Sienna vs. Odyssey ?'s

tracee877 · Jan 23, 2012

We are looking to get a minivan, either a Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey. We looked at both today and really liked them but we are liking the Ody more because of the seats. The 2nd row seats move backward and forward, you can slide them together or have them apart. The seats in the Sienna were fixed. Are all Sienna's that way? It was a 2004 XLE if that matters. The Ody was a 2006 EXL. I'm also wondering if this is standard for Ody's or do some of them have fixed seats also?

Dorothy · Jan 23, 2012

tracee877 said:
We are looking to get a minivan, either a Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey. We looked at both today and really liked them but we are liking the Ody more because of the seats. The 2nd row seats move backward and forward, you can slide them together or have them apart. The seats in the Sienna were fixed. Are all Sienna's that way? It was a 2004 XLE if that matters. The Ody was a 2006 EXL. I'm also wondering if this is standard for Ody's or do some of them have fixed seats also?

Awesome! Can I join your thread? This is my research topic of the day.

My question is about the difference the Sienna's AWD would make in the winter or on muddy roads versus just two-wheel-drive on the Odyssey.

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spokaneCPST · Jan 23, 2012

I have a 2007 Sienna and the seats in the center row can be slid together and also move forward and back.

Mine is AWD and handles great on wintery roads.

tracee877 · Jan 23, 2012

spokaneCPST said:
I have a 2007 Sienna and the seats in the center row can be slid together and also move forward and back.

Mine is AWD and handles great on wintery roads.

Thanks! So I guess we just have to look around and see which ones have what.

misstj9 · Jan 23, 2012

Not sure if the Sienna you were looking at was a 7 or 8 seater. Here's what I know about my 2008 8 seater. I can have any of my three middle row seats in the car, either all three, two outboard captains chairs, or one outboard captains chair and center seat. The center seat in the 2008 is an almost full-size seat that I can comfortably sit on, and can easily fit just about any Britax car seat on (which is pretty wide, so I would guess I could fit any seat on it). With all three center row seats, I can fit pretty much any three across car seat situation to my knowledge.

But the captain's chair and the center seat are not identical, and I cannot install the captains chair pushed over to the middle like I believe you can in an Odyssey. The center seat can be installed either flush (front/back) with the captains chairs, or in a separate set of floor hooks that pushes it about 3-4 inches forward of the two captains chairs. In all positions, each chair moves forward and back and reclines just like a front row seat would.

In the 2008 (I think it's the same 2004-2010, I know it changed in MY2011) you have LATCH (Lower anchors AND top tethers) in all 3 captains chairs and two of the back three spots (none on the drivers outboard 3rd row), so that spot is not good for a forward facing car seat install, but does work for a RF install or a booster or seat belt user. Three across in the third row would be tight, but I believe can be done with the right combo of seats.

HTH!

Dorothy · Jan 23, 2012

spokaneCPST said:
I have a 2007 Sienna and the seats in the center row can be slid together and also move forward and back.

Mine is AWD and handles great on wintery roads.

Thanks! And thanks, OP, for letting me tag along.

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tracee877 · Jan 23, 2012

misstj9 said:
Not sure if the Sienna you were looking at was a 7 or 8 seater. Here's what I know about my 2008 8 seater. I can have any of my three middle row seats in the car, either all three, two outboard captains chairs, or one outboard captains chair and center seat. The center seat in the 2008 is an almost full-size seat that I can comfortably sit on, and can easily fit just about any Britax car seat on (which is pretty wide, so I would guess I could fit any seat on it). With all three center row seats, I can fit pretty much any three across car seat situation to my knowledge.

But the captain's chair and the center seat are not identical, and I cannot install the captains chair pushed over to the middle like I believe you can in an Odyssey. The center seat can be installed either flush (front/back) with the captains chairs, or in a separate set of floor hooks that pushes it about 3-4 inches forward of the two captains chairs. In all positions, each chair moves forward and back and reclines just like a front row seat would.

