certified po odyssey-less miles or cheaper vehicle?

[ellairiesmom]

i have been debating the purchase for so long. have over-researched to the point of disgust! but we really need more room & to trade in our prius.

would you pay $2500 more for a 2007 certified odyssey that has only 16,000 miles on it vs a 2007 with 35,000?

[Smithie]

I would not! You are likely to get 100k out of that puppy in either case.

[Eman'smom]

Are both certified? If so, yeah I'd pay 2500 for 20,000 less miles. The way I drive 20,000 miles is 1.5 years of driving or more. Assuming you would get the same number of miles out of both vans, that is, for me at least paying 2500 to get nearly 2 extra years out of the car.

[goldfinches]

We actually paid a bit more than that. We had expected to get one with 70K miles and found one with 35K. We paid $3,000 more for the lower miles. (ps. I LOVE it!!!)

[ellairiesmom]

thx all!

and yes-thy are both exactly the same model & options...and both are honda pre certified, from a dealership & with similar carfax details...

we put between 12-15,000 miles per year & only have 1 car. so we would be trading in our prius to get the odyssey. BUT we own the prius, have no car payment right now. we would be doing a 5 yr finance for the diff between the 2. i liked the idea of getting the MOST we can get out of the pre owned warranty miles while having a monthly payment but didn't know if it was a solid decision

[lmonter]

The powertrain warranty goes to 5 years or 60K miles. If you're really that worried about the extra mileage, you can easily get an extended warranty of some sort for less than $2500. Plus, either way, the 3yr/36K mile warranty's up on both of them.

Whichever you buy, get the transmission serviced (by a *trustworthy* mechanic/transmission guy) every 25K miles. Supposedly Honda redid the transmission in 2004 to have less problems than the former one, but those ones are still aging and we'll see what shakes down over the next few years.

Fwiw, we have a 2001 Odyssey, that has 111K miles on it. I *am* going to get 200K out of this sucker - long enough to get these kids grown and then I can downsize to a more normal car. We had to replace the tranny at 109K miles though (a well documented problem on this model), so that's where we're coming from. If you have documentation and all that, sometimes Honda will [partially] reimburse for the faulty transmission, but once you hit that magical 109K point things get iffier... we're still trying though since we were right on the cusp. I will say, don't get your transmission done at a dealership, wow. They didn't know a quarter of what our tranny guy knows, and they were more expensive to boot. Hubby's spent some time hanging out over here as of late.

[mbhf]

Yes, I would.

ave you looked at the price difference between a new Odyssey and a certified preowned? I only ask because when I looked at a few Cert preowned Odysseys, they were really not much less expensive than a brand new one with the same options. Honestly I was shocked. I currently drive a 2006 EX-L with 50,000 miles. When I looked at certified preowned Odysseys, a comparable certified preowned Odyssey was about $26,000. For a 4yo car with 50,000 miles. Compare that to the $29,000 I was going to pay for a brand new one.

[ellairiesmom]

lmonter-i joined over at the ody forum to poke around a little. right away i found a thread about extended warranties. who did you buy your extended warranty through? honda or 3rd party?

from some of the pricing examples, it does seem we could get a good extended actual "honda care" warranty for much less than the difference i am seeing for vans w/ lower miles.

[ellairiesmom]

mbhf-i did look at new, but we want (well, I want ) the ex-l. those start out too high new...
thx though!

[lmonter]

Oh, we don't do extended warranties.
We prefer to buy solid, reliable vehicles in the first place, plus my parents had already taken care of this decade's lemon (my dad would buy one every decade - A Ford, Honda, then another Ford over the last 30 years).
But now that we're more in control of our finances, we have savings for car repairs. Most folks would freak out about putting in a new transmission, right? Including hubby's boss that makes twice as much. Our reaction was "oh man, what else can go wrong this month?" but we weren't scrambling trying to sell plasma or blood to pay for it.

But for those that are concerned about extended warranties, it could be less expensive to get your own than the dealership certified. No idea where to get them though since no experience in that regard. I'm sure someone else has ideas/preferences there.

[nd_deadhead]

I'd look at the Toyota Sienna as well. We bought one over a year ago, and I still love every little thing about it! Our sons (tall teenagers) were more comfortable in the back seat of the Sienna. It has a higher ground clearance, which is important for us, because we live where the streets get a lot of snow buildup in the winter; it also has a better towing capacity than the Odyssey.

[Pookietooth]

I wish we could afford a used Oddysey. I'd go with lower miles too if you think it's worth it.

[goldfinches]

Originally Posted by ellairiesmom

mbhf-i did look at new, but we want (well, I want ) the ex-l. those start out too high new...
thx though!

ha ha - me too! I actually have waited about 2 years and planned for mine. I wanted the touring edition instead of trying to find a different model with all the little things I wanted added on. The price difference between my used 2007 with 35K miles and a brand new one was at least $17,000.

[crunchy_mama]

Originally Posted by lmonter

The powertrain warranty goes to 5 years or 60K miles. If you're really that worried about the extra mileage, you can easily get an extended warranty of some sort for less than $2500. Plus, either way, the 3yr/36K mile warranty's up on both of them.

Whichever you buy, get the transmission serviced (by a *trustworthy* mechanic/transmission guy) every 25K miles. Supposedly Honda redid the transmission in 2004 to have less problems than the former one, but those ones are still aging and we'll see what shakes down over the next few years.

Fwiw, we have a 2001 Odyssey, that has 111K miles on it. I *am* going to get 200K out of this sucker - long enough to get these kids grown and then I can downsize to a more normal car. We had to replace the tranny at 109K miles though (a well documented problem on this model), so that's where we're coming from. If you have documentation and all that, sometimes Honda will [partially] reimburse for the faulty transmission, but once you hit that magical 109K point things get iffier... we're still trying though since we were right on the cusp. I will say, don't get your transmission done at a dealership, wow. They didn't know a quarter of what our tranny guy knows, and they were more expensive to boot. Hubby's spent some time hanging out over here as of late.

I have an '01 Odyssey as well- I think we are at 95k miles. We had the transmission replaced as well but it was covered. Dh spends lots of time on the ody forums as well, those guys know their stuff! We plan to drive ours until the wheels fall off as well

I don't know if I would pay $2500 more for that difference in mileage. From what I have heard extended warranties aren't a good investment unless it is directly from the company.

[gothnurse3]

Originally Posted by mbhf

Yes, I would.

ave you looked at the price difference between a new Odyssey and a certified preowned? I only ask because when I looked at a few Cert preowned Odysseys, they were really not much less expensive than a brand new one with the same options. Honestly I was shocked. I currently drive a 2006 EX-L with 50,000 miles. When I looked at certified preowned Odysseys, a comparable certified preowned Odyssey was about $26,000. For a 4yo car with 50,000 miles. Compare that to the $29,000 I was going to pay for a brand new one.

We must be soul sisters. I wanted a *used* to save money too. But, they were expensive and for a bit more...but a lower interest rate I got a 2006 EX-L brand new. After trade-in (paid for) I financed less than 20K and then paid it off in 2 years. It now has 50,000 miles on it and I'm driving that baby till she rolls over and dies. I love it!!