Road Tests: Long-Term Test

This month our Long Term Odyssey had left the staff in Santa Monica and traveled east to spend some time with our Detroit editor and his family. But unlike all our previous Edmunds.com long term units that were forced to endure having a staffer pilot them from L.A. all the way to Detroit, the Honda got a ride -- it was shipped cross-country. That's right, the combination of the time and cost for an editor to be out of the office and drive a long-termer from the Left Coast to the Midwest simply didn't fit into the schedule this time. It arrived in the Motor City safe and sound, with only a coating of dirt to show that it had weathered the trip.

The Clor family -- veteran owners of three different minivans over the years -- was looking forward to its time in the Odyssey, given the Honda's market popularity and reputation for quality. But after a few days' adjustment period for both drivers and passengers to become familiar with the features and controls, the same kinds of concerns that have been appearing in our logbook to date had begun to surface again. Yes, the gear selection lever is far too close to the dash and slips far too easily from gear to gear. And yes, the transmission seems to hold and hunt in all the wrong driving situations, negating any power in the Honda's engine and making this minivan feel downright lethargic while maneuvering in traffic.

But there were other things the Clor family noticed that soured their initial impressions of the Odyssey. First off, when driving at highway speeds, they noticed the Honda is very noisy inside (and this from a family who owns an old Ford Windstar). A combination of wind noise and road boom from the rear cargo hold make talking or listening to music at normal volume levels impossible. Add to that some serious hum from the front tires (possibly because they are non-factory spec replacement rubber), and you find yourself in a surprisingly loud driving environment.

Secondly, while the fold-away rear seat is certainly one of the most convenient features to ever come along in a minivan, the same cannot be said of the power sliding doors. As they are either too slow or too balky to be considered user-friendly, the move to manual doors would be a logical place to save cost on this van. And the Clors also found that while the flip-up center tray between the front seats is a good idea, it fails in execution. For one thing, the top is too shallow to keep items like CD jewel cases from sliding off, and for another, when the rear portion is extended toward the center-row seats, it becomes too unstable, forcing pop to splash out of the cans when riding in the cupholders.

Beyond such nits to pick was a more serious service problem: the failure of the rear hatch locking mechanism. One day, after loading one of the Clor boys' goaltender equipment into the back of the Odyssey after a spring hockey league game, the rear hatch was closed -- and stayed that way. Neither hitting the power unlock button on the key fob or door panel, nor manually unlocking the hatch by pulling up on the lock button would allow it to open again. And no amount of force exerted on the release handle would free the hatch. So the Clors called a local Honda dealership for some professional help.

Detroit Editor John Clor talked to Gil Ibarra, the assistant service manager at Jeffrey Acura-Honda in nearby Roseville, Mich. Ibarra sounded friendly, asked a few questions about the problem and suggested the Odyssey be brought in for service. Clor arrived about an hour after the call, and Gil himself greeted him at the write-up area.

After being shown the problem, Ibarra explained that the door must be taken apart to see why the latch was stuck. He asked if the van had been in an accident, because in that case the repair might be at fault and it would not be covered under the Honda warranty. When Clor explained that any body repairs done on the Odyssey had not involved the rear hatch, Ibarra seemed confident that a fix would be covered as a warranty item. He asked if he could keep the van overnight, if necessary, to complete repairs. Clor said, "Sure," then declined an offer of shuttle service for a ride home, as Mrs. Clor waited in her Windstar outside. Clor was promised a phone call when the problem was found, signed a work order and left the dealership pleased that he was treated well.

By late afternoon that same day, Ibarra called Clor to tell him the problem was found to be that the power lock lever had fallen off the lock mechanism, likely because the retaining clip was not fully snapped into place. Ibarra said the Odyssey was now done and ready for pickup, free of charge. Clor decided to head back to the dealership before closing time and check out the work. Upon arrival, he was greeted quickly, shown where the Odyssey was parked, then directed to the cashier's window to pick up his keys. He walked out to the van scant moments later. Clor went through a few lock/unlock cycles, tested the rear hatch twice, and was satisfied that the dealer technicians did their job. The next day, Jeffrey Acura-Honda dealership called Clor to make sure the work was done to his satisfaction.

So far, Clor is very pleased with the service experience with the Honda, but not so sure he'd choose to buy what so far is a noisy and ill-shifting minivan for his family's daily use. The Clors are looking forward to putting the Odyssey through the most strenuous of minivan tests - the family vacation. We'll get that report later this summer. Until then, Clor promises that the Honda is sure to get all the family hauling and grocery-shopping duty it can handle.

Current Odometer: 21,401
Best Fuel Economy: 19.9 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 14.4 mpg
Maintenance Costs: None
Body Repair Costs: None
Problems: Stuck rear hatch locking mechanism.