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Comments
2. Can't comment but would hope the system "rotates" somehow so that wear is evenly distributed but I don't know.
3. When I test drove the Ody, the Lazy Susan appeared to be great for the middle row people but it is very awkward for the driver and front passenger. Plus it doesn't rotate when the little door is pen but only when the large door is open which opens against the driver if I remember correctly.
4. I would have killed for that feature in my old Astro.
Chevy helped keep you out of prison, it seems... ;-)
A Honda salesman (so take this with a grain of salt) told us that it's always the rear 3 cylinders which shut down.
ETA
2) Do Ody drivers miss AWD in snowy inclement weather?
3) I have to confess, my wife also has issues with driving a minivan and I do not. Practicality must be a y-linked trait!
hoping to decide between the two in the next few weeks. Our twins arrive this summer. I was leaning toward the AWD Sienna living in the NE, but like the nav system and pricing better in the Ody
http://www.hondacars.com
2) Unless you get a lot of snow (i.e. frequent 6" or worse storms) or have a steep private driveway I would say skip the AWD (see the Sienna club web site to discover the crappy mileage you can expect if you go this route)
3) I assume these are your first children - congratulations! The minivan is absolutely, without any doubt, the best vehicle for young families (my opinion based on personal experience AND several friends who swore they would never own a van, had kids, bought a van and now confess they really like having a van!)
I struggled with the same Sienna vs. Ody decision (you probably will be happy with either one and will never know if the other one would have been slightly "better").
I finally made up my mind and will be picking up my new 05 Ody EX tomorrow (bye bye 96 Windstar).
We are torn between the Odyssey EX and the Toyota XLE with option 7, though leaning toward the Honda. We are have a 3.5 yr old and I am expecting twins this spring.
My question is whether or not anyone has experience having extra tether attachment points installed by Honda behind the third row seats? We were able to do that in my old Saturn. I realize this is not as safe as using latch--I am thinking of times when we are hauling extra children around and would take short journeys with extra car seats.
My second question is about AWD--we have lived in CT for 3 years and in our 94 Saturn SL2 and 2002 Saturn L100 we have never needed AWD. Is this going to be different in a minivan?
Thanks for any help you can offer. BTW we are edging toward the Honda because of the easier access to the DVD for long trips, the plus one seat, handling issues, and price. I prefer the flexibility of the 7-seat arrangement in the Sienna, the greater number of Latch points, and subjectively, the interior and exterior looks.
I feel I must comment on the thread as to women having more issues with being seen in a minivan. Speaking as a card (and twin)-carrying woman, I care not at all what I look like in a minivan. Better than a 94 Saturn.
Cheers all,
Erin
My second question boils down to this--we have never *needed* AWD for our cars, for which we use snow tires, though I have no doubt it might have been useful a few times. Does the additional weight, size, etc. of a minivan create a need which I might not have anticipated?
Thanks again,
Erin
If you take a look at safercar.gov, you'll see that the only van that has a safety concern alert on it is the Odyssey. Do you think that maybe Honda's having IIHS hold off on crash tests until they've corrected the safety concern (the driver's side door opened on the side crash test)?
To be fair, I do remember the 2004 Sienna's having an issue with their crash tests, too. It involved leaking gas tanks and eventually they did a recall. Wondering if the same thing's going to happen to the Odyssey. I remember reading something earlier in this thread about someone who's driver's door would open unexepectedly. Maybe it's all related?
Not trying to pick on the Odyssey here, I have a Honda and a Toyota sedan and am torn between the Odyssey and Sienna. Just trying to see if the safety thing might be a problem.
The Ody has a few things I wish the Sienna has, and the Sienna has a few things I wish the Ody has.
But if Toyota could incorporate what they did with the 2006 Avalon into the 2006 Sienna, it would be a home run to me: Optitron gauge, chrome grille, plenty of woodtrim, Voice-Activate NAV, Smart-Key Access, and 6 CD changer in NAV models?
It's like combining the best of the Ody and Sienna into one awesome minivan.
Now that's a concept!
Haven't they thought of that?
Hopefully by now?
NOT.
Peace.
Thanks
The additional weight of a minivan makes traction better in the snow. Ever see people put weight in the back of their pickups for traction? Same principle.
A fully loaded minivan with snow tires will probably do better in the snow than many 4wd vehicles.
