Honda Car Forum

Anger aside, Generally a Honda's reputation is I still maintain my view that
a brand new car for less money is less risk than one 4 years old.

There is definitely rust if the car is from Ontario or Quebec. What's the
history? Was it flood damaged or salvaged after being declared a total loss?

How was it maintained? regular oil changes?


"High Tech Misfit" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:Xns97399246BE1D4hightechmisfit@207.35.177.134 ...
> ER wrote:
>
>> For this price or less , you could get a brand new dodge caravan with a
>> full warranty. They advertise is for around $19,000. If you go through
>> apa.com or similar organizations, the invoice price could be even less,
>> as they tend to go through the fleet manager.
>>
> Why in the hell would he want a Crapsler minivan? Odyssey gets slightly
> better gas mileage, has more power, and a 5-speed automatic vs the
> Caravan's
> 4-speed. Although past Odyssey's had tranny issues, tranny failures are
> much more common on Caravans. Honda at least has been working to fix
> their
> tranny problems, unlike Crapsler. Beyond the tranny issue, the Odyssey is
> still much more reliable. Caravans are proven junk.
>
>
>> The 2002 Odyssey is 4 years old and you don't know its history. There
>> is probably rust starting out inside the bumpers and the top of the
>> doors already - thanks to salt on the winter roads. However it would be
>> worth it to call up Honda or even just do a carfax report to see how
>> much warranty is left.
>
> Any car, foreign or domestic, is bound to develop rust if the proper
> precautions are not taken.

On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 16:04:55 -0500, "Elmo P. Shagnasty"
<elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote:

>In article <VUesf.4136$l87.228344@news20.bellglobal.com>,
> "ER" <ahjgta@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> For this price or less , you could get a brand new dodge caravan with a full
>> warranty.
>
>And for what they charge at a nice restaurant, you could gorge yourself
>and your entire family at McDonald's.

Indeed. Me and the wife were looking at vans a month ago. had a final
choise of 3 vehicles, a 97 town+country with every option, except 4wd
for $6k, a 98 V70 fr $6500 and 3rd row seats, or a 98 ody for $9k

all had similar millage, and clean full service histories. I wanted
the volvo, wife wanted the ody but in the end we got the chrysler,
because its the cheapest, and repair costs were lower (well parts) and
she liked the chrysler colour scheme better than the ody's - and she
saw no rea reason to spend 50% more for a vehicle she didn' like the
interior of. Oh, and her work has a 96 T+C she used to drive (until it
got hit twice in 2 days) that i can probably canabalise for repairs.

It'll be paid in 2 years, and we'll probably get a new ody then, but
they are apples and oranges.

on a side note, went to the local hospital last week, to visit a wifes
relative, just had a premature baby. They're expanding the hospital,
and so the security guy gave us a lift to the visitors entrance in his
05 grand caravan. Gotta say, its nasty and grim in there. Granted I'm
no fan of the "information center" in my 97, but at least they're not
scattered everywhere like in the new ones, and the interior fixtures
and fittings are identical.

>
>What's your point? You're comparing apples to oranges.

In article <Xns9739A3827ED85hightechmisfit@207.35.177.134>,
High Tech Misfit <me@privacy.net> wrote:

> And you obviously missed where I said that at least Honda works to fix their
> tranny problems, unlike Crapsler. In case you forgot, Honda extended the
> warranty on the 4-speed automatics and issued a recall for the 5-speed
> automatics. Crapsler 4-speed auto trannies have been prone to failure since
> the late 80s and they have never admitted to it.

And their transmissions in general have been crap since the late 70s,
when my father's 77 LeBaron dropped the transmission onto the freeway at
speed.

Chrysler said, "Not our problem. Tough luck."

On the other hand, Honda is handing out transmissions like men hand out
beads at Mardi Gras. I for one expect never to have to pay for any
transmission repair on my 02 Odyssey as long as I own it.

On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 20:45:53 GMT, "Woody" <TheDuck@pond.net> wrote:

>Honda transmission failure rate in the 99-03 year is far higher than
>Caravan's.

Not according to the Consumer Reports reliability survey. Here are
the transmission failure rates (in percent) for the two vehicles by
year:

99 00 01 02 03

Odyssey 9.3-14.8 2.0-5.0 5.0-9.3 5.0-9.3 <2.0

Caravan >14.8 >14.8 2.0-5.0 5.0-9.3 2.0-5.0


> Odyssey also has problems with EGR, iac, and other areas. A new
>Caravan would be a far better investment than a four year old Odyssey with
>an unknown past and especially paying just about the cost of it when it was
>new.

CR indicates that five year old Odys (1999 models at the last survey)
were more reliable than two year old (2002) Caravans. Overall, the
Ody is far more reliable in most model years.

Of course this doesn't mean that the particular Odyssey in question
will be more reliable than a particular new Caravan, but it isn't the
long shot you might suspect. It also isn't clear that the new Caravan
would be cheaper to buy. I think the earlier poster was quoting US
price vs. Canadian for the used Ody.

If the dealer would throw in a warranty on the power train, the Ody
could be an attractive purchase.

Just to give you guys and update.
I had to walk away from the dealership as they didn't want to cut a
"reasonable" deal.
I'm still on the prowl for a mini-van but I've got a couple of leads.
As for the Dodge Caravan, it had crossed my mind as well as the
Chevrolet/Pontiac but I'd rather stay away from domestic.
I've had better success with imports rather than the domestic models even
with a warranty.
I've heard just as many horror stories from either.
Dan
"High Tech Misfit" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:Xns9739A3827ED85hightechmisfit@207.35.177.134 ...
> Woody wrote:
>
>> Honda transmission failure rate in the 99-03 year is far higher than
>> Caravan's.
>
> Do you have proof of this?
>
> And you obviously missed where I said that at least Honda works to fix
> their
> tranny problems, unlike Crapsler. In case you forgot, Honda extended the
> warranty on the 4-speed automatics and issued a recall for the 5-speed
> automatics. Crapsler 4-speed auto trannies have been prone to failure
> since
> the late 80s and they have never admitted to it.
>
>
>> Odyssey also has problems with EGR, iac, and other areas.
>
> Honda also extended the warranty on the EGR. There is a perfectly logical
> reason why Crapslers have such long warranties... they know they make
> junk.
>
>
>> A new Caravan would be a far better investment than a four year old
>> Odyssey with an unknown past and especially paying just about the cost
>> of it when it was new.
>>
> But a 4-year-old Odyssey is still likely to be more reliable than a new
> Caravan. I know quite a few owners of newer Crapslers who hate their cars
> because they have had many problems with them from the time they were
> new. I'd rather pay more money for peace of mind knowing that an Odyssey
> is
> still less likely to break down than a Caravan, and that Honda at least
> works to fix such problems.