Honda or Toyota (Van, 5 kids)

ADS

SavsMom

New member
And to be clear.
When you are looking at a new car at a dealership every new car will have a monroney label (ie: window sticker). This must be on every new car sold in the US and provides the pricing information for each vehicle including the base msrp, list and price for additional options on a particular vehicle as well as delivery or destination charge - with the total msrp price shown to reflect those features and charges. The Monroney label is attached to the vehicle by the manufacturer. It is illegal to not have a Monroney label on a new car being sold in the US. I have yet to see an actual Monroney label from a major manufacturer that does not show a destination charge.

Having said that - many dealers will add an additional sticker or addendum to their vehicles - this is NOT a Monroney label and is typically added for items like pin stripes, window tint, floor mats, some will even go as far as adding a market value adjustment. This is a profit source for the dealer.

Bottom line - if it's on the Monroney label - it's from the manufacturer - not the dealer.
 

YinzerMama

New member
I know you said you don't want to go used but I think you should consider it. Have hubby go along and really put the cars through the paces of actually riding around with 4-5 kids. We have a '12 Ody which replaced an '08 Sienna and the Sienna was light years above and beyond easier for us in terms of using it with kids. I wish we had looked at a used Sienna. I was afraid to go used because our Sienna had a leak in the trunk no one could figure out and the warranty ran out and it was like throwing money in to a big leaky hole and I wanted brand new with solid warranty - did not realize that certified cars come with warranties same as new cars.

We had the 8 passenger Sienna and those are REALLY hard to find but a 7 passenger would have worked, too. When we bought the Sienna we only had 3 kids and I liked being able to have them all in one row so there would be no fighting over who got a captain's seat and who got shafted in the back row. Once we had 4, we kept 2 in the back row and two in the middle - one behind the driver and one in the center seat with the outboard seat flat for easy access to the back.

So why I hate our Odyssey. The 8th seat is better than the old Odyssey 8th seat and better than the current Sienna seat but no where near as good as the old Sienna 8th seat. It is narrow with a ceiling mounted seat belt. it is just not as comfortable as the old Sienna seat for a passenger or as friendly for car seat installs. There are a lot of seats that work but there are some that do not. IMO it's very much a last choice seat. We use it if we have a friend along but wouldn't want to use it all the time.

In the old Sienna, the outboard seats tumbled forward, totally out of the way, for easy access to the back - and then gravity would make them flop back down and lock into place if the 3rd row person forgot to do it. The Ody seats slide forward and have to be pulled or pushed at the back to lock into place - if you are driving and realize the last person to leave didn't do this you will have to pull over to fix it, you can't reach to lock the seat back into position, and it flops around while you drive. In terms of getting extra cargo room the old Sienna seats stand on end when tumbled, the ody seats have to actually be removed to be stood on end. It was really nice to have such quick and easy extra room if I was out and needed more cargo space.

The 3rd row of the old sienna was 3 - 3 1/2 inches wider than the Ody (which has the narrowest 3rd row of any minivan I think). Just a little more room for passenger comfort or car seat installation. (to be fair I think the new Ody has more leg room - so it's a toss up. Side to side room vs leg room. I am not sure I ever rode in the 3rd row of our Sienna so I can't comment - but my husband had to squeeze in back there between two car seats when we were stuck in construction traffic that was literally not moving and he had to help one of the kids use the car potty - and THEN of course we started to move again)

If you have an old 7 passenger Sienna or an old Ody (7 or 8) you can move an outboard captains chair to the center so there is a side aisle to access the back so you never have to move a seat. (although to be fair we often don't move seats in our ody because my girls who ride in the 3rd row will just hop over the center seat, which is folded flat. But they are 6. I wouldn't expect a bigger kid or adult to do that.) (And if you remove the center seat for 3rd row access, there are no inner arm rests on the captain's chairs which is a huge flaw imo. The old Ody had a narrow back and wider butt for the 8th seat so the captains chairs still had arm rests - they fit along side the back of the 8th seat. I think "wide mode" was a gimmick to allow them to keep the 8th seat small and save money while still sort of providing the benefits of a full size 8th seat)

The 3rd row windows do not open in the odyssey (new or old, unless you go really old, in which case the middle windows don't open). This really bugs me and I didn't realize it till we got it home.

The trunk in the old Sienna is slightly bigger which is a good thing with 5 kids.

Ody does not come with roof rack but old Siennas did so may be an extra expense to add. And if you add, Honda cross bars are not adjustable - not sure how much this matter but most cars do have adjustable cross bars so, just, why?

I know the new ody is a safe car and it drives great and I love my back up camera and the fuel efficiency is really good for the size - and I love the complete lack of water and mildew in my cargo area - seriously, seriously foul, we replaced the carpet twice - but in terms of fitting kids in it and getting in and out, I really miss my Sienna. Obviously this is all just one person's opinion but with 5 kids - I would look into the logistics of loading and unloading etc. You can fit 8 kids in a new Ody - but you might find the old vans' set up more convenient. OR maybe you will decide the new Ody is just fine for you.
 
Last edited:

DawgDad

New member

I think we are discussing two completely different things. She was wondering why when she looked online, there a was a MSRP price (which is the only thing they post online), yet when she looked at the price at the dealership, the sticker was higher. The Destination charge is not shown in the MSRP...it's a separate line item (just like it is above in this picture you supplied and every other one as well).

All-in-all, in the world of car sales, everything is negotiable...even destination charges.
 

