Author Topic: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?  (Read 6076 times)

OnTheMoney

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Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« on: May 13, 2015, 04:48:50 PM »
Hi everyone, we're looking for an Odyssey, and we found one that we think is a good deal.

I learned from this forum to avoid the older models due to transmission problems. The one we're looking at is 2011. The problem is that I was just checking consumer reports and it seems like that year still has some lower ratings for some different mechanical components. e.g. the "transmission minor", "drive system" and "fuel system" don't have the top grade. The electrical system has a pretty bad grade as well.

It seems like Mustachians love Odysseys though, so I'm a bit confused by these reliability ratings. Should we not be concerned at all? This one is 48k miles and comes certified, plus we do plan to get a mechanic to check it over as well, if that changes anything.

On a related note, it seems like people estimate around $3k for transmission rebuild/replacement... Is this something we'd need to be factoring in as a likely expense over the next few years?  Thanks!

ETA: Wow, it seems like the brakes also have the worst possible reliability rating, and actually the other years are bad as well, except for 2014. Could that be right??
« Last Edit: May 13, 2015, 06:34:18 PM by OnTheMoney »

meandmyfamily

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Re: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2015, 07:08:53 PM »
We are in a similar situation and we can't decide between the Sienna and the Odyssey.  We have a 2004 Toyota Sienna that we bought new and it has 164,000 on it.  It needs work now so we are looking to replace it but never replaced the transmission.  The current problems aren't the transmission.  Everyone I know with an Odyssey replaced the transmission before 100,000 miles (they are older models).  I currently want to look for a Sienna but my husband likes the Honda better.  I vote Sienna because it is highest in reliability and we love our Sienna now.  I am tempted to keep it but the repairs are piling up all of a sudden.  It has been a good 11 years!  It seems the Odyssey has been fine since 2008 but still is lower than the Sienna on reliability.  Good luck!  You are problem just fine.

RWD

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Re: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2015, 08:42:58 PM »
TrueDelta corroborates the mediocre reliability of the 2011 Odyssey:
http://www.truedelta.com/Honda-Odyssey/reliability-113

The 2009 looks pretty good though. Fuel economy is a little worse. The 2003-2005 model years look okay for reliability as well.

3okirb

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Re: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2015, 08:50:19 PM »
We are in a similar situation and we can't decide between the Sienna and the Odyssey.  We have a 2004 Toyota Sienna that we bought new and it has 164,000 on it.  It needs work now so we are looking to replace it but never replaced the transmission.  The current problems aren't the transmission.  Everyone I know with an Odyssey replaced the transmission before 100,000 miles (they are older models).  I currently want to look for a Sienna but my husband likes the Honda better.  I vote Sienna because it is highest in reliability and we love our Sienna now.  I am tempted to keep it but the repairs are piling up all of a sudden.  It has been a good 11 years!  It seems the Odyssey has been fine since 2008 but still is lower than the Sienna on reliability.  Good luck!  You are problem just fine.

Check the crash test ratings between the two.  One is A LOT better than the other.

meandmyfamily

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Re: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2015, 11:07:18 PM »
We do you find the crash test ratings?  The one I look at has them almost exactly the same.

regulator

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Re: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2015, 12:42:58 PM »
We bought a 2005 Odyssey new, now has 98k on the clock.  No real issues for us, although the power steering is crap (known design flaw).  No tranny problems even though we towed a 3000 pound travel trailer with the van for 3 years.  Had to replace the rear brakes at 50k (surprising, but no biggie).  Recently had to replace some weather stripping that was disintegrating.  Other than that, all that has been required is regular maintenance.

greenmimama

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Re: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2015, 01:19:31 PM »
TrueDelta corroborates the mediocre reliability of the 2011 Odyssey:
http://www.truedelta.com/Honda-Odyssey/reliability-113

The 2009 looks pretty good though. Fuel economy is a little worse. The 2003-2005 model years look okay for reliability as well.

That is a great chart when you want to buy used, thank you!

danny9m

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Re: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2015, 10:49:30 PM »
I've got a 2006, a friend of ours bought one as well.  As the cars got older and over 100k a lot of things started going that you wouldn't expect, due to the reputation of Hondas.  Motor mount went in both cars. We had the power steering issue. The axels on the car were replaced.  We kept ours, our friends car needed so much work they traded it in. I used to think consumer reports was covering up for Honda but I just checked their repair history on the vehicle and they now reflect lower ratings.  I believe today there is another major recall widening on the airbags. It seems the Japanese were covering their tracks for a while, but they have slipped.  On the other hand, who can you turn to? 


