Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Ohio
Posts: 35

Ok Ody experts, I need some advice.

We have an 04 EX-RES. It was one of those factory misfits with cloth seats and the entertainment system that they made to clear out parts before they started making 05's. We originally leased to van on an awsome lease special, and then ended up buying out the lease we liked it so much.

Don't get me wrong, we DO love it, but some petty little things are really starting to drive me bonkers. One is the lack of a compass/temp mirror, and pending an answer in the accessories forum I'll probably solve that with a Donnelly mirror installed by a local shop to the tune of $300 parts and labor. DH and I talked about it, and we both miss the auto-dimming temp compass so much that it's worth it to us. Of the two of us I'm the more mechanically inclined, but cars just aren't my forte. I'd rather have the shop do it

Another petty annoyance is the lack of a sunroof, a lack our other car shares as well, unfortunately. Exactly how bad are aftermarket sunroofs anymore? The other car is nearing 100k so it will get traded, but I think we are in the van for the long haul, and going through the long haul with no light an ventilation is getting more and more depressing. If they had Nissan's Skyview for an Ody, I'd be all over it Are there structural integrity concerns or crash worthiness concerns as well?

The biggest petty annoyance is the fact that I absolutely HATE the cloth, and I miss horribly having heated seats. Those seats are hard to clean, attract ever piece of lint, people, and dog hair known to mankind, and are a pain in the tail to clean mud, blood, puke, snow, etc off. And, to add injury in insult, they shock me every single time I get in or out of the car. I have never regretted anything as much as I have those cloth seats. So...what are my options? Aftermartket leather, and risk the SAB failure? What is the cost on those? What about swapping with a totalled van? What's the cost there, and how do you go about it....just start calling junkyards? Who do you get to install the seats? Or, is my only cost effective option to trade-in for a new van?

Thanks in advance for any advice/experience you can share. If it's just going to be a waste of money, we'll suck it up and live with it. The last thing I want to do is destroy the eventual resale value of the van. But if any of the cost at all is recoupable and it's not a safety hazard, then it would so be worth it to me.

Ahz
Child Passenger Safety Technician
04EX-RES in Sagebrush Pearl

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Registered: Sep 2002
Location: So Cal
Posts: 12661

None of the upgrades will add or subtract value as far as I know. Your best bet is to just get a new van with the features you want. Perhaps you could suffer through another year?

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Registered: Feb 2007
Location: Aviano, IT
Posts: 5

I'm a true believer in salvage yards. Some are straight up junkyards, where your greeted by a grease monkey, who thinks theres one in the corner of the lot next to the old ford. But I've been to a few that were extremely nice, like walking into a parts store, you tell them what you are looking for and the can look it up in their inventory, and tell you right there what they have. You could probably pickup an entire leather interior for a few hundred dollars, and might even get some money back if you arrange to give them your old interior.

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