In the 2008 (I think it's the same 2004-2010, I know it changed in MY2011) you have LATCH (Lower anchors AND top tethers) in all 3 captains chairs and two of the back three spots (none on the drivers outboard 3rd row), so that spot is not good for a forward facing car seat install, but does work for a RF install or a booster or seat belt user. Three across in the third row would be tight, but I believe can be done with the right combo of seats.

HTH!

Thanks for the info! The one we saw was a 7 seater. There was no center seat in the 2nd row.

Lemonade · Jan 23, 2012

My 06 Sienna has 2 captain's chairs in the middle and they can slide forward and back. The pass. side one can be by the door or in the middle.

We don't have AWD and it seems to handle fine in the snow. I think it also has to do with the driver and not just the vehicle - I grew up in snow country so I'm a pretty good snow driver.

SavsMom · Jan 23, 2012

The XLE Sienna does not have an 8 passenger option so you would not be able to place to 2 captains chairs side by side, however they do slide front to back.

Both the Sienna and Odyssey are great vans - and you can't go wrong with either one (I'm sure that made it so much easier, lol)!

Dorothy · Jan 23, 2012

Lemonade said:
My 06 Sienna has 2 captain's chairs in the middle and they can slide forward and back. The pass. side one can be by the door or in the middle.

We don't have AWD and it seems to handle fine in the snow. I think it also has to do with the driver and not just the vehicle - I grew up in snow country so I'm a pretty good snow driver.

I grew up in snow country, too, but am not a confident driver, in general. I've read several blurbs about the Ody not doing well in snow, but I don't know if that is the vehicle or driver, you know? Then, there's the issues of tires... But I still wanted to know what you all thought of the two, comparatively!

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tracee877 · Jan 23, 2012

SavsMom said:
The XLE Sienna does not have an 8 passenger option so you would not be able to place to 2 captains chairs side by side, however they do slide front to back.

Both the Sienna and Odyssey are great vans - and you can't go wrong with either one (I'm sure that made it so much easier, lol)!

Good to know, thanks! I have a feeling we'll end up with an Ody.

TXDani · Jan 23, 2012

SavsMom said:
The XLE Sienna does not have an 8 passenger option so you would not be able to place to 2 captains chairs side by side, however they do slide front to back.

Both the Sienna and Odyssey are great vans - and you can't go wrong with either one (I'm sure that made it so much easier, lol)!

I don't know if I am just reading what you are writing wrong but on the 7-pass (XLE/Limited/whatever) while you can't have an eighth seat in the middle you CAN move the two captains seats together in the middle row.

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spokaneCPST · Jan 23, 2012

DaniCPST said:
I don't know if I am just reading what you are writing wrong but on the 7-pass (XLE/Limited/whatever) while you can't have an eighth seat in the middle you CAN move the two captains seats together in the middle row.

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Yes, exactly

Love my Sienna!

vtbecca · Jan 23, 2012

My Sienna does not have the 8 passenger option and I can put the captain's chairs next to each other. I do know though that you can't upgrade from 7 to 8 passenger because the seats are different, but having the one side able to move over has come in handy at times. I love my Sienna. I have an 06.

Becca

Syllieann · Jan 23, 2012

We debated the same 2 choices and ended up w/ 07 ody exl but both are really great. We get lots of snow where we live and we also have property in the tippy top of the UP where there's tons of snow so at first I was really leaning toward the awd sienna. A friend talked me into driving the ody on a particularly horrible day and I was super impressed w/ the traction control/front wheel drive combo that they had on it. It handled as good or better than the 4wd suv I traded in so we ultimately decided the additional expense of the awd on the sienna wasn't worth it for us. The sienna is still great but don't go w/ it just for the 4wd aspect-I think you will really be impressed w/ how they both handle in 2wd. It's standard for the ody to be able to push the capt chair forward/back and the pass side can be moved in. I have 3 complaints on the ody-1) the stupid arbitrary 40# lower anchor tt limits 2) the placement of the tt anchor for 3rd row center spans across the cargo area, duh honda and 3) the touchscreen navigation gets fingerprints on it that make it really difficult to see the backout camera display and the display could just be improved in general since it's also kind of hard to see the backout display in direct sunlight.