That's also why I have ruled out the Honda in favor of the AWD Sienna. Yes the Honda will be ok 99% of the time but that other 1% creates too many hassles that I don't want to deal with.
Let's us not waste any more of our time on this!
hhmm seatbelt in the Honda is securely anchored to the frame and stays put along with occupant. Toyota is secured to seat so when seat flies loose, so does occupant. Winner - Honda!
The noise of the Honda engine compared to a Toyota is alot more noisier and a rougher drive, the Honda feels like a cargo van with the lazy daisy hideaway storage is a neat idea, but it creates more road noise as there is no insulation to prevent it.
You can fill the hole with insulation but then the space become unusable. Hard to have useable space and insulation at the same time.
A TV show I watched - Name of show please, hopefully not a demo show at the Toyota dealer)
showed a Honda and a Toyota side by side, to prove who was better and the toyota had more speed (Honda more get up and go)
I would rather have get up and go when I get on the freeway at 4:45Pm than top end speed which won't be used rarely. (I don't get through Bonneville Salt Flats too often.)
Toyota better gas mileage. Toyota quieter, Toyota Nicer, and the honda does not have a good heating system with the vents in the rear of the vehicle for heating that is so stupid. Honda wants to consume more gas and energy to cool the van with very little venting. hah hah.
Hhmmm- We complain about vents in the rear to heat the occupants. So you would rather have a system with cooling vents but no heat for the winter??? What is so stupid about having vents for heating in the back?
Not sure what the problem is. you complain about heating vents then complain about the energy to cool the vehicle. Which do you want. Seems I have read the vents in the back of the Toyota Sienna only cool but don't heat. Lovely for wintertime.
Your posts comfuses me. What do you want? A vehicle with poor acceleration for faily driving and a vehicle with no heat in the back?
There are some interesting behaviors of those so-called Odyssey fans. They seems that anybody says something again Odyssey is not knowledgable and is a "sour grapes' person.
I have been looking for a minivan for more than one year and waiting for 2nd year model of Sienna.
For me, no minivan is perfact. Any minivan has its pros and cons. I just picked up what meets my needs. Although Odyssey is praised as best minivan but is not best for me. I am the person to use the minivan. I choose what is best for me. Not some magzine reviewers. Here is the list I don't like Odyssey:
1. The front legroom is shorter than Sienna. 40.8 in vs 42.9 in. I am 6 feet tall. My leg is not comfortable when I sit in Odyssey. BTW, no telescopic steering wheel on Odyssey is not good either.
2. The sunroof should be optional. My head touches the ceiling when I sit in Odyssey Touring.
3. The leather on Odyssey is not nice as Sienna's.
4. The Odyssey sliding door tracks keep annoying me. Why can't Honda engineers just hide it? It's ugly. Because the track position, it makes the gas cap look ridiculous.
5. The overall exterior looking of Odyssey is dumb. It makes the van look more heavier. The front head chrome stripe is too wide.
6. I like to move the second row passenger seat to middle. The seat belt mounted on frame is not convienent for people accessing third row when the person on second row seat has the seat belt on. If you think about in the incident that the seat is loose, your body is not tied to frame either because one end of seat belt is on the seat.
7. The Hondy dealer's arrogance pushed me away from Odyssey. The Toyota dealers are very willing to deal.
Of course I like some standard features of Odyssey, such as side airbags, traction control, rear disc brake, etc. But I just feel that Sienna meets my need.
BTW, all minivans are boring. They are not sports cars. I don't feel any excitement when driving minivan. It's just a utility vehicle.
I don't understand how excite some Odyssey fans are. Maybe the best review makes the Odyssey owner superior?
I'm least bothered by the track as I find all mini-vans rather ugly.
Unfortunately, these forums are written communication and those challenged in writing catch a fair share of ..., well, "stuff" (this being a family forum and all....).
Some of your other complaints seem more subjective in nature (appearance of door tracks, style of van, etc.). To each his own.
I also agree that I believe the way that Toyota mounted the seat belt for the moveable 2nd row seat was better (ummm, sportymonk? If the seat 'flies loose' it's not gonna make a BIT of difference where the seatbelt is mounted since that will be the least of your worries. That was just lame.)
