3 (+2) kids, 7 passenger Sienna or 8 pass odyssey?

We are soon to have three kids and will be trading the Accord in for a minivan. Can't decide between the 7 pass Sienna or the 8 pass Odyssey. We are looking at 2006 ish model years. The are the occasions where it would be nice to have the room for 1-2 friends/ cousins aged 2-6.

I like the styling of the Ody better, but the third row spacing of the Sienna is nice. Also, I've heard the road noise is worse on the odyssey and also the ride is a little bumpier, and lower road clearance as well.

Thoughts?

Personally, I'd go for the 8 passenger Sienna if you go with a model year between 2004 or 5 and 2010. The 8th seat is an actual seat whereas the 8th seat is a mini seat in the ody for the same years.

Thought about it, but DS doesn't want a middle "bench." He wants the kids far apart to avoid the fighting. I also want some of the features on the XLE (back up camera, for one). This is our "practice mini van, then I plan to trade it in for an '11+ Odyssey in 1-2 years. Don't have the money for it this year.

Since its not something you intend to keep long term i wouldn't stress too much about it. I personally love Sienna's and dislike Oddy's.... both are mechanically sound, but i like the steering,handling,3rd row space, etc of the Sienna and will probably always drive a Sienna as long as i am driving a minivan. The Oddy just isn't for me.

So i say drive them both - and see which you like better. They handle and drive very differently. As for the 7 vs 8 pass debate - i always choose 7 for my own purposes. I have had 5 children, all in CR in my Sienna several times (I just have 3 of my own on a day to day basis) and it was totally fine and doable. I will say that my #1 reason for choosing 7 pass anything is the arm rests on the captains chairs in the middle row - if you go 8 pass you give up those arm rests.... and that wasn't something i was willing to do.

Have fun van shopping.

Mel281 said:

Thought about it, but DS doesn't want a middle "bench." He wants the kids far apart to avoid the fighting. I also want some of the features on the XLE (back up camera, for one). This is our "practice mini van, then I plan to trade it in for an '11+ Odyssey in 1-2 years. Don't have the money for it this year.

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Oops, DH, doesn't want the bench. DS doesn't get a say.

We have a 2008 8 passenger Sienna. We wanted extra space between kids and figured we'd always have at least one kid in the third row but have ended up with 3 across the middle row for the last 6 months or so. Having dd rfing in between the older kids really separates them- much more so than in the sedans they ride 3 across in. In fact, we just got a Mazda5 which has 2 captains chairs in the middle row and the boys fight like crazy across the aisle!

I had a 8 passenger 2008 Sienna, now I have a 2012 8 passenger ody. I liked the seating in the Sienna way better in most ways - the one thing it lacked was tethers in all spots. And I don't know why they didn't fix that with the redesign - instead they made it worse!

You do not exactly lose armrests for the captain's chairs in the Sienna - you can fold the middle seat down and then you have center arm rests. It is not the same but it works. The outboard seats are so easy to flip to get to the back that moving them is not a huge deal. Of course if you don't need the space 2 captain's chairs side by side are nicer in some ways.

While the 8th seat in the old Ody sort of sucks, it is still a seat, so the old ody gives you the best of both worlds - true captains chairs you can put side by side if you wanted, and an 8th seat if you ever want it.

But ... the old ody did have some weird thing with the tethers in the back row. You had to stretch them across the trunk. New Ody fixed this.

I don't know what the 3rd row was like of the old ody as far as comfort. I do know the new Ody has a ton of legroom and is very comfy for an adult in the 3rd row. It is 3 1/2 inches narrower than the old Sienna but unless you are putting 3 across back there all the time it's not a huge deal. 3 people will fit without car seats, one 1 in and 2 not in. (in the new - old is similar width wise)

Have gone back and forth on going back to old Sienna, I missed my old van a LOT and still miss some features of it. But the new ody has some features I like one of which is the back up camera. While I am still not used to using it all the time it kept me from running over my stroller last week and that in and of itself has made the van worth it to me!!! The back up camera is a nice thing to have

eta all that said if I had to pick between the two I would probably lean Sienna

Thanks everyone. I think we are going to go with a 7 passenger Sienna. I liked the drive on that better and the odd was very noisy in comparison.

I think you will like it.

FYI the new ody 2nd row is effectively a bench seat. It doesn't have true captain's chairs like the old ones, so if that is something you guys absolutely don't want, it may not work for you. But you may like the old Sienna so much you won't care.

Dillipop said:

Personally, I'd go for the 8 passenger Sienna if you go with a model year between 2004 or 5 and 2010. The 8th seat is an actual seat whereas the 8th seat is a mini seat in the ody for the same years.

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Exactly. Our family grew unexpectedly during the 2012 and I am very glad that by luck we had purchased the 8 passenger Sienna (we had been drawn to the Sienna because they have a 7 person AWD model but there were none to be found in our town and we really liked the 8 person model we test drove). We have triplets making our total car seat count 5 as we have 5 kids 5 and under! If you count by bottoms, our family can fit in plenty of cars but the reality is that we need to have a van that accommodates 5 of those bottoms being in carseats. We can fit 3 across the middle row

The middle seat pops out if we want a more standard configuration. Over the years, we have driven it in many car seat and seat arrangements and have been very pleased. Having a full middle seat with latch has been wonderful and it is very comfortable for adults.

Another reason that the Sienna trumps the Odyssey may be silly but addresses a pet peeve of mine with minivans...the windows on the sliding doors open. I've always felt creeped out by windows in vans not opening

pumpkin said:

Another reason that the Sienna trumps the Odyssey may be silly but addresses a pet peeve of mine with minivans...the windows on the sliding doors open. I've always felt creeped out by windows in vans not opening

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On the '11 and newer Oddy the sliding door windows go down about 2/3 of the way. My kids think they're hilarious.....

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org

Our '06 Ody Touring's windows go down too. It has built in sun shades for them too.

It sounds like you've found a good fit. If you are still deciding, research the Pax run flat tires that came on the higher end Odys for a few years. Ours had them and they are horrible. They ride rough, are noisy, wear down fast, aren't easily replaced, and cost a fortune. We "de-PAXed" as many do and love our van now. The tether issue is just the center position in the 3rd row has the tether reach across the trunk. It is annoying, but the outboard ones are on the seat backs. We have 4 kids now so the center rarely is used anymore. It's great having 5 tether anchors total. Built in DVD and back up camera are a must for us. DD2 can even watch it rearfacing by looking up if she's in the 2nd row.

I'm pretty sure the slider door windows open on most minivans these days, not all the way, but at least half way.

They did/do on my 2009 Grand Caravan, 2011 Sienna, and my 2012 Odyssey.

They did not on my 2005/2006 Caravan. But they did on my friend's 2004 Sienna.

The 3rd row windows do not crack open in my Ody, which mildly annoys me -- they did on my GC and Sienna.

Used to be the middle row did not go down and the 3rd row vented. Then they all added the 2nd row going down, except for Honda, who had issues with the 3rd row motor windows, so they "fixed" the windows.

It annoyed me exceedingly to realize this AFTER I bought it because why wouldn't the windows open back there???

BUT neverending leaks were the death knell for our Sienna so in a way I am glad to know the windows will never leak at least.

LOL, I did not mean to take over the OP thread about windows. I should have mentioned that our minivan purchase was made used, several years ago and I suspect that things have changed.