2000 Honda Odyssey EX review from North America

Now on its third transmission.

The Odyssey, like all large vans, is having transmission problems. Transmission, suspension and brakes were under-designed.Problems may have been solved in new models (2004+).

We blew through our first tranny at 77,000 km (47k miles), and our second now at 92,000(57k miles). Fool me once, shame on you - fool me twice, shame on me!

Honda has been on a remanufactured-parts program for more than 10 years. Our service manager advises that about 6 months ago Honda announced major improvements to the remanufacturing process: better designed parts, more stringent pass/fail criteria, etc. Problems with replacement transmissions have been common, but they are confident (fwiw!) they have solved the problems.

New models have a completely redesigned 5-speed auto tranny.

Persons who've had chronic transmission failure should call or write their Honda national customer service department, so a file can be opened on your vehicle, in case there's an issue with out-of-warranty failures.

Brakes have also been a big problem on this vehicle. The rears were drums, not big enough to handle the weight of a full passenger load in hilly terrain, and our drums (like many others) overheated continually and eventually warped. They were remachined under warranty. New models have rear discs.