2000 Honda Odyssey

Pros: Utility, Reliability, Highway Fuel economy, Interior design,
Cons: city fuel economy, smaller fuel tank size

I am actually the second owner of a 2000 Honda Odyssey EX. The first owner being my in-laws until 2003. We purchased it from them due to the birth of my twins. A little history is in order. I have had 2 Nissan Pathfinders (a 1993 and a 1995, both great vehicles but small and poor fuel economy) and 1 Subaru Legacy Wagon (very reliable, but small). The Honda Odyssey has been the perfect complement to a family. First, it drives and tracks just like a smaller Honda sedan, highway mileage is between 25-27 mpg//city 19mpg. The Odyssey can easily be converted to accept different interior configurations ( the fold flat 3rd row seat is invaluable). After 115k mileage, the Odyssey has been a reliable and faithful vehicle. The interior is rattle free and well designed. the paint excellent, the engine bulletproof and the transmission (4sp)reliable. This does not have the automatic doors (which were problematic in 2001-2002, or the (5sp) automatic transmission that was prone to failure during the same timeframe).

Pros: It has a lot of cup holders.
Cons: Honda's warrantee allows them to fix your car with "used" parts.

I have a 2000 Honda Odyssey and shortly after I bought it new I had transmission problems. I discovered they had bad transmissions in 2000 odyssey's in certain 2000 models in a certain Vin number range. (Mine was one of these). They put in a "remanufacured" (used) transmission". I was upset that it wasn't new since my car was new but they wouldn't make it right. I did complained and they extended my transmission warrantee. I now have 98,000 miles on the van and it has had 4 transmissions in it.
The bottom line is that Honda in their warrantee agreement has the right to put "used" or "remanufacturered" parts in your new car and does. When you buy a Honda, just know if something is wrong with the car they will use "used" parts to fix it. The other thing you need to know is that even though this Corporation knowingly put out a whole series of cars with a defective transmission they did not issue a recall. I feel sorry for those people who did not discover this problem before their warrantee expired.