Originally Posted By: meep
we had an '01 when we got married with over 100k on it. trans was not maintained and it ran fine. it had the factory recall on it. The engine was a hoot and this thing was fun to drive.
The power doors were AWFUL. and they do NOT latch if they fail. very very bad design. and odysseys in that generation are highly prone to power door failure--- google it. she had them repaired several times to the tune of $1100 each and I was out there cleaning contacts weekly.
the lowly town and country doors work just fine if the power stuff [censored] out. they work manually all day long. and they stay closed if the electrics fail and you use them manually.
The odyssey saved her life in a traffic accident. I watched the family get T-boned by a durango running a red light, never even applied the brakes. everyone walked out with only scratches. Side was crushed in, wrinkles in floor and ceiling. Get this--- still held its alignment.... I drove it to work for a week until insurance got straightened out (seatbelt sewn into fixed position, door crushed in, big sign on the side that said "stop for red lights!", leaked wind noise like a sieve, rain water everywhere, etc.). Van drove like it was new, the frame never flinched.
So, mixed bag. But respectable vehicle. IDK if I'd worry about the transmission so much. some go well past 200k. It's the doors that drove us batty.
Our '01 was the exact opposite. We got rid of it two months ago when the trans failed for the fourth time at 245k. After the second failure, we did a drain & fill every oil change, then switched to an annual cooler line exchange after the third failure. The power doors didn't give us much problem.
We had a couple of minor fender benders, but never anything serious. That van felt as solid as anything I've ever driven. If it weren't for the balky transmission, we'd probably have taken that thing to half a million miles.