2002 Honda Odyssey EX review from North America

In the first six months I had to have the left side sliding door adjusted so that it closed all the way. If I made a hard right turn, the interior lights would pop on. The dealer fixed this problem in just under an hour.

Front driver wheel bearing started making a whirring noise at 27,000 miles and was replaced under warranty.

Although you pay sticker price for these vans right now, it's worth it. Every person I see with a old Chrysler mini van has blue smoke out of the tailpipe at stoplights. A friend of ours trades up in Chrysler vans just to avoid the major repairs.

The horsepower of this van is fantastic. For all those folks who are blowing through tires at just over 30K and or getting poor gas mileage, you are simply putting your foot down too hard on the gas. This van accelerates in a hurry, from a dead stop or when passing. We regularly drive from North Carolina to Ohio through the mountains of Virginia and asking this van to do speeds in excess of 70 or 80 uphill is no problem at all.

The seats are wonderful and we don't even notice them after sitting in the car for 8 hours straight. By comparison, my Mother in law has a brand new Passat and you notice the seats after riding in the car for even an hour. The third row seat, because of its design, is not very comfortable for American adults. The good trade off on the third seat is all that room behind it when it's up and it is just so darn easy to stow!

I do think the interior plastic leaves a little to be desired. It looks fabulous in the showroom, but you have to be really careful not to scratch it or gouge it - the material is a little too soft and marks easily.