All that being said, we like the underfloor storage in the Ody. We like the fact that every Ody had all the safety features we were looking for. And we liked the fact that we didn't have to screw with all the junk that Gulf States Toyota typically puts on the vehicles here in Texas. I don't know where you are, but locally the best I could get a Sienna XLE equipped comparably to our Ody EX-L was around $32,300+TTL (and at that, the sales staff acted like they were making a HUGE concession). We were able to pick up an Ody EX-L for $28,600+TTL in Houston.
Personally, my wife and I thought that the Sienna was just a BIT better than the Odyssey....but certainly not nearly $4k better.
Good luck with your Sienna. They are REALLY nice vans.
I like the underneath storage idea on Odyssey too. It can keep your precious items out of sight. I drove some places for sightseeing. I cannot find a good space to hide my digital SLR on Sienna.
I paid dealer's invoice + $200 + TTL. Since I don't want all the junk put by Gulf States Toyota. I ordered my van thru Champion Toyota in Austin. It delivered just one week after I ordered. Pretty impressive.
Like you said, both are really nice minivans. Just pick up the one which fits your needs and you feel comportable. There is no need to bang other vans which are not the one you chose.
BTW, I am also a little bit worried about the Odyssey's transmission.
Good luck with your Odyssey too! Enjoy!
Agree on the 3rd row issue: Odyssey seemed to have more room; I think the 3rd row was easier to access in the Sienna. But it's not like I'll be spending any time back there. One other thing I forgot to mention; I like the +1 seat in the Ody A LOT better than the 8 seat version of the Sienna. I was pretty unimpressed when I first saw the +1 seat (?????that thing is supposed to seat a HUMAN???) but was pleasently surprised when I actually used it. Don't think I'd want to ride to Dallas on it but a short trip cross town would be perfectly fine. And I think the 2nd row captains chairs are more comfy than the outboard seats in the Sienna 8-seater. Agree that the leather in the Sienna is better than in the Ody, but then you can't get leather (factory) in a Sienna 8-seater.
The underfloor storage WAS a sales point; but we haven't actually used it yet. I think anything we put in there will be stuff that is RARELY accessed (jumper cables, 1st aid kit, etc.)
All in all, I think they're both very good vans, each with their own set of selling points. I think people just need to determine what THEY are looking for in a van to figure which best fits THEIR needs.
Here in Central Ohio it's the Toyota stores that display the arrogance - a major reason I went with Honda (as well as a lesser street price on a comparably equipped model).
Enjoy your Sienna - it's a fine product.
Most of us have experienced that dealer's attitude could affect somebody's buying decision.
I have a friend who is looking for a minivan because he will have second kid soon. He leans to Odyssey. He owns two Camry now. One is 15 years old and one is 5 years old. Both are running great. He just simply wants to switch to another auto manufacturer.
My Sienna is my third Toyota vehicle. I wanted to buy a Honda van. I shopped 2004 and 2005 Odyssey but chose Sienna at the end. Like I said before, both are fine vehicles. It won't go wrong if I choose any one. I just don't like to see that one minivan owner puts all "bad" words on the other.
My requirements were 1) Have to be able to fit a piece of plywood in the back, 2) AWD or 4WD, 3) 4-wheel disc brakes, 5) Reasonably affordable, and 6) Reasonable gas mileage. The Sienna is the only 2005 model minivan that meets all these criteria.
I did look at alternatives like the Suburban (which has worse gas mileage and is outside my budget in 4WD) and the long-bed Silverado (poor gas mileage, no standard rear disc brakes for 2005, no Quadrasteer [with rear discs] option for long beds).
I really did not want a pickup (having had one is the past) because sometimes I do need to get a sheet or two of plywood and sometimes I do need to take 5 or 6 people someplace. My 1994 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport, at 216K miles, is getting long in tooth and after spending 8 years in the Pacific Northwest, AWD and 4-wheel disc brakes were something I wasn't going to do without on my next purchase.
I don't understand why this would be such a big deal. they really don't stop you any faster or last any longer.
Moot point, since most cars will have these but I'm just asking.
Me, I wouldn't care either way but given a choice, I would go for the discs.
Just curious, that's all.
I would lay off the Armor-all if I were you for a number of reasons.
Ask any professional detailer, they hate it. I've seen dashboards crack a week after Armor All was applied...mine!