Navigation and RES would have better resale than a touring without. So am I crazy to prefer the base Touring trim?
As far as the shifter and the styling...can't help you there. to each his/her own.
I haven't checked but doubt that Nav or RES retains much of its value on a used car - pricey options rarely do. If you're really curious, price a few used vans of various years with and without these options.
Last thought - you may well be able to buy a base Touring for less than an EX-L R&N.
And while MSRP may be close, the actual price paid may not, depending on inventory and negotiating skills. Of course, you could benefit either way based on those factors for each model.
IN EX and L the radio is ready only for the connecting wire so you can control the input on the radio. You need to buy the xm receiver that goes under the drivers seat.
Go to the HandA website and look up the xm receiver and they also show install instructions
I wonder how much adding the parking sensors at the dealer would add to an EX-L?
It is nice that using your nav screen, you can see the singer/song title playing. But, not sure I'll pay for subscription when 3 months is up.
Steve, Host
BTW - Do you think Tire Rack would have those in the right size for my Impala? They look really tempting!
--> Andy
Thanks in advance.
2) Front doors that unlock when the vehicle is in park and you pull the handle instead of having to unlock them.
3) Move the outside temp. guage away from the odometer so passengers can see it.
4) Front windows that squegee the water off of them when you open/close them. Never had a car that would not do this.
5) Front windows that do not drip rain water directly onto the door, mirror, window switches when at a drive thru.
Thank you.
Lou
Give it six months and you might just go back to FM. The crappy repeating songs selection gets pretty old fast.
You can have that on the Touring.
I have 05 ody with DVD. Everything works well except radio and DVD. My DVD doesn't work well in the cold weather (-25c). I took long time to show the picture. Have anyone had the same problem?
Thanks
Peter
We got the problem of the gearshift stick , not releasing
the chrome piece (where the thumb presses) to allow the ignition key to be remove, is very annoying sometimes it takes more than a minute. Back to the dealer.
Lou
Hope any more problems I might have evaporate as easily as this.
I had to parallel park my EX in San Francisco in a tight space between two BMW's. Right when I started to back up, a cab pulled up behind me and stopped to pick up a passenger, so I had to make sure I didn't hit the cab as well. This was the first time I parallel parked the van, and it turned out to be pretty easy. I got it in perfectly on the second try. The BMW in the back was at the end of the curb, so he could back up to get out. To give myself and the car in front of me more room to get out, I wanted to park close to the car in back. The visibility out the van is great, and I was able to park the van about 6 inches away from the car in back by just looking out the rear window.
The parking sensors may have made it harder to park because they would have been sounding continuously two feet away, which wouldn't have helped me in this tight space. I was thinking about getting the Honda parking sensors or an aftermarket system, but based on how easy it was to parallel park the van, I now think I won't. The sensors may be more of an annoyance than a help because they would be beeping when they weren't needed and not being able to signal when the van was closer than 2 feet from an object.