New baby is due mid August. We are going to try and buy a 1-2 year old minivan this month and it has come down to the Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna. I know there are some killer deals out there on the Chrysler Pacifica right now, but I’m just leery of the long-term reliability of this vehicle since it is only been out a few years.

Luckily we’ve been able to test drive extensively both the Toyota and Honda as my wife’s parents have the Honda and her sister has the Toyota.

I drove the Toyota today and was impressed by the smoothness overall and the pickup it had, and the solid feel of the doors closing, the Honda seems to have very tinny, flimsy feeling doors for some reason in comparison. However I wasn’t a fan of the overly light-feeling steering on the Toyota.

We are leaning more toward the Honda at this point, but I wanted to check one more time with owners of both models here to get some more feedback. We’d be looking for a 2018 or 2019 model with something like 25,000 miles or less.

Help me decide! Thanks

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PASig,

How long are you going to keep it? The Honda will need a timing belt around 100k. The Toyota has a chain. The Toyota is also available w/ AWD.

You can't really go wrong either way.

I've owned Honda and Toyota vehicles. IMO Toyota.

Finally did the timing belt and water pump on our 2011 Oddy. It's been very good to us. Our second Oddy, with our first being a 2003. One thing I'll point out is how well the materials have stood up to the PA salt. I have a 2014 Subaru Crosstrek that just took two front axels, had the rusted tail pipe welded, and now I'm hearing the rear wheel bearings going. This is a 2014 with 50k miles! Perhaps Toyota is more similar to the Honda in that regard. I imagine it is.

If I had to replace the van, I'd get another Oddy. I like the simplicity in buying Hondas too. (LX, EX, EX-L). I can price-shop them easily. With Toyota, there are all these variable options. I have a LOT of respect for Toyota and I'd gladly own one, but the opaqueness in price-shopping has always turned me off.

My daughter has had both and she hated the Toyota. Buy the Hinda.

Do you need AWD? Sienna has it - Odyssey does not.

Odyssey has more of a tight, sporty feel to it. Sienna is more a softer, compliant ride.

Both have an impeccable reputation for reliability.

Good luck.

I've had both and both are good. My wife drives a 2015 Sienna awd limited and it is a great vehicle. I prefer the yota in this case but would not feel shortchanged w/ Odyssey.

One shortcoming on Sienna awd is no spare tire. 2wd has a spare but driveshaft on awd gets in the way so they come with run flat tires. When it was replacement time I put a good set of all season tires w/snowflake symbol and a Triple AAA card, along with a plug kit, a can of fix a flat and 12v compressor.

Driven both. Extensively.

Get the Toyota.

I've never had a Honda but I've had 3 Toyota AWD vans and I'm a big fan of them. They were issued to me as a work vehicle.

2015 XLE-put 90K on it, zero issues.

2018 LE-put 40K on it, zero issues, totaled when I was rearended by a drunk driver.

The 2018 was replaced with a used 2017 LE from the fleet pool, had 42K NYC miles on it, I put another 20K on it, replaced the water pump and battery at 60k but otherwise was a good rig.

Toyota, due to AWD.

I own a 2015 Sienna SE. Love it. Best vehicle I ever owned. It has 70K miles on it and I've never had a single problem with it. I will soon be buying another if that helps.

We’ve had both - Honda when our twins were born. Honda was great, no real issues. Went to a Pilot after the Odyssey...big mistake. That was a money pit with multiple issues during our ownership. Between the issues and how Honda treated us, that soured us.

Bought our Sienna and haven’t looked back. Great quality, solid build/reliability and great treatment from Toyota and dealership. This is our 3rd Toyota in three years - I bought a RAV4 and then a 2020 4Runner.

The Sienna, to us, seems more solidly built. Only caveat is we have the SE and because of the rim size and tire profile, you do have some limitations on tire choices. Avoid the Dunlop Sports and go with Goodyear Maxlife tires. Makes for a very smooth ride with long tread life. With the Dunlop’s we’d be lucky to get 30k out of them.

We effectively raised two kids in a 2011 Toyota
Sienna and we loved it. We just traded it in as our life circumstances no longer require a minivan; I wouldn’t have minded keeping it a few more years to enjoy the no car payment but the wife was ready for something else.

I highly recommend and don’t recall ever having to get something repaired on it, besides an airbag recall.

I bought a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica brand new. Haven't had any problems with it. If you can get one for a decent price, don't be afraid to do so. We love the fold flat seats in the back.

