I've owned my 1999 Honda Odyssey EX for 4 years. It's the first Honda I've owned and I think I'm hooked. I love the tight handling, power, solid design and the overall quality feel, even at 120,000+ miles.
We bought it in December of 2001 Certified. Honda's Certified Used program is one of the best. They do a thorough inspection, repair anything broken and replace anything worn out. Then the factory warranty is extended 12 months or 12,000 miles. If the factory warranty is up (like ours was) they give you a 12 month 12,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty. Beyond that, the power train warranty is extended to 7 years form original purchase or 100,000 total miles.
When we bought ours it had just shy of 40,000 miles on it. The next day, it started stalling when we came to a stop. No dash lights or error codes, just stalling. Returning to the dealer it was diagnosed as needing a new transmission due to the torque converter lock up sticking. Ouch.
That's not why I love Honda.
I considered returning it and buying a different vehicle, but knowing Honda's reputation I figured it was a fluke. Later I learned that transmission issues with these Odysseys, while still relatively rare, are alarmingly frequent. In fact, Honda later voluntarily extended the warranty on all Odyssey transmissions of that era to 100,000 miles. I figured I'd been there and done that so I was ready for another 150,000 miles or so of trouble free motoring.
Fast forward nearly exactly 4 years and 80,000 miles. On our recent Christmas trip, the check engine light and the TCS (Traction Control System) lights came on. That's not a good sign, those lights together usually mean transmission issues. We made it home, but the transmission began acting up, hanging in first gear too long and downshifting very hard when I went to pass on two lane roads. I had a bad feeling and sure enough, upon visiting the dealer last week it was diagnosed as needing another new transmission.
This time we were out of warranty at nearly 120,000 miles and the dealer said that the re-manufactured Honda transmission was $4,500 plus about $500 installation labor. He recommended a used transmission, which seemed silly considering how short the life of the first two were. Ouch.
That's not why I love Honda.
I told the dealer that an average transmission life of 60,000 miles wasn't acceptable, warranty or not. I wanted to know what could be done about this. The said they could do nothing and I needed to call Honda of America myself, that's how Honda works. (That's a disappointing statement that I refuse to believe. As their customer I think they should have gone to bat for me with Honda on this. I will take my Honda business to a different dealer in the future.)
So I called Honda. The woman took down my information, VIN and history including my disappointment with the dealer and said a case manger would contact the dealer and get back to me in a day or two. Twenty minutes later the case manager called back to say that Honda would cover the entire cost of the transmission replacements. I would be expected to pay the shipping on the transmission, however, about $180.
That's why I love Honda.
My vehicle is clearly outside the warranty, yet they're doing the right thing. It's clear that they understand the value of their reputation that they've spent decades building. They understand that people like me pay a premium for a Honda vehicle because they expect more from it in terms of durability and reliability. They've acknowledged that this transmission isn't up to what people thought they were buying by extending the warrany to almost 3 times the standard 36,000 miles. When it didn't live up to their reputation even beyond that, they've made it right. I'm sure that they've calculated how many are likely to fail outside the warranty and how many of those people will even ask for help. Still, they took care of me, and for that I'm grateful. It's got me thinking of maybe a Certified Civic instead of the Mazda3 or Protege5 to replace the Escort later this year. If the Civic was available in a 5 door ...
Ouch. I'm sorry it happened to you, but glad they made it right. I grimace every time we put our Ody in reverse, because it makes a horrendous slam that I know is a warning sign of a tranny failure as well. And we only have 28K mi!
I only hope Honda is in as good a mood when ours tanks!
'Doc - Good to hear from you! It's been quiet over your way. There's a certain white fog that's decended on your site. :-) Any baby news yet?
Ours is doing the same thing too, althogh not every time. Is yours covered under the extended transmission warranty? Either way, I might take it in. Even if they say nothing's wrong, you'll be on record that there was something going on under the standard warranty. Or are you outside the 3 years? I forgot what year yours is.
Several folks at Odyclub have had Honda repalce theirs past 100,000 miles. I would think that one going south at ~30,000 miles would qualify too.
For what it's worth, I talked to two independant shops who said that even if they had to replace everything that might wear out, it wouldn't be more than $2,500.
Ours is just out of warranty. It's been doing the horrid reverse clunk thing since it was brand new, and we took it in during that period to document it. Until it starts slipping or locking up we won't fuss about replacement.
No baby news yet. We're two days overdue.
Speaking of cars, how'dya like the auto show? If I had thought of it, I would have invited to come down to Trenton to worship with us if you were still in the area on Sunday. Doh! Well, maybe next year.
The show was great, I hope to put up some pics later. Maybe, maybe not.
I headed back on Saturday night, so I wasn't in town Sunday.
honda sucks 60k tranmission is still good if u drive a nissan so next time you should call nissan usa and ask em' weres your local dealer have kids get a maxixa , college chicks theres an altima fro hugh school kids theres a sentra for chick and a sentra se-r for the guys pull boats? armada is the answer moms that take the kid to baseball practice pathfinder and for a wild adnemture theres always a x-terra w a first aid kit dads to much work recommended the biggest and strongest pick up truck in the world the titan and for those of you who perfer to fly over hondas and acuras on the high way theres the best sports car ever created in history 350Z.....you cant go wrong with nissan thats why we love nissan.....
So, how do you feel about Nissans? :-) Seriously, it's neice to see folks come in from Google and actually leave a comment.
I had a 1988 Nissan Pulsar SE. Car was a load of fun, but an absolute lemon. It ate tires every 25K miles, exhaust systems nearly as often, speedo went out and was going to mean opening the trans up to fix, steering rack went out, replaced one of the ignition coils, the crank angle senor (twice) and the exhaust cam. Over 3 years and about 60K miles I spent something like $5,000 in repairs and maintenance. Ouch. And when I traded it on the Escort I just got rid of, it still needed that steering rack replaced, a set of struts, another set of tires and another exhaust system. Ouch.
You can perhaps understand then, I'm none to eager to try another Nissan.
I hired a Honda Accord Euro for a long trip. I usually take this trip often and it's long one. With all the different cars I drove this trip with the Honda was the best. I drove the whole 10 hours with 1 stop to refuel and smoke and eat.
Even with fuel it was awesome. I didn't actually need it but I top it up because I was lone in this trip.
Compare to Lexus, Ford and Holden. Honda is the best and most reliable car to travel in. With other my back are always aching but with Honda it didn't even start.
I will never buy any other car brand except Honda. The promise I made from that day on.