2004 Honda Odyssey opinions?

I just want a new, safer, bigger car so bad I could scream. Everything just seems too expensive for what I want. I've been wanting an Odyssey for awhile, but the price is so high and I would really love automatic doors. I've looked at the Kia Sedona and while they are nice, you can't seem to easily find an 06 LX with the power package, but there are tons of them without. I'm also still worried a bit about reliability and gas mileage, but they do have the safety features.

There are a lot of 2004 Odyssey's out there, but they don't have the curtain airbags. IIHS doesn't test the 04 models for side impacts so I have no idea how they would fare compared to the 05s with side airbags. I would imagine anything would be better than our Ford Focus.

I'm also searching for a Freestyle that I might be able to afford with the side airbags, but then I wonder if I still really want a minivan. I'm just so mad that I settled on the Focus Wagon a few years ago just because DH said no minivan. Now DH is just tired of hearing me complain and said I can get whatever will make me happy and that we can afford. Well what we can afford and what will make me happy don't seem to match up.

Ugh, I'm just having a bad day I guess.

I have an 03 odyssey and I love it. DH has been trying to talk me into getting rid of it and downsizing but I really don't want to. I don't know if the 03's had a side curtain airbag option, but mine doesn't have them. That's the one thing I wish it had that it doesn't! I love the power sliding doors, they make it so easy when dealing with 2 or more kids and trying to open the doors and get everything and everyone in. Oh yeah, I do wish it had a power lift gate (I think that's what it's called) but that's not really a big deal either! I would say go for it.....it's worth it!!!

What gas mileage do you get with your 2003?

I went looking this morning and one dealership had some 2004s, but they also had an 2005 LX with only 25K miles on it. I really like the power doors, but I also like the side curtain airbags that you get on the 2005. I don't know.

The trade off with the '05 is that it only has 3 top tether anchors (2 in 2nd row, 1 in 3rd). The '04 has five of them (2 in 2nd row, 3 in third), as do the '06-'07 models.

I think I would trade the convenience features (power doors) for the safety features (SCABs and tether anchors). In fact, that's exactly what I did when we got our Ody last fall.

Well my son is mostly in a Regent, but is booster age and right now we only have 2 kids and probably won't have more so 3 tether anchors are ok.

I don't really *need* a minivan, but I don't know why, I just want one. And they are so safe.

ajweeks said:

I just want a new, safer, bigger car so bad I could scream. Everything just seems too expensive for what I want. I've been wanting an Odyssey for awhile, but the price is so high and I would really love automatic doors. I've looked at the Kia Sedona and while they are nice, you can't seem to easily find an 06 LX with the power package, but there are tons of them without. I'm also still worried a bit about reliability and gas mileage, but they do have the safety features.

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I had an '06 Odyssey and now have an '06 Sedona EX with power. I am not sure that Kia actually makes an LX with power which may be why you can't find one As for reliability and gas mileage - we get better gas mileage with the Kia but that is likely because the '06 Odyssey was quite a bit bigger (the '04 Odyssey would be similar in size to the new Sedonas). We drove a Sedona as a rental Dec-Feb and have been driving our Sedona since Feb with no problems. We actually got a "dealer demo" van - it had 1600 miles on it and we purchased it "new" from the dealer. It had been driven by an area manager and they gave us a $3500 discount on top of the $4000 manufacturer rebate. We ended up paying $10k less for the Sedona than we had paid for the Odyssey a year earlier.

ETA - The 'o6-07 Sedonas have LATCH in all 5 rear seating positions and the power package has a power liftgate (which is only available with the highest end Touring edition of the Ody). I *heart* that power liftgate - so cool! Well except when DH almost shut me in it last weekend

We have an 04 Odyssey and I love it! Honda's are very reliable and have good re-sale value.

I love our 04 ody too. We are very happy with it.

Gas mileage is ok, but not great. It's actually one reason we discussed trading it in, though we've decided that safety is more important!! The new style (started in 05 I think) is a bit bigger and heavier so probably doesn't get as many miles to the gallon as an older one, but it is available with side airbags. I think someone on here said that you couldn't add tether anchors to the 05 though, so I would double check that first! The 03 has tether anchors for both captains chairs and comes with 1 for the 3rd row, but you can add 2 more.