Dorothy · Jan 23, 2012

Syllieann said:
We debated the same 2 choices and ended up w/ 07 ody exl but both are really great. We get lots of snow where we live and we also have property in the tippy top of the UP where there's tons of snow so at first I was really leaning toward the awd sienna. A friend talked me into driving the ody on a particularly horrible day and I was super impressed w/ the traction control/front wheel drive combo that they had on it. It handled as good or better than the 4wd suv I traded in so we ultimately decided the additional expense of the awd on the sienna wasn't worth it for us. The sienna is still great but don't go w/ it just for the 4wd aspect-I think you will really be impressed w/ how they both handle in 2wd. It's standard for the ody to be able to push the capt chair forward/back and the pass side can be moved in. I have 3 complaints on the ody-1) the stupid arbitrary 40# lower anchor tt limits 2) the placement of the tt anchor for 3rd row center spans across the cargo area, duh honda and 3) the touchscreen navigation gets fingerprints on it that make it really difficult to see the backout camera display and the display could just be improved in general since it's also kind of hard to see the backout display in direct sunlight.

Great info! Thx! I had a little Focus with traction control. Loved it! Similar feel, I hope.

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P1ally · Jan 24, 2012

Sienna. Sienna, sienna, sienna, also- sienna.

Unless you're buying a certified used Ody, don't do it. I bought mine in September (2006 EX-L RES), and it's been in the shop no less than 5 times, 3 of those times for transmission issues (which still have not been resolved). And I didn't just get a dud, it's extremely common. Honda sure doesn't make em like they used to. I love my odyssey, but if I had been paying out of pocket for these repairs, I'd be so freaking pissed. Honda has already spent about $4,000 in warranty repairs on my van.

Little Ps Mama · Jan 24, 2012

misstj9 said:
Not sure if the Sienna you were looking at was a 7 or 8 seater. Here's what I know about my 2008 8 seater. I can have any of my three middle row seats in the car, either all three, two outboard captains chairs, or one outboard captains chair and center seat. The center seat in the 2008 is an almost full-size seat that I can comfortably sit on, and can easily fit just about any Britax car seat on (which is pretty wide, so I would guess I could fit any seat on it). With all three center row seats, I can fit pretty much any three across car seat situation to my knowledge.

But the captain's chair and the center seat are not identical, and I cannot install the captains chair pushed over to the middle like I believe you can in an Odyssey. The center seat can be installed either flush (front/back) with the captains chairs, or in a separate set of floor hooks that pushes it about 3-4 inches forward of the two captains chairs. In all positions, each chair moves forward and back and reclines just like a front row seat would.

In the 2008 (I think it's the same 2004-2010, I know it changed in MY2011) you have LATCH (Lower anchors AND top tethers) in all 3 captains chairs and two of the back three spots (none on the drivers outboard 3rd row), so that spot is not good for a forward facing car seat install, but does work for a RF install or a booster or seat belt user. Three across in the third row would be tight, but I believe can be done with the right combo of seats.

HTH!

I have an 09 8 seater sienna and I have two my rides and a nautilus in the second row. Three relatively wide seats. I love my sienna!

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sheena · Jan 25, 2012

I have a 2008 odyssey EX and i live in CO. Mine does fine in the snow. Overall i love my van. I think both siennas and odysseys are great jus boils down to personal preference. We went with honda since we had just bought a new 12 civic. I agree with one poster who said to make sure its certified. I went with a used certified odyssey.

Mags462 · Jan 26, 2012

Did you drive them?

I have read all the comments and just wanted to point out that they drive VERY differently. The honda is a little more quick responsive and truck like in its handling where as the Sienna is very smooth and quiet.... very car like. So if you haven't driven both i would encourage you to do so because they are not the "same animal" so to speak.

I personally own a 2005 Sienna XLE and

it. I drove an Ody once and knew it wasn't for me. I detested the way it drove. I fell in love with the Sienna and how it drove and will never own a Honda simply because i hate the way they handle.

Sienna vs. Odyssey ?'s

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