Road Tests: Long-Term Test

Our technical editor, Scott Memmer, has been anxious to spend a full month in our long-term "Oddy" since it returned from the capable hands of Detroit editor John Clor and his crew of hockey-playing, high-sticking, body-checking ruffians. Marty McSorley's got nuthin on the Clor boys.

Memmer has another reason for wanting to spend some seat time in the Odyssey: he's the unhappy owner of a 1989 Dodge Caravan, has spent thousands just keeping the vehicle alive, and has vowed to never buy another Chrysler minivan. (Apparently so have a lot of other Americans, since Chrysler's sales in the category have remained in the toilet for more than a year now. At last report Chrysler's minivan sales were down a whopping 37 percent! At this writing, the company is offering $3,000 rebates or 0.9 percent financing on selected models.)

"So what's all the excitement about anyway?" Memmer asks. "Who gets excited about minivans anymore?"

Well, his wife, for one. Rhonda had the chance to spend some time in the Oddy when our technical editor was sent packing to the East Coast on a business trip. With two teenage daughters in tow, not to mention their friends and various accessories (backpacks, purses, beach chairs, makeup, CDs, Walkmans, Discmans, etc.), our technical editor's wife had a chance to put the Odyssey through its paces.

"I like this van a lot," Rhonda said. "Even though it's much larger than our Caravan, it handles the road much better. The dual sliding doors are a great feature. The girls love the matching bucket seats in the middle seat row instead of the bench seat we have in our van."

It should be mentioned that Rhonda is a professional keyboard player who occasionally needs to cart her equipment to and from gigs. "This van has ample room for all my equipment," Rhonda noted. "Even with the gear loaded, there's plenty of room for everyone to sit."

Our Odyssey also received high marks from our technical editor for its many creature comforts: huge windshield with great visibility, more than ample legroom for all passengers, comfortable driving position with versatile adjustments for the driver's seat, not to mention the car-like ride and ease of maneuvering. Maybe it really is the best minivan in the world.

To dispute that claim, Memmer would point to any number of miscues. Let's start with one of the most glaring, an issue that has been singled out by almost every Edmunds.com editor who's gotten behind the wheel of the Odyssey: the horrible location of the gearshift lever.

Actually, Memmer felt this design goof was so important that he's included a photo of it (see above) to illustrate his point. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe this photo will help those who haven't been behind the wheel of a Honda Odyssey see how aggravating this design miscue is.

Note that the gearshift lever blocks the entire left side of the center console, so if you have any ambitions of seeing the A/C controls or the radio, you're SOL. Note, too, that this photo was taken head-on. You can imagine how much more annoying this is from the driver's perspective, especially a tall driver like Memmer, who is 6 foot 1. "Not exactly Phi Beta Kappa design work" is how our tech editor describes it. "This is especially surprising from a manufacturer like Honda, a company that makes some of the most ergonomic interior spaces in the industry. The Honda Accord, for instance, is the essence of simplicity and function. What were they thinking?"

As if that weren't enough, the shifter, as several other editors have noted, has weak detents, so that you frequently overshoot your desired gear and have to "backtrack" to find the correct gear. This can be especially entertaining when executing a three-point turn, with an audience of L.A.'s finest (and most impatient) commuters studying your neck like Lady MacBeth with a meat cleaver.

Other irksome details in the Odyssey centered around the noisy cabin. Although Memmer didn't find this as trying as some other Edmunds.com editors have, he did note the excessive road, wind and tire noise. This, coupled with an anemic stereo that barely covered the road and tire boom at times, made for some trying — and loud — times. For example, he bought a copy of the classic CD "Who's Next" and cranked it as loud as he could, but even Keith Moon's thunderous drumming couldn't completely cover the Odyssey's excessive interior noise level. That being said, Memmer still feels the Oddy is an excellent value overall, and he'll live with the cabin noise if he can have that rear fold-down third seat till death do them part.

Memmer also didn't mind the somewhat gutless performance of the Honda powertrain. Granted, it doesn't get up and go the way, say, our GMC Sierra or even our Jeep Grand Cherokee does, and, true, it lacks midrange grunt, but it also doesn't suck down fuel the way those vehicles do. This is a solid, dependable, spacious people mover; Memmer enjoyed his time with it. Don't be surprised if one appears in our tech editor's driveway in the next twelve months.

Our editor-in-chief, Chris Wardlaw, spent a lot of wheel time in the Odyssey this month too, piloting it from Detroit back to its home in sunny So Cal. Wardlaw has been in the Oddy many times since we leased it a year and a half ago and his impressions continue to change.

Among his comments: "Lack of power compared to Jeep's V8, which is to be expected, but the truly weak low-end torque and poorly matched transmission shift points were blatantly obvious."

He continued to harp on some of the points we've covered here, as in "road rumble is rather irritating" and "sound system is weak."

He also harangued a variation on Memmer's gearshift theme, citing its "floppy stalks and crappy gear selector that always manages to find D3 instead of D4 when shifting from park or reverse."

On the plus side, Wardlaw waxed euphoric on the Odyssey's "cavernous accommodations for four people and a tremendous amount of their belongings." He, as Memmer, noted the wonderful view through the huge windshield, saying, "The super low cowl and tall driving position create outstanding forward visibility." Wardlaw also praised the Odyssey's ability to thwart heavy thunderstorms in the Midwest.

Nonetheless, our editor-in-chief sounded a note of warning for the folks at Honda, where the minivan crown sits unsteadily on their heads. He concluded by saying, "Since recently taking a 1,000-mile trip in my personal 2000 Toyota Sienna, the Honda doesn't stand quite so tall in my opinion when taking cabin trimmings and dealer gouging into consideration. Unless they manage to upgrade the interior materials, add some low-end torque and offer more features than a silly navigation system, Honda is slowly letting its lock on 'best minivan' slip."

In other words, Honda: It's a competitive marketplace; we look for improvements in the next generation.

We had a few minor service issues crop up in the Odyssey this last month. First, Memmer had to have the windshield replaced after its trip to the Midwest. He called AAA Auto Glass in West Los Angeles, who quoted him a price of $275, tax included, and told him they could do the job remotely. All well and good. Then AAA called back and said the price would be $340, since Memmer had requested PPG glass, which is the factory replacement. Still OK. But when the "installer" arrived in a dilapidated old pickup and asked Memmer to help him hold the new windshield in place while he glued it, our tech editor had had enough. He cancelled the appointment.

Our second company proved more fruitful. Safelite Auto Glass, with locations throughout the L.A. basin, installed a new windshield (PPG, no less) at Memmer's home on a sunny summer morning in the San Fernando Valley. And they didn't even ask Memmer to hold the glass while they glued it! Total installation time: 45 minutes. Total cost: $352.12, tax included.

Our Oddy also took a nail in the passenger rear tire, which Memmer had plugged and repaired for 10 bucks.

Our tech editor really enjoyed his time spent in our long-term Odyssey. "It's a great family car," he enthuses. He encourages serious shoppers to take a closer look at this van, which has great crash scores and a ton of features. As Honda ramps up production, prices should drop out of the stratosphere and into a more real-world level.

Total Odometer Reading: 34,929
Best Fuel Economy: 20.8 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 19.3 mpg
Body Damage: None.
Maintenance Costs: $362.12 (nail in right tire; cracked windshield)
Problems: None.