I love that my 2001 Odyssey has a large, comfortable, flexible interior & handles nicely with a decent turning radius. But, I hate that I’ve had 4 replacement trannies (free), 1 catalytic converter(free), 2 brake jobs at under 30,000 mi.(not free), squealing brakes since 2002(Honda pads defective) and sticky sliding door since 2001(dealer could never fix properly but at least he got it to open by replacing all gaskets). Do I get the new Odyssey? Am I crazy for even considering it? If not, what car? Any ideas appreciated as well as any fellow Odyssey sufferers tales of woe.
Every car made has a few defects here and there, but I’m inclined to think that in your case you’ve been the victim of incompetence and some BS rather than owning a defective car.
Granted, a lot of the story is not given here but I don’t believe for one minute you’ve gotten 4 bad transmissions nor do I think you got a set of “defective” brake pads.
Did you buy this vehicle new or used? From an authorized Honda dealer or used car lot?
Were all of these transmissions allegedly new ones?
A random comment about this multiple transmission replacement scenario. If these transmissions were brand new/remanufactured and were replaced by a Honda dealer under warranty there is no way on God’s green Earth that Honda Motor Co. (the corporate office who actually pays for warranty repairs) is going to pay for this repair 4 times.
You may be BSed 4 times by the dealer but Honda Motor is not footing this bill 4 times.
After a story like this the first thing I would do is have someone pull the serial number off the tranmission just to verify if it’s the original transmission or not.
Ok4450,
Thanks for your comments. Car purchased new from reputable dealer. 1st transmission went after ~25,000 miles and my mechanic sent me to dealer in case Honda Motors would replace free, which they did. The next one went after about 30,000 miles and dealer explained that Honda Motors was aware of defect in 2001 model and was replacing these for free and warranting rebuilt ones for 3yrs/30,000 mi. Fortunately for me, they all went before that. As for the brakes, my private mechanic and 2 dealers told me that Honda has had problems with their brake pads. Why my 1st 2 sets of brakes went so fast, no idea. As for the door gaskets on rear sliding doors, I knew going in that Honda doors were giving people problems but I’d hoped that by my model year they had fixed them. If anyone can verify that Honda has gotten more reliable, I’d love to know before buying another one.
Like OK mentioned, every vehicle has defects, some pop up later than others.
Instead of outright buying a new Odyssey (if you insist on these) and being stuck with it when/if it goes haywire, rent (NOT lease) a new one for a few months and see what happens.
The problem here though is it may be good up to the end of the rented time and then start acting up later. Accurate crystal ball or not, buying a failsafe vehicle is a crap shoot at best.
During that time, keep an ear and an eye open for how others fare.
New vehicles (regardless of manufacturer) especially those that are completely redesigned are prototypes and should be viewed as such.
Not looking for failsafe, but would like to avoid a make and model known for bad repair history. The Odyssey seems to suffer from a split personality. Some things are engineered to perfection and others seem to have been designed by the “B” team. High gas prices might make up my mind for me. Lots of manufacturers are abandoning the larger car market. I might lease a car (rental would be prohibitively expensive for me) or buy used. I have a good deal on a 2008 Ford Taurus X AWD available and they won’t be made in 2009 - perfect size for me and test drove well.