Sienna or Odyssey? Time has come to move from the T4R

[Flyingbread1]

Sienna or Odyssey? Would love to hear your thoughts. Always some great insight from this board. Looking at getting a used Sienna or Odyssey 2008 - 2012? I live in Minnesnowta so I'll probably be getting a set of snow tires for winter. Don't know if the extra money for the AWD Sienna is worth it.

 

[whyowyo]

Both are good vans. Try driving both and see what you like. The Sienna just edges out the Odyssey for power, ride, and handling, in fact it is way too easy to suddenly find you are speeding without realizing it in the Sienna. Odyssey = better mpg, a little softer of a ride and less precise feeling.

Make sure to mess around with the seat configurations, One isn't better than the other, just different and will depend on how you want to use them, # of kids, cargo, etc.

AWD Sienna's have no spare so they mount run flat tires. The RFT tires cost a fortune and wear quickly, especially if not kept at exactly the correct pressure for the load. I've stopped putting RFT's on the Siennas at work and carry a slime kit instead. If the slime doesn't work it is time to call for a tow (flatbed only).

In reality the AWD just allows you to pull out into traffic a little faster, and let's us get through the plow slough when pulling out of a parking spot with less shoveling. Probably not worth the money.

 

[mpyle]

We have a Sienna and love it. Tons of space. Makes the 4Runner seem so small. It handles great for a van and feels more like a car than a van. It's powerful and stops well. We actually bought an Accord as the second car and at the time I wanted a van. We eventually replaced the Accord with the Sienna. Nothing wrong with the Accord but we both agree we should have bought a van before and like it way better. We don't get snow so I can't talk about that but we would absolutely buy a Sienna again regardless of where we live. I'm a PA native and miss driving in snow. Of course we also have a 4Runner and are partial to Toyota. In the end I think it comes down to personal preference and don't think you can go wrong with either brand.

 

[ecally]

Just traded in a 2006 Sienna AWD last fall. I live in PA and I can tell you that van was awesome in the snow. I got rid of the expensive run flats and put regular tires on. In the past I've had front wheel drive vans and they were crap in the snow. The AWD was worth the cost, for me.

 

[backcountrymedic]

We have a '14 Sienna AWD. LOVE IT!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[MDurbs68]

I don't think you could go wrong with either choice. With that said, we have an 06 and 14 Odyssey. The 06 has 152K and 14 has 52K. Zero problems with either. Both were Honda certified used.
I will say I hate the cylinder management system on the Odyssey. Be sure to google Honda VCM. I found a guy on an Odyssey forum that developed a resistor that effectively disables VCM. I would not have bought another Odyssey without this "mod".
We did shop Sienna (used)when looking for the 14. My wife and I preferred the 14 Odyssey over the 14 Sienna. The Sienna interior had a few rattles and we thought the Odyssey handled better. The Sienna is quicker.
Like I said, don't think you go wrong with either.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Inv4drZm]

Just chop the body and frame on the 4Runner and extend it one row.

 

[Flyingbread1]

that's why I considered the GX470

Just chop the body and frame on the 4Runner and extend it one row.

I was trying to convince the wife that the GX470 would be a good compromise for the third row but practicality in the name of gas mileage and overall convenience has won the day.

 

[ae86coupe]

I have an 08 sienna.. still have the 05 t4r. Love em both. Now I'm lifting the t4r.. it deserves an upgrade

 

[iBison]

The Toyotas I have owned, 3 4Runners, two Camry's have been very reliable, but the Hondas I have owned, 3 or 4 have been far more reliable. Bought a 97 Civic new and gave it to my son in 2007 and he still has it, but different motor and all. The biggest problem it had was the front windows coming off the track occasionally. The head gasket and brake calipers on the 4Runner leave me less impressed with Toyota. Fortunately I haven't had a rusted out frame, cracked dash or exploding rear window.

If Honda made a 4Runner competitor I likely wouldn't be here. Unless there was a feature on the Toyota that Honda didn't have I'd buy a Honda van or car over Toyota any day of the week.

 

[DrakeMK3]

My wife drives an '07 Odyssey EX. We picked it over the Sienna specifically because we have the tray that can fold down instead of having a stationary console between the driver's and passenger's seats. It allows us to climb back to the middle seats. This was important to her because when she's out somewhere, she can just shuffle the kids in the van, shut all the doors and handle everything without being "exposed". You can't go wrong with either one, but that feature tipped our decision towards the Odyssey.

 

[EngRWW33]

I was trying to convince the wife that the GX470 would be a good compromise for the third row but practicality in the name of gas mileage and overall convenience has won the day.

My wife and I have an '01 Tacoma DC (for sale), an '05 GX470 and a'15 Sienna XLE. She much prefers to drive the GX470 overall, although the extra space and comforts of the Sienna win out when transporting 3 kids (all under 5ys of age) around town.

