No Regrets Minivan: I am a Honda Odyssey owner for a year, and I love - There are 365 days we drove away from the Honda dealership in ...
There are 365 days we drove away from the Honda dealership in a brand new 2015 Honda Odyssey EX.
While the minivan property has never been an aspiration of mine, nor was I ever in the state of mind that the property is minivan, it is obvious that I'm a parent. I figure the first boy we brought the IWK Health Centre had already made it quite apparent; belly swollen my wife with another boy serves as further evidence.
The children, a 70-pound Boxer / Ibizan mix, regular childcare responsibilities, always present InStep bike trailer, frequent visits of grandparents, and a house renovation that is not quite the two thirds do not complete mandate minivan property.
But the minivan property makes you life easier.
A year in the four years experience Honda Odyssey, there are no regrets.
to recap.
ODYSSEY?
We came twice near the trigger on a Toyota Sienna SE, but despite aggressive offers our local Toyota dealer, we could not adjust. Sienna, particularly after updating MY2015 is a carrier of the exceptional family, but it feels like a gargantuan SUV, that is, making his way on the road.
We were not open to the Kia Sedona (misbehavior and handling balance, a bad back design of the first row), Nissan Quest (poor crash tests, not really available in Canada) or Mazda5 (no room for anything else with six humans on board).
Three of my four siblings and one of the brothers of my wife already owned Dodge Grand Caravan. We, as they do not enjoy driving Grand Caravan. Nevertheless, the Grand Caravan pricing system was too affordable to ignore completely. But because our neighbor had broken his F-150 in our Kia Sorento causing an insurance claim substantially equal to the value of our vehicle, evaluations of Chrysler dealers were so low that the Grand Caravan has become expensive. We were shopping around Halifax, Nova Scotia, for different vehicles at dealerships of all stripes and meeting varying degrees of poor deals on our trade, which had spent two months being repaired, but we were still surprised when Chrysler would not even make an offer on our Sorento.
We also examined the crew cab pickups, but did not want to bring a wet dog among the people. The Ford Flex was just too expensive. The Chevrolet Suburban, we want both, was overpriced new and still expensive (and only available) in the form used. Price Honda Pilot was essentially CAD $ 5,000 more than the equivalent Odyssey, we did not really want the old, and we were not going to wait to get a new attractive pilot in its first model year. (The Honda Pilot Canada-provided we finally examined was, in fact, full of electronic gremlins.)
Fortunately, our friends who own Centennial Honda in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, made a fair offer on our trade, threw a package of accessories, and from the mainland obsidian Blue Odyssey we wanted. With outrageously strong residues, the lease on Odyssey EX, as opposed to lower trim levels with slightly poorer and similar payments residue was our monthly expenses by a substantial margin.
FUEL?
In the mainly urban driving, our 2015 Honda Odyssey achieves 23.5 miles per gallon better than the 19 mpg city and 22 mpg combined ratings EPA. The onboard computer often reads 30.2 mpg on highway getaways, better than the 28 mpg EPA highway rating of the Odyssey. We are not aggressive driving, revving the 3.5-liter V6 to redline with Grammie and Grampie in the third row, but we do not treat the Odyssey with gloves, either.
More power is not necessary. A smooth automatic shifting six-speed transmission would, however, make the most of the ample butter smooth V6 torque. Quicker steering, 52 additional horsepower, 235 / 50R19s, a half-inch reduction in ride height and available all-wheel drive would create a very desirable Odyssey If I certainly buy or rent, Sienna SE tomorrow. Everyone get in line behind me?
COST?
With only 9,000 miles on the odometer rolled the Odyssey in the last twelve months, our truck has only been in the service routine once. This service ended at Centennial Honda, was free. We have, however, visited Portland Street Honda because of grinding, screeching, groaning, carving sliding doors. One visit, covered by the guarantee was necessary to address the problem
Aside from the fuel, so the only costs in terms of maintenance related to Odyssey tires :. The installation of winter tires and redeem them on this spring, immediately after which a puncture suffered a small charge which was actually covered by Honda Portland Street in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, due to accidental overload during a prior visit.
Oh, and one more thing. Before the start of winter waiting, I removed two wiper blades before the Odyssey for Bosch icons. Coastal living on salted roads require wipers good, and Bosch icons are the best I have encountered. Easy to install, too.
TROUBLE?
issues noisy sliding doors of the Odyssey are not, or are not, only signs of imperfection of our van. The carrier sunglasses, which doubles as a conversation mirror, is too small both as a holder and sunglasses like a conversation mirror. The armrests move with the seats and only two positions: up or down. They are at the wrong height for me, forcing my shoulder deep in my occipital lobe.
We have long overcome dual-screen layout of the Odyssey, a unit infotainment I harshly criticized in the past, but now find perfectly usable. But it took some time, and still do not like to remember how we want our two iPhones to be paired to the phone and audio use.
Although the LATCH system is a stand-out in the industry as a whole, it is a gripping pain and stall the average seatbelts in both rows.
Although the Odyssey is sufficiently attractive to the front and back, I'm not a fan of the sliding door track or uneven horizon of the third line window.
FUTURE?
But these are not defects intrusive. Due to its exceptional fuel economy and high resale values, leasing a Honda Odyssey is a proposal of great value, at least for those with annual mileage is not used as a limiting factor.
Given our situation, it is hard to see we do not continue in the same way as we approach the end of the lease of the van. Our Honda Odyssey leads remarkably like an agreement is solidly built, should be able to keep my family safe in case of danger is present, is everything we throw at it, and does not break the bank.
I'll take three more years of the same, please.
[Image Source: © Timothy Cain/The Truth About Cars]
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net , who is obsessed with the free publication and frequent US and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow us on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and Facebook .
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