We purchased our 2000 Honda Odyssey LX in January after tons of web research and a visit to a local Honda dealer to check the van out. The main determining factors for us in making this decision were safety, reliability, and convenience. The Odyssey's safety ratings rival those of the Ford Windstar, which is tops in the class. For reliability, you simply can't beat a Honda: I have an 87 Civic with over 130,000 miles on it, and you can't kill the thing. We're betting heavily on the Honda reputation here, but there's every reason to believe the Odyssey will be as reliable as Honda's other models. For convenience, you simply can't beat the fold-down third seat! It's so easy to fold up and down, you don't have to hassle with lifting heavy seats up into the van.


Our vote for the Odyssey was also pretty much a vote against Ford, as the Windstar was our other top choice. We have a 97 Contour which has had its share of flukey problems, and our local Ford dealer's maintenance department didn't fill us with confidence, either -- one engine timing problem took four visits to diagnose and finally correct.

We bought the Odyssey because we have frequent guests and it's a hassle having to take two cars everywhere. Also as the kids get bigger, the Contour (our "good" car) was seeming smaller and smaller. So the extra-passenger capacity and the overall roominess were what we were going for, the Odyssey meets these needs wonderfully.

We went with the LX because I was leery of the power-controlled doors, and I don't really need or want all the extras that come with the EX, like the on-board navigation. The CD player would've been nice, but for less than $100 I can get a portable one with a car adapter kit. One feature that should be in both models but is not is an automatic lights-off after the car has been turned off for a while. The EX has this feature, but the LX does not, and since the lights do not turn off unless the sliding doors are completely closed, I have run down my battery a few times.

In fact, this non-feature is my biggest complaint about the LX... for $28,000 you'd think the van could turn off its own lights if you forget. My $16,000 Ford Contour does! And especially in a mini-van, where children will be opening and closing the doors... OK, enough of that rant. You just have to watch this closely. My solution was to completely turn off the interior lights, so it doesn't matter if the doors are left slightly ajar.

The best feature of the van is its surprisingly nimble handling. This is my third vehicle, and when I moved up from the Honda Civic to the Ford Contour, I felt like I was driving a land yacht. The Contour is not that big, but the old Civics were tiny. I was very nervous about moving up to the Odyssey, because I wasn't just moving up to a full-size car, I was moving up to a miniature bus! But the steering and acceleration are both very responsive, and Honda has made great strides with its brakes since the days of my Civic's mushy and worrisome ones. Because of how responsive the van is, I do sometimes forget about the greater momentum it carries. All that means is, sometimes I have to brake harder than I expected to, but that's just a question of me switching between cars too much. If the Odyssey were the only thing I ever drove, I wouldn't have this problem.

The dash board layout is clear but not stunning. It's easy maneuvering between the seats and into the third row, which can easily hold three smallish people. Three large adults would be a tight fit back there. The back of the third bench seat adjusts to different angles, and there are climate controls on both sides for both the second and the third rows. Each row of seats is raised so that all passengers can see out the front windshield. Riding in the third seat is pretty comfortable over short distances. Like most adults, I'm not accustomed to riding on a bench seat; it was less supportive than the typical bucket seat, as you would expect.

The much-advertised 9 cupholders do not impress me. They are not deep enough to prevent a tall sportsbottle from toppling out during a normal stop. They are fine for shorter cups though. I could do with a few more cubbies or pockets, but all in all I manage to find places to tuck away what I need to. The glove box is shallow but there is a deeper box (perfect for the cube-size tissue boxes) in the center of the dash. There is also a sunglass-holder over the rear view mirror which my kids are both fascinated with. The visor on the drivers side has a nice pull-out extension, so when you swing it over to the side mirror, you can pull it out to block out those last few extra inches.

The sliding doors operate easily, but as mentioned above, they have to catch completely for the lights to go out. This is only relevant to the LX; the EX features those power doors. The rear tailgate lifts easily, and the rear floor has a shallow pit that the third seat folds down into. I like this because it keeps grocery bags from falling over, or small items from rolling back under the seats.

For extras, aside from the luggage rack (not included), we sprung for the security system and remote automatic door lock feature. I seriously recommend this feature to anyone with children. You can unlock the car on the way to it, without having to fiddle with keys and locks. I got spoiled by having this feature on a rental car we had one vacation. I liked it so much I considered retro-fitting one into the Contour. It's definitely a hassle-saver.

We have been very happy with the LX and I still do not regret choosing it over the EX, which would have cost us an additional $5000. The only really negative thing I can say about the Odyssey is that Honda is purposely limiting the supply; we had to put our name on a waiting list. We were fortunate in that our van came in only a few days later, but LX models are generally easier to get than EXs. It may be that the supply is freeing up, but Honda still offers no deals or incentives on Odyssey sales; they don't have to. This means the consumer ends up paying top dollar, but for such a high quality vehicle, it really is worth it.