Which minivan needs the least repairs?

sunflower

New member
We have a Caravan 2010, that was bought after being used for 2 1/2 years in local driving. We bought it in May '13.

The previous owner had only 39k, (24,000 miles). He kept the car in perfect shape. The front brakes were changed when we got it, and somehting in the steering wheel fluid as well.

In Oct. '14 we changed the back breaks. Now the pressure pump (?) on the steering wheel needs to be changed, plus the front breaks are at 10%, so need to change that now. Over $1,000. Being that the dealer is a friend, he gives it to us at a better price, so it would cost more at other locations. This is in addition to regular maintenance done the last 2 years. We were on time with all that. The car is costing us way more than we expected, and I have had more than enough.

We need to upgrade to an 8 passenger minivan by the summer, for the next babe. What will end up costing us less? We can not afford new, way beyond our budget, which is why we started with the Caravan.

(My family in the US leases Honda, and it ends up costing them less than it does us to buy, and they don't have to worry about parts after the guarantee ends.)

Thank you very much for any advice!
 
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Dillipop

Well-known member
I have an 08 sienna that we bought almost 4 years ago now. We have close to 95,000 miles on it. Besides oil changes, we've had to replace tires once and the battery and possibly brake pads? Plus the normal filters and such that are needed. The big bill with tires and battery was close to 1K but it was the only time we've had to do anything major.

Our sliding door did have to be repaired this year but it was done under a partial warranty and then the extended warranty picked up a bunch of the rest- I think we paid less than $100 out of pocket for it.
 

jjordan

Moderator
Well, the only 8-passenger minivans (except quite old ones) are the Odyssey and Sienna, and the new Kia Sedona. Since you can't afford new, that leaves you with Odyssey and Sienna. Both have historically good reliability, though you just can't be sure with any individual car how much it will require until you live through it. The thing with the Odysseys and Siennas, though, is that they do cost a lot more up front. So in the end you may or may not save money. (In other words, compare what you spent on your Caravan to what you would have spent on a similarly-aged Odyssey or Sienna. Whatever that cost difference is, several thousand dollars for sure, have you yet spent that much on repairs on the Caravan? Probably not. Perhaps by the end of the vehicle's "life" you would make up the difference, and perhaps not.)
 

sunflower

New member
I actually had to get new seats for the Caravan, even though I had good seats at home, due to its narrow back seat, so over $600 for 2 Foonfs up front. (I got them on sale.) I haven't spent thousands on repairs, but almost $2k, and there's a dent on one door, that we'll need to fix before trading in, so don't know how much that will cost.

I heard today that Toyota and Honda have played with their mileage a bit, and it doesn't save as much on gas as they claim, and when I googled it, there are some court cases against them.

I do need the 8 seater regardless, so need to figure out which would be best.

Thanks.
 

jjordan

Moderator
I don't think there is a clear winner in terms of reliability. In terms of seating 8 people, Sienna is the winner for 2010 and before, and Odyssey is the winner since then. Although, since you already have two Foonfs, you might be able to get all 6 kids into any 8-seater.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
In those older model years, Honda has a lot more reliability issues in the Ody (much as we love ours) than Toyota did with the Sienna. I'd go with the Sienna.
 

sunflower

New member
The Dodge dealer we bought our car from is a friend, so he is helping us find a new car to trade for. I did tell him already that Sienna up to 2010, and Honda after. (If we change through him, we'll save on the interest the bank charges.)

He was not aware that the headrests on the newer minivans were harder for car seats. He didn't realize how knowledgeable I am due to this site. (And I know nothing about cars.)

When my DH discussed it with him, they figured that since most of the minivans Dodge makes is sold for commercial use, they don't really worry about families with many children. When we went there 3 days ago, there were 400 NEW minivans coming in that were all sold already. Half to Bell, and half to Enterprise.
 

sirrahn

Active member
In those older model years, Honda has a lot more reliability issues in the Ody (much as we love ours) than Toyota did with the Sienna. I'd go with the Sienna.

:yeahthat:I'm still driving my '04 Sienna. We bought it new. It has about 160K and has had zero major repairs. We have certainly spent money on maintenance....brakes, tires, timing belt etc, but the only things broken were a less than $200 issue with the A/C and the power door which was fixed free under warranty.

Pretty much all the Ody's friends bought about the same time have been long replaced due to tranny and other issues.
 

Mags462

New member
:yeahthat:I'm still driving my '04 Sienna. We bought it new. It has about 160K and has had zero major repairs. We have certainly spent money on maintenance....brakes, tires, timing belt etc, but the only things broken were a less than $200 issue with the A/C and the power door which was fixed free under warranty.

Pretty much all the Ody's friends bought about the same time have been long replaced due to tranny and other issues.

I third KQ and this :D

Going on year 6 of ownership for our 2005 Sienna and it has 125K... no issues whatsoever besides normal maintenance. Our passenger side door no longer auto opens/closes and i called 3 days out of the extended warranty they put on it :mad::mad: But that's my fault not Toyota's - I just didn't pay attention to the recalls and didn't want to pay for the door, and when i figured out it would be FREE to fix it was 3 days too late *sigh* The door works just fine manually though and the boys are older so it's totally fine the way it is. :) My rear hatch and drivers side door still open/close automatically.

Every Ody owner i know that has similar mileage has been in the shop for something already - BUT i think the Ody would still be more reliable than a Chrysler any day. ;)
 

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
If you trust Consumer Reports, you find in their data that almost all cars are so reliable now, they have to really exaggerate relatively small differences to set the above average ones apart from below average ones. Apart from the ones that are way below average, most models do pretty well. In fact, in the last few years, they no longer publish the nice graph that actually shows you the absolute number of repairs you might expect over a period of time, because if you did, you'd see the differences were not nearly as large as you might expect.

Anyway, the Sienna FWD tops the survey and has been above average or well above average for many years.

After that, the Sienna AWD, Quest, Mazda5 have all been average to somewhat above average.

Odyssey has always been right around average for many years.

The T&C and GC have all been well below average for many years but closer to average in the last couple years How serious and costly those repairs might be are not indicated.

The new Kia Sedona and Ford Transit are not rated, but the previous Sedona was listed as well below average.

With the exception of models rated as well below average (or a full black circle) for reliability, which has no lower bound on how many repairs you can expect, all the other classifications, including a half black circle, tend to be pretty reliable overall based on the numbers. Given many warranties cover key components well past 3 years now, the cost isn't likely to be a big factor for a lot of owners. If you just hate any trip to the dealer for service, the Sienna FWD might save you one or two trips over a typical ownership period compared to other models.
 

Phineasmama

New member
All I know is, my husband got a Dodge Charger just a bit before I got a Honda CR-V. His charger is long gone, after sinking literally thousands upon thousands of dollars into expensive repairs. My Honda? He's driving that now because it runs like a charm. The only thing I've ever had to do besides normal maintenance was take it in because of a horrible screaming noise which ended up being a $20 fix. Some air conditioning hose something or other. My 2010 grand caravan that I bought in excellent condition with only $15K miles was totaled recently and i honestly feel like I dodged a bullet with that one. Obviously being in a crash was the last thing I ever wanted! But now I have a 2008 odyssey that is much nicer and I'm sure will last much longer.
 

bnsnyde

New member
We've been able to fit 6 kids in our Odyssey 2011.
We bought it new. But now it's 2015 so 2011 (first model year to get really awesome for carseats!) would be used. Maybe some good deals?

We've had nothing major with it. A new battery. Some rust where salt got stuck from a kid's boot. Sliding second row seat needed a repair. But it's hard to say.
 

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