Wife and I sold our old '04 Odyssey which we've owned since around 2013.
We sort of got taken on the purchase, I had to replace head gaskets right after buying it which wasn't obvious during the test drive, and I'm not sure the independent dealer (who likely bought it at auction) could have known. The leak (coolant into the cylinders and compression gases into coolant) was slow and you'd never notice just driving it-- the smoking gun was some service history buried in the glove box from the previous owner, one of the most recent service visits was at the Honda dealer for low coolant and overheating, bad head gasket was diagnosed, which I then confirmed.) Wish we'd have noticed the service records in the glove box BEFORE purchasing!
But even though the start of ownership went off the rails a bit, that van turned out to be one of the most reliable vehicles I've ever owned. In seven years and about 75k miles, other than routine maintenance, I replaced an ignition coil, power window regulator and a serpentine belt tensioner. Less than $100 in 7 years.
Cost of the van plus the head gasket parts (and machine shop labor), I had about $5,700 in it. Sold it for $1,400. Could have asked for more but the blue paint on my van was defective from Honda, so it's peeling in places (reason we got rid of it), which severely limited interest. Honda issued a recall / extended warranty for that blue color several years ago, but naturally the van didn't start peeling until shortly after the warranty expired. Found the right buyer who doesn't care about the cosmetics, just that the van was in good running condition.
So $4300 was my net cost over 7 years, I think that's a pretty good value for something that reliable. The wife shed a couple tears reminiscing that she brought our youngest son home in it. We upgraded over the summer to a '15 Kia Sedona SXL-L w/ 30k miles, if that van is half as reliable as our old Honda was we'll be doing pretty good!
We sort of got taken on the purchase, I had to replace head gaskets right after buying it which wasn't obvious during the test drive, and I'm not sure the independent dealer (who likely bought it at auction) could have known. The leak (coolant into the cylinders and compression gases into coolant) was slow and you'd never notice just driving it-- the smoking gun was some service history buried in the glove box from the previous owner, one of the most recent service visits was at the Honda dealer for low coolant and overheating, bad head gasket was diagnosed, which I then confirmed.) Wish we'd have noticed the service records in the glove box BEFORE purchasing!
But even though the start of ownership went off the rails a bit, that van turned out to be one of the most reliable vehicles I've ever owned. In seven years and about 75k miles, other than routine maintenance, I replaced an ignition coil, power window regulator and a serpentine belt tensioner. Less than $100 in 7 years.
Cost of the van plus the head gasket parts (and machine shop labor), I had about $5,700 in it. Sold it for $1,400. Could have asked for more but the blue paint on my van was defective from Honda, so it's peeling in places (reason we got rid of it), which severely limited interest. Honda issued a recall / extended warranty for that blue color several years ago, but naturally the van didn't start peeling until shortly after the warranty expired. Found the right buyer who doesn't care about the cosmetics, just that the van was in good running condition.
So $4300 was my net cost over 7 years, I think that's a pretty good value for something that reliable. The wife shed a couple tears reminiscing that she brought our youngest son home in it. We upgraded over the summer to a '15 Kia Sedona SXL-L w/ 30k miles, if that van is half as reliable as our old Honda was we'll be doing pretty good!