Van reco: Sienna, Odyssey or Pacifica

[Anonymous]

If you have a place to charge (normal wall current is fine) the plug in Pacifica is great. We pretty much only get gas for road trips. It's so nice not to have to pump gas in hot, cold, rain, snow, etc.

[Anonymous]

Just get a Pacifica with the extended warranty. You will pay less than the people with an Odyssey and some years of Odyssey have major problems anyways. It's a practical vehicle that doesn't require buying a top brand so long as you have a warranty to deal with the Chrysler dealerships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have a place to charge (normal wall current is fine) the plug in Pacifica is great. We pretty much only get gas for road trips. It's so nice not to have to pump gas in hot, cold, rain, snow, etc.

Not to threadjack, but do you have to charge every day? There's a plug-in Pacifica on my preschool commute and I see them plugged in every morning (they drag the cord over the sidewalk to the street, which is why I first noticed). We have a hybrid and get gas maybe every 4-5 weeks, so it seems wild to need to recharge every single day. Doesn't braking recharge the battery at least somewhat when you drive? Or is it completely different technology, more like a phone battery that has to be plugged in every 18 hours or so?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a place to charge (normal wall current is fine) the plug in Pacifica is great. We pretty much only get gas for road trips. It's so nice not to have to pump gas in hot, cold, rain, snow, etc.

Not to threadjack, but do you have to charge every day? There's a plug-in Pacifica on my preschool commute and I see them plugged in every morning (they drag the cord over the sidewalk to the street, which is why I first noticed). We have a hybrid and get gas maybe every 4-5 weeks, so it seems wild to need to recharge every single day. Doesn't braking recharge the battery at least somewhat when you drive? Or is it completely different technology, more like a phone battery that has to be plugged in every 18 hours or so?

np. Technically, you never actually have to plug in a PHEV. You can just run it as a hybrid. The problem is that you paid for a battery that is bigger than you'd find in a hybrid, but smaller than in a purely electric vehicle. It's the in between.

on a full charge, you get maybe 30 miles of electic only range, and then it transitions to hybrid mode. the brakes add some charge whenever they're used, and that's true whether it's a hybrid, PHEV, or EV. But brakes are not going to restore your 30 mile charge (unless you're starting at the top of some mountain in Colorado).

so if you want to use it in electric only mode and get that added PHEV benefit, it does need to be plugged in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Toyota has long "edged out" everyone in reliability. Get the Sienna.

Though to be fair Honda makes fine cars.

I couldn’t disagree more. Plus I hate the Sienna interior and their prices are outrageous. Top trim Sienna is $10k more than top trim Odyssey, which I would choose even at the same price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the Sienna owners, any regrets with the capacity since the 2nd row seats can't be removed?

I wouldn't say it's a regret, but I do miss the option of being able to do that like my old Sienna had. In the 3 years I've owned the new Sienna, I haven't actually needed that feature.

[Anonymous]

Love my 13 yr old odyssey. Never any issues. Most reliable vehicle I’ve ever owned. We shopped around and seriously considered the sienna as it seemed great too but got a better deal on the odyssey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 16 year old Odyssey that’s been great. I would love to explore all the minivan options out there, but my garage doors are very narrow and all minivan models are very slightly wider than they were 16 years ago. The new Odysseys are the most narrow, so I will probably get another Odyssey, unless there are any minivans out there that have a feature that would allow me to tuck in my side view mirrors with the push of a button.

The Pacific does offer that feature

Thanks, I’ll have to check out the Pacifica.

[Anonymous]

I have a 2006 Chrysler minivan with over 200,000 miles that still runs fine. I would buy another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 16 year old Odyssey that’s been great. I would love to explore all the minivan options out there, but my garage doors are very narrow and all minivan models are very slightly wider than they were 16 years ago. The new Odysseys are the most narrow, so I will probably get another Odyssey, unless there are any minivans out there that have a feature that would allow me to tuck in my side view mirrors with the push of a button.

The Pacific does offer that feature

Sienna has had this feature, but one a Limited or higher version. It is very useful for garages and for auto folding when parking.

[Anonymous]

We have a 2020 Pacifica AWD. It's been pretty great. We've driven to CA and back. Very comfortable. We picked it over the competitors largely because of the drivability - it has good pickup/power. And we like the easy fold down seats. Plus, it came with all the bells and whistles for about $38k. We wanted AWD in the midwest, so there weren't many options.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have experience with the Carnival? I’m outside of the DMV and the dealers can never get them in stock.

[Anonymous]

I just got an Odyssey and absolutely love it so far.

We keep cars forever (15+ years), so I took this purchase very seriously. I didn't consider a Pacifica and decided against a Sienna because they are more expensive than comparable Odysseys and have significantly less cargo room, and I prefer the exterior of the Odyssey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just got an Odyssey and absolutely love it so far.

We keep cars forever (15+ years), so I took this purchase very seriously. I didn't consider a Pacifica and decided against a Sienna because they are more expensive than comparable Odysseys and have significantly less cargo room, and I prefer the exterior of the Odyssey.

Significantly less cargo room? False if comparing against a Pacifica that has stow and go seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just got an Odyssey and absolutely love it so far.

We keep cars forever (15+ years), so I took this purchase very seriously. I didn't consider a Pacifica and decided against a Sienna because they are more expensive than comparable Odysseys and have significantly less cargo room, and I prefer the exterior of the Odyssey.

Significantly less cargo room? False if comparing against a Pacifica that has stow and go seats.

Pretty sure the quoted poster was saying that about the Sienna. Though the Pacifica plug-in hybrid and pinnacle do not have stow and go.

Honestly, second row stow and go is not worth forgoing all wheel drive for me personally. How often do you really need to just haul stuff, no passengers at all? I'm fine with renting a real van for moving.

Honda doesn't offer AWD, so they are off the list for me.