Used Honda Odyssy vs New Kia Sodona

Honda!!! We bought a used 2004 Odyssey with 60K miles about a year ago and LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Honda's are SO well-built and will last forever. We looked at Sedona's too, and realized that the Honda is always a MUCH better value, even if it doesn't seem like it with the numbers. We also have a 1997 Honda Civic and the car hasn't slowed down one beat. We've had it for 11 years now. I'm a total Honda girl, all the way! Will never drive anything else! Good luck with #3, so exciting!!

I have a 2003 Honda Odyssey and have had it over a year and I am so pleased with it, I don't know much about a Kia Sodona so I can't compare. Honda Odyssey's have such great reviews and if you find a gem of a used one like we did I feel you will be pleased-the previous owners took really good care of it so we were lucky. Good luck with your search.

My friend had a sedona & she hated it. She bought it when it was 2 yrs old. She had so many problems & her neighbor is a mechanic, he told her Kia's are one of the worst cars & never to buy one again. Her transmission went out, air conditioning, DVD player, windshield wipers, power. She kept it for 8 months & finally had enough. She got a mazda 5 now.

I'd honestly recommend going to sites such as Edmunds.com, Kelley Blue Book, NADA and read both expert and consumer reviews.

We got a 2010 Honda Pilot in March and starting having transmission issues with it. By doing a lot of searching on sites such as these, we were able to determine our issue was isolated and that the car was essentially a "Lemon".

But, we also saw that there were some issues arising with older model Pilots that would make me advise people against them. I'd check the year of both the Odyssey and the Sedona to see what you can find.

Everyone I know who has an Odyssey LOVES it. On our street alone (10 houses), there are 4 of them. But, the problem is that EVERYONE has them.

You'll likely get a better warranty with the Kia because Honda hasn't come into the 21st century yet on theirs. But, Honda's are well built despite taking a few quality cuts since we had a 2008 Pilot. You know it's going to run forever. But, you may only be covered a few years on warranty vs. 100K with the Kia.

Good luck!

Never by new, waste of money. Have a mechanic look at the honda (not a mechanic from their dealer, a lot of times you can drive the car to a different mechanic to take a look) make sure all is well or within reason for fixing and save a LOT of money. We bough a used 2007 caravan fully loaded for only 10,000 it still KBB's for 15+ grand and we bought it to years ago.

I'm not a van person, always have had SUV's, but we too reached that point of needing more room. I can't say anything about the Kia, don't know anything about it except I don't think they are as good of cars as Honda's. Just cheaper made.

Anyway, had to get the van so we went with an Odyssey. We looked around alot before getting this one and by far this one seemed to be the nicest. It's very roomy, easy for kids to get in and out of, and good on the gas mileage. Had it almost 2yrs and not had any problems.

I've had my Odyssey since 2005 and I can't imagine ever buying any other type of car, ever. My husband's Saturn VUE went up in January and we considered buying a Kia for him because of cost and the garage we deal with now told us they would never recommend a Kia at all. I LOVE my Honda. Having 3 children, depending on ages, you can also put the three across the middle and still lay the back seats down giving you A TON of storage space if you need it. ;) (We often put my middle son in that seat because of his booster seat...makes the middle seat belt the perfect height for him. It makes it great when we take long trips though I am having our 4th in a couple of months so we won't ge doing it that way for much longer. It's okay though because the Odyssey has more cargo space than any other van I've seen.)

Years ago I had a new Kia Sedona with the DVD package. It was "OK" - there were certain things that made me think "cheap." I.e., a door handle just fell off one day. Also, the air didn't seem to blow that "cold" - living in southern FL that is a major issue. Finally, it seemed like that van had the "turning circle" of a tractor trailer LOL.

Our next van was a new 2004 Honda Odyssey with DVD. Except for a weird issue with the brake pad/transmission (which we finally figured out) we have LOVED it. We are at 90,000 miles and plan to drive it until it drops. It hasn't had many maintenance issues, and you can park it on a dime (due to a tight turning circle).

If it were me I'd do more research on the 2007 Odysseys (do a Carfax report on that exact vehicle) and if everything goes OK I would prefer the Honda. That being said, I undersand the allure of a new vehicle too.

Good luck.

Kias are junk. Had one and went through 4 transmissions. Not a great company at all. Had a fuel leak for months that they could not fix.

I LOVE< LOVE, LOVE my Odyssey! Never thought I'd like a van, but man do I love this thing!

We bought a 2008, and since it is a Honda, plan on driving it for at least the next 10 years!

I agree with DanaW. Check out some consumer reviews.
I don't know much about either of those, But from my experience Honda's are great vehicles.

We have a Kia Sedona, 2006, and we love it. But honestly, if you have an opportunity to get all the bells and whistles, do it! I had a Toyota Sienna with all the options, and it was the ultimate mom-mobile. LOVED IT! DH sweet talked me into getting a brand new subaru tribeca with all the options, and I love that one too, but it is much easier to get the kids around in a van, space wise. My Kia does not have every option, but I have never had a problem with it. DH is fanatical about keeping up maintenance on our vehicles though, so I know that helps extend the life of a vehicle. If you're looking at longevity, honestly, I'd go with the Honda. You won't regret getting all the options! 36K miles is not a lot. Good luck. : )

K.

Interesting. My friend has a newer Kia (meaning like an 06), it's got a little over 100k miles on it now because she drives ALL OVER THE PLACE (from Louisiana to Dallas, to Disneyworld, to Indiana, she makes these trips separately, every year, sometimes a couple times a year). She's had no problems at all except a tire that was always losing air (which was a tire shop's issue, not Kia's). When she finally forked out the money for a tire, that went away too, so it wasn't a rim. My husband drove us all from Dallas to Austin on a day trip and he was impressed with it. We're in the city---it turned in parking lots just fine, the pick up onto the interstate was fine, the air had controls for all 3 rows of seats so the cold natured kids AND the hot natured adults were all happy. It's not got all the bells and whistles, kind of straightforward and maybe even "boring" but that is what a minivan is, and you can pay for the extra bits, or not. That is more your choice. We are also interested in the fact that their warranty is SOOOO good. Does this mean they really stand by their manufacturing? That maybe they're giving a ridiculously good warranty to overcome a PREVIOUS bad reputation so you can see how great they are now? Or is it more a "please buy our car and we'll fix it"? I do not know. Haven't done the research on it yet. But we thought that the Kia did just fine. Actually for the price difference, it did pretty great! We've test driven the Town & Country and the Odyssey as well. The Odyssey does have a great reputation, people really love those vans! That's something to take into account. They were nice. They were expensive. The only "extras" (besides the obvious: drive well, air conditioning, able to turn and pick up speed, and reliability) that we would really CARE about is power doors and the ability to fold the seats down flat or remove them. I think stow and go is awesome and easy. But otherwise, really? Who cares about how many cupholders, etc there are? I don't want my kids drinking in the car anyway, cupholders or not, LOL. I would look at the consumer reviews in your area, and make sure you're looking at the same year model. I know the older Kia vans had NOTHING. But the newer ones are doing pretty well....maybe they realized it's a competition out there. I realize I haven't given you a definitive answer; just thought I'd give a recent fair evaluation of a Sedona. We've test driven 3 vans, been on a roadtrip in the Sedona. That's all the first hand knowledge I have. After that, it's just making sure you're comparing apples to apples, and working in your own price range for a comfortable choice.