2008 Honda Odyssey EX 3.5L

Summary:

Comfortable and reliable with some stupid design thrown in

Faults:

Not too much.

The passenger side door whistles a bit at speeds over 50.

The front door speakers are occasionally overwhelmed when the song has a lot of base.

The heat shields are falling off the exhaust - making a lot of racket as they go - very irritating. I took it to the Honda dealer and they said, "$897 will fix you right up!" What? So that I can pay to have new ones put on in another 50,000 miles? You've got to be kidding? Seems that the 8 year/80,000 mile emissions warranty does cover the converters, but not the heat shields (around the converters) that would prevent your car from going up in flames...

General Comments:

Low and wide as compared to a T&C or Caravan. A good highway car from 70-90 mph. Down on power. Chrysler vans have more grunt right off the bottom of the rev band. The Honda seems heavy and the 3.5L a bit over burdened. The Honda, does not however, embarrass itself going around corners (like the tippy Chrysler products).

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 5th January, 2016

13th Sep 2016, 01:28

I purchased my heat shields at Amazon for <$40 and had a local mechanic install it for another $40. Just make sure you buy the one you need. There are 3 or 4 of them. I believe engine area has 2 and there is one in the middle and one at the rear. Good luck!

25th Feb 2017, 00:48

Put a big hose clamp around those cat covers to get rid of the noise. No need to replace if they're just loose at the bottom. It's a different story if the bottom half is rusted away...

2008 Honda Odyssey EX-L 3.5L

Summary:

Absolutely great

Faults:

We do mainly long distance hi-way driving 12 hours at a time. No problems except for that same front end vibration upon quick braking. (same as my last 2003 Odyssey). In the 2003 I replaced the front rotors with drilled rotors, and the problem was permanently eliminated.

General Comments:

Great car, but the 2003 offered extendable sun visor and more user friendly wiper control, and a "real" padded dash and seats, not this plastic "stuff".

Great travel vehicle. Unfortunately the larger tires give this newer model a sloppier suspension. I recommend upgrading to 18" wheels and lower profile tires.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 18th March, 2009

2008 Honda Odyssey EX 3.5 gas

Summary:

Too much money for the Odyssey

Faults:

Haven't been able to solve an alignment issue. Pulls left, crooked steering wheel. Original dealer told me to find different dealer to service the problem.

General Comments:

Comfortable, roomy, powerful with 25 mpg. But with a serious lack of initiative to fix my alignment from dealer, I will be going back to Toyota very soon.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 9th July, 2008

7th Jan 2012, 11:42

Pulls left could be a tire problem as in radial pull. Discount Tire will rotate your tires no charge. With a different tire on the left front, does it still pull left? Does the left front tire show uneven wear?

28th Mar 2014, 11:35

Have the alignment shop toe-in the front end .25% or 1/8". This should help its road manners. Just because it's within specs, doesn't mean it's correct for your vehicle.

2008 Honda Odyssey EX-L + NAV + RES

Summary:

A driver's mini-van

Faults:

No issues as of yet.

General Comments:

We loved our 2005 Odyssey EX-L so much that when my sister needed a mini-van, we sold her ours with 60k and purchased a new 2008 Odyssey EX-L but got the DVD and Navi this time around. The 05 needed tires at 45k and brakes at 55k. If you do highway driving the VCM does give you good mpg.

Just like in 2005 we test drove all the cars in class, and ended up with the Odyssey for the same reasons: safety, build quality, resale value, looks, handling, $/features were the big ones. This time though we got the $1000 dealer cash +.9% for 36 months.

The 08 has better looking wheels, updated front bumper/hood and rear lights, you get a power passenger front seat, leather steering wheel, digital second row climate control, 2 cup holders and storage in the 8th seat; daytime running lights. The paint on the rubber bumpers seems to match better than the 2005 we had. The plastic piece behind the rear license plate was removed from 2005. The 3rd row seats have cloth on the back vs the leather on the 2005. The foot pads that on the 3rd row seat are all plastic vs the 2005 that had cloth inserts.

Get the Navi, the voice controlled navigation/radio/climate control is amazing.

Our only complaint is not having memory seats available in the EX-L and almost pushed into the touring.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 4th May, 2008

20th Feb 2010, 07:48

We have a 2010 EX-L Nav. Love it for all the same reasons. I do agree that the seat memory would have been nice. But the touring package did not offer enough extra over the EX-L Nav. to make it worth it. We got a great deal on the package we purchased, but I think I would have felt taken on the touring package.