Love to hear from Odyssey owners

[momtoeliza]

Oh, I forgot about that annoyance. I don't mind doors that lock automatically, but I hate that when I want to open the sliders after stopping and putting it in park, I have to push the door unlock button before the open-slider button will work. In my other vans, both had automatic locks, but when I stopped, I could just push the buttons to open the sliders and they would work. I know it's a safety feature, but it makes me drop a cuss word every now and then.

As far as cargo, the Ody is sufficient for everyday use, even for me, and I haul a lot. Definitely holds more than our little Fiat commuter car!

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I'm ok with the auto lock, but I always felt it was a speed test at the school pick up line; pull up, put in park while hitting unlock and then door slider button before somebody grabbed the handle trying to open it for me which makes it stop opening and start beeping. I felt really guilty the few times DH took DD or picked her up since it almost gets chaotic trying to align all the stars to get her in/out.

Yes, you can definitely change this feature You can turn off auto lock entirely or make it so the car unlocks automatically when you put it in park.

 

[lilpenguin]

Oh, I forgot about that annoyance. I don't mind doors that lock automatically, but I hate that when I want to open the sliders after stopping and putting it in park, I have to push the door unlock button before the open-slider button will work. In my other vans, both had automatic locks, but when I stopped, I could just push the buttons to open the sliders and they would work. I know it's a safety feature, but it makes me drop a cuss word every now and then.

As far as cargo, the Ody is sufficient for everyday use, even for me, and I haul a lot. Definitely holds more than our little Fiat commuter car!

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org

you can program it to lock/unlock or not lock at all--its all in the manual


ETA: HI SARAH!!! (we finally got an Odyssey!)

 

[momtoeliza]

you can program it to lock/unlock or not lock at all--its all in the manual


ETA: HI SARAH!!! (we finally got an Odyssey!)

HI!!! Didn't see you there

So, do you love it? Sometimes I still feel silly driving a van with two kids but I gotta tell you, we use the extra seats all.the.time for carpooling, trips with friends, grandparents, watching other littles, etc. I big puffy pink heart love that ugly thing. We just upgraded to one with automatic sliding doors last summer (we lease and turned our other one in early) and now I'm in heaven. Well, almost. A girl can dream about the central vac now. Someday...

Hope all is well

 

[lilpenguin]

HI!!! Didn't see you there

So, do you love it? Sometimes I still feel silly driving a van with two kids but I gotta tell you, we use the extra seats all.the.time for carpooling, trips with friends, grandparents, watching other littles, etc. I big puffy pink heart love that ugly thing. We just upgraded to one with automatic sliding doors last summer (we lease and turned our other one in early) and now I'm in heaven. Well, almost. A girl can dream about the central vac now. Someday...

Hope all is well

I had to turn to something after the end of BWing...clothing has been my obsession, but MIL has decided to take the girls one day a week afterschool so I needed another seat and was doing some research.

It IS nice. DH loves all the geeky techy-ness that it has and was using this tape deck thing to play music from his phone, plus it has the bluetooth, so I decided to just let him drive it. My old sedan got upgraded with the Pilot he was driving. I feel silly owning 2 giant cars, but whenever we go out, we manage to fill the back. I hear you about the vacuum, FIL sent this to me 2 days after we picked ours up, and I had just heard about the vacuum, let me tell you, I was SO confused.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fEIHjuA4vk&feature=youtu.be








(its an april fools joke)

 

[luckyclov]

Read the manual? Whaaaaa? Why would I do that.

 

[tl01]

Interesting. I believe you. It's just that we had the complete opposite experience. It's because we rented a 2011+ Sienna for a road trip that we went with the Odyssey. I have two brother in laws who are Toyota mechanics. Their dealers happen to also rent cars. We rented Siennas rather than put wear and tear on our own cars. It was because of that trip where I noticed things that really bugged about the Sienna, like feeling cramped in the legs roomwise in both the 2nd and 3rd row seats, always tripping over those damn 2nd row tracks, the a/c not being cold enough in the back for a LA summer, and how cheap everything feels inside. Plus, my anal DW was annoyed how the hinges for the 3rd row extend all the way down the well so it's easy to scratch up that plastic when you put stuff in the trunk area. Oh, and we lost cheerios and small toys into the a/c vents under the front seats. On the Odyssey, they designed it so that's not a problem. It was bad enough that even the Toyota workers thought we were better off with an Odyssey, and one of them was PISSED I had earlier bought a Ridgeline over a Tacoma/Tundra.

Maybe OP should try and rent one first to see how she likes it. I dunno if Honda dealers rent, but apparently a good number of Toyota dealers do. I mean, my gripes were just my subjective experiences. Maybe the stuff I load or how our bodies are shaped make one van better than the other. I dunno.

I'm totally with luckyclov on the space in the Sienna vs Odyssey. I have owned the two 2011 odysseys and one 2012 sienna and I was always folding down the third row of my Odyssey when we took weekend trips and and we just did our 9 day trip in the sienna and it was awesome. 3rd row stayed up the whole time and everything was stacked behind it. We covered up the seat tracks with weather tech mats as I agree that the tracks are hideous on the sienna... as is the dashboard. They both have pluses and minuses for sure. I'm hoping that quality has improved on the 2014 odyssey by the time I get one.... bc that was a big issue for me.

Luckily... the AC in both vans has been fine for us in San Diego and Los Angeles last summer...and we live in a hot part of San Diego.

 

[luckyclov]

I'm totally with luckyclov on the space in the Sienna vs Odyssey. I have owned the two 2011 odysseys and one 2012 sienna and I was always folding down the third row of my Odyssey when we took weekend trips and and we just did our 9 day trip in the sienna and it was awesome. 3rd row stayed up the whole time and everything was stacked behind it. We covered up the seat tracks with weather tech mats as I agree that the tracks are hideous on the sienna... as is the dashboard. They both have pluses and minuses for sure. I'm hoping that quality has improved on the 2014 odyssey by the time I get one.... bc that was a big issue for me.

Luckily... the AC in both vans has been fine for us in San Diego and Los Angeles last summer...and we live in a hot part of San Diego.

Hello, the '14 has a vacuum! I heart vacuuming! I'm a little bitter over it; I'm in this Ody for awhile and that was the plan when we got it because my son's training expenses went through the roof and there's a lot less fun money laying around. No more changing vehicles like underoos. So. Bitter. I want a vacuum in my van.

 

[tl01]

Hello, the '14 has a vacuum! I heart vacuuming! I'm a little bitter over it; I'm in this Ody for awhile and that was the plan when we got it because my son's training expenses went through the roof and there's a lot less fun money laying around. No more changing vehicles like underoos. So. Bitter. I want a vacuum in my van.

I'm hope the 2014 works out for me bc I am always vacuuming my car. There are a few people on here that can attest to that. I carry a car vacuum at all times.

 

[cakebreak]

I know the OP has already purchased his van, but we just purchased a 2013 Ody this past Friday. It will mainly be my car and I came from an X5. I love the van VERY much. Probably the thing I miss the most is comfort access... I have been very spoiled in just leaving my keys in my purse and having this amazing ability to open my doors and start my car without having to pull it out of the deep, dark diaper bag/purse. Apparently the 2014 will have this feature. I also miss being able to lock the car before all the doors are shut.

Another minor, minor issue with 2013. I hate that the shifter is in my way everytime I try access volume... but I'm sure I will train myself to work around it.

I love being a minivan mom... never thought I'd say that. The X5 was just way too tight and it was challenging to travel with three adults and two car seats.

Just wanted to add my two cents.