SavsMom

New member
I think we are discussing two completely different things. She was wondering why when she looked online, there a was a MSRP price (which is the only thing they post online), yet when she looked at the price at the dealership, the sticker was higher. The Destination charge is not shown in the MSRP...it's a separate line item (just like it is above in this picture you supplied and every other one as well).

All-in-all, in the world of car sales, everything is negotiable...even destination charges.

I see your point, however it sounded in your previous post that you were implying the destination charge is a dealer add when that simply is not true.
Bottom line - destination charges will show on the Monroney (window sticker). If it's on the Monroney it's a manufacturer item and was NOT a dealer added item.
 

DawgDad

New member
I see your point, however it sounded in your previous post that you were implying the destination charge is a dealer add when that simply is not true.
Bottom line - destination charges will show on the Monroney (window sticker). If it's on the Monroney it's a manufacturer item and was NOT a dealer added item.

Sorry for the confusion. Sounds like you understand what we were talking about before now. :)
 

henrietta

Well-known member
Yinzer,

You now have me *really* wishing I'd really driven the Sienna that was on the lot when I bought my Ody a few months ago!!! LOL :cool: I was never really thrilled with my friend's Sienna...can't really put my finger on what exactly bothered me...I just didn't like the way it "felt" as much as all my other friend's Ody's. We mainly looked at them. But there was a similar year Sienna that I considered. But some of the things about the seats are the exact things that are slightly annoying to me with my '09 Ody. LOL I still love it though!

We currently have the "plus one" seat in the center and folded down. For the ease of kids getting into the third row, I prefer it to be removed and the passenger side captain's chair slid over. I also like that the captains chairs slide forward and backward--if I have that captain's chair slid over, baby or middle son can be closer to me. ;) But if it's in place and the middle seat is installed, the second row kids can then have cup holders and a place to set stuff. Plus, they can all see the movie screen from the third row (no headrest in the way). It's a toss up! I haven't done three across in my third row yet, but I can see it will be tight. I deliberately bought a Safety First Incognito to help make that work when I need it to. And I love that I have top tether anchors in 5 spots in this van (and 3 sets of lower anchors). The new Ody's have 4 sets of Latch (and 6 top ta's total, I think!)

If you are convinced on new, I'd definitely go with the Ody...after looking one evening, at closing, hubby had decided we'd spring for the base model 2011 (the newest generation) that they had on the lot, but by 8 am the next morning, it was gone. It had a lot of really nice features. I'm very happy w/the extras that came with our '09 Lx though.

hths
 

henrietta

Well-known member
We bought from here: http://www.economyhonda.com/index.htm

It was the first time I've ever bought a car, with a loan, from a car dealership. ;) We had NO CLUE what we were doing. We didn't do too bad, esp with help from a few folks here, including DawgDad. :dance: I can't say that I'm thrilled with our experience at Economy Honda, but I know it could have been way worse. They didn't really do anything really wrong, just didn't "wow" me. But they do get a LOT of Honda's. ;)

There's also a decent size Honda dealership north of us in Cleveland, Tennessee. (Honda of Cleveland).

I just wanted to give you some other options that might not be too far. If we'd had time, we could have found the van I wanted, private party, for a few thousand less...but we would have had to drive 3+ hours and wouldn't have had an extended warranty.
 

smileyblue4

New member
Just wanted to clarify for future readers of this post that the newest Odysseys 2011+ have 5 sets of LATCH (3 across middle row, 2 outboard in 3rd row) and 6 tether anchors.
 

kam1011

New member
I have an 8 passenger Sienna (2011, the first year of the redesign, although there are a couple minor changes in the 2015 model, for the better). I love it. I have had six kids in the back of the van multiple times with all different carseat/booster configurations. The middle seat is one of those smaller "jump seats" but it's exactly what I wanted because I didn't want all eight seats in the car all the time. There is a storage compartment in the cargo area of the van that stores the seat when it's not in use, so I do always have it and can pop it in if I have a surprise passenger. But most of the time, it's out and the kids can easily move around it.

Also, I wanted the two full-size captains chairs with arm rests in the second row for occasional adult use when traveling, as opposed to the slightly smaller ones in the Odyssey or older Siennas.
 

Peony

Member
Like others have said, the 2015 Sienna has some minor redesigns. What that may mean, is a really good deal on a 2014 Sienna! We got a 2014 Sienna 1.5 weeks ago for 8K off with 0% financing, extended warranty as well, because the dealership wanted all the 2014s gone before they start rolling out the 2015s in just a couple weeks. I never looked at a Odyssey because they are not a possibility where I live, I must have the AWD Sienna.
 

Car-Seat.Org Facebook Group

Forum statistics

Threads
219,656
Messages
2,196,896
Members
13,530
Latest member
onehitko860

You must read your carseat and vehicle owner’s manual and understand any relevant state laws. These are the rules you must follow to restrain your children safely. All opinions at Car-Seat.Org are those of the individual author for informational purposes only, and do not necessarily reflect any policy or position of Carseat Media LLC. Car-Seat.Org makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. If you are unsure about information provided to you, please visit a local certified technician. Before posting or using our website you must read and agree to our TERMS.

Graco is a Proud Sponsor of Car-Seat.Org! Britax is a Proud Sponsor of Car-Seat.Org! Nuna Baby is a Proud Sponsor of Car-Seat.Org!

Please  Support Car-Seat.Org  with your purchases of infant, convertible, combination and boosters seats from our premier sponsors above.
Shop travel systems, strollers and baby gear from Britax, Chicco, Clek, Combi, Evenflo, First Years, Graco, Maxi-Cosi, Nuna, Safety 1st, Diono & more! ©2001-2022 Carseat Media LLC

Top