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j-lu

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Re: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« Reply #8 on: May 15, 2015, 02:42:31 AM »
We have a 2001.  The transmission just went out back in March (around 140k miles).  We live Overseas so we opted to get a refurbished transmission which was shipped from a nearby country (the shipping costs from the US were not cost effective given the age of the car).  It cost around $1400 including the shipping.  Other than that we haven't had any major issues.  It's been a great car for our family of 5.  We do plan to leave it here when we move back to the US in 2016. 

ToeInTheWater

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Re: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« Reply #9 on: May 15, 2015, 04:50:18 AM »
we also have an '06 Odyssey.  it's been perfectly reliable since we bought it (new...)

some of the regular maintenance has been pricey (north of $1k), but we've had nothing unexpected happen

van has 160K miles or so on it

b

firewalker

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Re: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« Reply #10 on: May 15, 2015, 06:21:27 AM »
Odysseys owned by my sister (130k all city) and friend (320k mixed). Both had issues mentioned in this thread but both love the design to much to give up.


PeachFuzzInVA

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Re: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« Reply #12 on: May 15, 2015, 09:22:36 AM »
We are in a similar situation and we can't decide between the Sienna and the Odyssey.  We have a 2004 Toyota Sienna that we bought new and it has 164,000 on it.  It needs work now so we are looking to replace it but never replaced the transmission.  The current problems aren't the transmission.  Everyone I know with an Odyssey replaced the transmission before 100,000 miles (they are older models).  I currently want to look for a Sienna but my husband likes the Honda better.  I vote Sienna because it is highest in reliability and we love our Sienna now.  I am tempted to keep it but the repairs are piling up all of a sudden.  It has been a good 11 years!  It seems the Odyssey has been fine since 2008 but still is lower than the Sienna on reliability.  Good luck!  You are problem just fine.

You're in that sweet spot for the power steering rack to start leaking on that Sienna. It's extremely common on them. On the Odyssey's around those year rangers, it's not a matter of if but when the transmission fails. Plan and shop accordingly and you'll be fine with either choice.

OnTheMoney

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Re: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« Reply #13 on: May 15, 2015, 09:36:29 PM »
Thanks for the responses!

We considered a Sienna as well, and normally I'd definitely choose a Toyota over a Honda based on mechanical reliability, but we liked the review videos of the Odyssey better.

I didn't know that the Odyssey had better safety ratings, actually I thought the Odyssey and Sienna were similar, so thanks for pointing that out. Apparently one of the reasons the Odyssey does better in frontal collisions is that the forces are distributed towards the sides of the car in a 'V' shape. Or at least that's what the salespeople say.

We were still somewhat on the fence so we went to look at some of each for comparison today. And as much as I wanted to prefer the Sienna, just because I still think the reliability might be better overall, we were actually really disappointed with the Siennas when compared with the Odysseys based on the design features. Maybe other people would place heavier weightings on different things, but for us and the features we would use regularly, it wasn't even close.

Overall, there are enough people around who seem to love their Odysseys that we think we'll take a chance on one of the certified ones. Fingers crossed that we'll join the club of happy Odyssey owners!

3okirb

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Re: Honda Odyssey - are the reliability ratings accurate?
« Reply #14 on: May 17, 2015, 09:56:54 AM »
Thanks for the responses!

We considered a Sienna as well, and normally I'd definitely choose a Toyota over a Honda based on mechanical reliability, but we liked the review videos of the Odyssey better.

I didn't know that the Odyssey had better safety ratings, actually I thought the Odyssey and Sienna were similar, so thanks for pointing that out. Apparently one of the reasons the Odyssey does better in frontal collisions is that the forces are distributed towards the sides of the car in a 'V' shape. Or at least that's what the salespeople say.

We were still somewhat on the fence so we went to look at some of each for comparison today. And as much as I wanted to prefer the Sienna, just because I still think the reliability might be better overall, we were actually really disappointed with the Siennas when compared with the Odysseys based on the design features. Maybe other people would place heavier weightings on different things, but for us and the features we would use regularly, it wasn't even close.

Overall, there are enough people around who seem to love their Odysseys that we think we'll take a chance on one of the certified ones. Fingers crossed that we'll join the club of happy Odyssey owners!

Welcome to the family! Haha.