Dodge invented the minivan.
Back in the day, when my kids were little, we had a Dodge Grand Caravan. It was great! It suited our needs very well.
But things change over time.
The Honda Odyssey definitely surpassed the Dodge Grand Caravan.
The Toyota Sienna may have surpassed the Honda Odyssey in recent years.
I'm sure both would suit your needs so it becomes a matter of which "feels right" when you test drive both.

Currently have a ‘10 Odyssey, previously had an ‘03 Sienna - both brand new. Different bodies versus what is available now. Both are/were trouble free. As for driving, the Odyssey brakes are VERY mushy, but handling is superb. The Sienna was, well, a van. But, as I said, different bodies, but both completely reliable.

If I was going to buy another for me it would boil down to how badly I wanted AWD. That is the only variable between these two, imho.

I too once thought a minivan was a good idea. It was the most miserable year of an automobile I have ever experienced.
Had a 2015 Sienna for a year. Had 2 boys with the third on the way. All of which were in car seats and could not buckle or unbuckle themselves.
It absolutely sucked. Had two in the middle row and one in the third ridiculously difficult to get into the rear seat with car seats in the buckets. If the kid in the 3rd row falls asleep there is ZERO chance of getting them out awake.
No place for mom to sit near the new baby once he was born. The middle jump seat is not even close to being big enough for an adult.
I ended up removing the middle row passenger side seat completely (so we could climb to the back) and putting 2 car seats in the rear but Toyota’s terrible design only had a single latch system in the 3rd row and it was off center so it took the middle of the left seat and center seat.
I ended up using seat belts on the outside seats in the third row they were constantly loosening so I resorted to ratchet strap around the car seat and frame.

Now we’ll get to the automatic doors (which were recalled and repaired shortly after I purchased). Stick a teddy bear in the door and close it and watch what happens. If it were your kid they’d be dead. The dealership said the safety function works as it should.
On at least two occasions I was I was buckling in the boy on one side and had to dive across to grab a child as the door was closing because the auto open close button was right on the pillar where there boys would grab to climb in.
I ended up disabling the auto doors completely.

The front seats had no form and while not uncomfortable were not comfortable for longer trips.

Storage is alright but my wife is a runner so we have a BOB and double BOB stroller. The single BOB left room for cargo the double did not.

There is no good place to change a diaper in the vehicle the front seat was just not big enough. I ended up buying a small folding table and keeping it in the back as a changing table.

Ended up trading to an Expedition EL and it was so much better. 3 across in the middle row until the oldest could buckle himself. Then I removed the center seat in the 2nd row and put him in the 3rd row.
Back cargo area was a great changing table, clothes changing area etc.

If you are just having 1 kid it would probably be alright. Multiple kids I would not do it.

Though if you are dead set on it I found the Honda (neighbors had one that I drove some) was more comfortable for the most part. But looks like a hearse.
As far as reliability goes they are likely on par with one another.
If you want/need AWD then Toyota of course. I did not get the AWD as there just weren’t many on the used market when I was looking. Had I kept it I would have regretted not having AWD but that is of course climate dependent.

All in all an SUV I found to be much more accommodating for us.

On my fourth Oddy

Our 2007 Odyssey EX-L, bought new before my oldest was born, is about to roll over 200,000 on the odometer. The engine still runs like the day we bought it. I've never had a better engine in a vehicle. There is an occasional slight transmission whine that developed around 150,000 miles, but we change the fluid regularly and it hasn't gotten any worse. Had a sliding door that was sticking for a while, but it worked itself out. Other than that, the only thing we've seen is a broken engine mount around 100,000 miles which was probably caused by a wreck my wife was in.

The interior has been OUTSTANDING. Seriously, I couldn't hope for a family vehicle interior to hold up better. Three kids and numerous road trips over 13 years, and not a rip, tear, or worn carpet to be seen. We haven't exactly babied it either. All indications are that, if the transmission whine doesn't get any worse, we can go another 200,000. Our Odyssey is now two generations old, but everything I've read is that the new ones are even better.

I've rented a Sienna and found myself wishing for the better driving experience of our Odyssey. The Sienna felt much more like a van.

Thanks for all the feedback so far.

I just can’t get over how cheap and flimsy the Honda‘s doors feel compared to the Toyota!

One last question, we would like to have some sort of built in entertainment system for our boys to be able to watch DVDs and other things while on road trips, are these something that are offered in these vans?