 

[S4TA]

Our 2010 Sienna was the first Toyota we ever bought. Prior to that we had a few Acuras and then Subarus and I was somewhat anti-Toyota. We cross shopped the Sienna with the Odyssey, but I was hesitant to buy another V6 Honda due to their history of horrible transmission reliability. Our Acura MDX went through three transmissions before we finally traded it.

We bought a 2010 over the newer body style because at the time the fit and finish seemed better and it was quieter. I heard the the newest Siennas improved the fit and finish to be comparable to the 2010.

As far as minivans go, I have to admit they are nice. So much space and my kids don't ding adjacent car doors. The cubic-inch volume behind the 3rd row of the Sienna is bigger than the volume behind the 2nd row of the 4Runner. The trade-off is the Sienna barely fits in my garage whereas the 4Runner has a few feet to spare.

 

[vonguido]

We bought my wife a 16' Odyssey. We looked at the Sienna as well, ultimately she loved the Odyssey more. Both are well made, both do well in terms of longevity, it was styling for my wife that made her pick the odyssey.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Flyingbread1]

Thanks for the input, going to test drive both this weekend

My budget puts me into a 2011 or 2012 of either one. I am going to test drive these this weekend and try to see which one I like better. I saw a 2012 Sienna SE that actually looks pretty nice for a minvan with only 68,000 miles near by. Part of my brain keeps screaming noooooooo! If I wasn't embarrassed by the rust on the frame of my 4runner I might try to sell it on here. MN winters are cruel. Thanks everyone! Peace.

 

[NeutronJon]

I was in the same position as you about 18 months ago. We ended up going the Odyssey route and bought a 2012 and I'm now regretting it. The power actuator for one of our rear doors ate itself and the dealer quoted 1100 to replace the actuator. I told them to shove it and took it home to work on myself. I opened up the actuator and discovered that everything was intact, but the poor quality coating on the cheap steel cable had disintegrated and clogged up the clearance between the reel and the housing, making the cable not feed properly, kink, and bind.

$50 later it's replaced with new rigging grade steel cable and running fine. But, it was annoying to get to and the actuator was mounted behind the coolant lines that run to the rear of the van (yes you read that right) to a small secondary heater core for heating the cargo area. On top of that, I've also had issues with the windshield cowl delaminating (fixed under honda's version of a TSB), and I've read questionable things about tranny failures becoming common around 120k.

Comfort wise they seem to be comparable, but I have owned 8 Toyota vehicles between my wife and I and never had this many problems with one.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

I was in the same position as you about 18 months ago. We ended up going the Odyssey route and bought a 2012 and I'm now regretting it. The power actuator for one of our rear doors ate itself and the dealer quoted 1100 to replace the actuator. I told them to shove it and took it home to work on myself. I opened up the actuator and discovered that everything was intact, but the poor quality coating on the cheap steel cable had disintegrated and clogged up the clearance between the reel and the housing, making the cable not feed properly, kink, and bind.

$50 later it's replaced with new rigging grade steel cable and running fine. But, it was annoying to get to and the actuator was mounted behind the coolant lines that run to the rear of the van (yes you read that right) to a small secondary heater core for heating the cargo area. On top of that, I've also had issues with the windshield cowl delaminating (fixed under honda's version of a TSB), and I've read questionable things about tranny failures becoming common around 120k.

Comfort wise they seem to be comparable, but I have owned 8 Toyota vehicles between my wife and I and never had this many problems with one.

Seems like the 2nd gen Siennas and the Odysseys have more cable issues, I'm surprised the newer ones are having that though. Coolant piping to the rear sounds about right, there's also a secondary set of A/C lines running to the secondary evaporator core back there also. Pretty standard for rear-HVAC vehicles, but it does make working on stuff back there a big pain.

I'm a bit surprised about the transmission issues though, I know pretty much any V6 transmission from Honda from about 2000~2009 or so basically gave out after 100k (I replaced a LOT of Odyssey and MDX ones when I was a used car tech). I figured they had fixed it by now...

I like the Sienna, it's roomy, it has AWD, and it just looks fairly nice inside and out. The Odyssey isn't bad, but it's lack of AWD and not entirely powerful feeling drivetrain is a bit of a let down. The stuff like on-board vacuum on the newest one (though I think Toyota caught on to that as well) is nice. I would probably go for a Sienna myself given the option, though my parent's 2000 & my grandad's 2004 Odyssey have been good vehicles so I wouldn't discount them quickly; but both have needed cables. My parents had to recently buy a new motor & cable set for the driver's side door after I replaced their passenger side ones a couple years ago for failing. Haven't had many of the newer 3rd gen Siennas having cable issues yet, knock on wood.