[cschrankel]

Just completed the annual pilgrimage home. Traveled with the wife and 15 month old twin baby girls from Kansas City to Pittsburgh and back. Around 2000 miles in 8 days. Here are some general observations on my new 2001 Odyssey.

1. The folding 3rd row and cargo space is amazing. On the way back, I felt like the Honda commercial when they empty out the entire nursery. Only complaint is the latches for the seat stick out too far and eat up too much space.
2. Mileage was terrific. Averaged around 24 MPG going cross country.
3. Seats were plenty comfortable and surprised me with the amount of back support they provided.
4. Handeling was adequate. Hope the 2002s have more passing power. Really have to anticipate, especially with the load I was carrying.
5. The radio controls on the wheel are worthless.Instead of chainging to a pre set channel, they should allow you to scan stations.
6. Entire sound system needs to be upgraded. Really can't hear too much at highway speed. New speakers will be my first upgrade.
7. The switches for cruise, side mirror adjustment and TCS need to be moved higher in the dash. Right now, they are hidden behind the turn signal and are a pain to adjust while moving.

Exremely happy overall with the experience. Now just have to get the spouses OK to start saving for an EX-L with entertainment system a few years down the road.

 

[Intrepid175]

Glad you had a safe trip!

Your mileage sounds about average. Give it some time, it should do a little better.

I think you'll find that good aftermarket speakers will help a lot. I added the Kelton subwoofer and am glad I did. Even with the upgraded speakers, the factory radio system doesn't handle the lower frequencies very well.

I don't have any problems with the mirror adjustment switch positions but your right about the TCS and cruise control switches. They're pretty much invisible from the drivers POV. For me, I get around that by simply leaving them on all the time. It's rare that I ever make a trip that I "don't" use the cruise control anyway and I haven't yet figured out time or place where I'd want to disable the TCS although that may come up some day.

Enjoy your Ody!

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Drive Safe,
Steve R.
'01 SS LX
Cargo tray, leather steering wheel, mud guards, alarm, fog lights, transmission cooler, in-dash CD player, Kelton subwoofer, under seat storage tray.

 

[karl]

We just made our first trip in our 02 EX. We always leave the cruise on tcs on. I was going to upgrade the speakers but seeing as how I never turned the radio on... Our 10 week old was thankfully sleeping most of the time. We got 24.55 MPG over 1954 miles. That was at 75-80 MPH and some mountains. My only complaint is the cruise system is too eager to make the transmission downshift on small hills. I could cancel the cruise and use the pedal without the trans downshifting and maintain the speed.

Love the Ody!!!

 

[Gettin'AVan]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by cschrankel:
Just completed the annual pilgrimage home. Traveled with the wife and 15 month old twin baby girls from Kansas City to Pittsburgh and back. Around 2000 miles in 8 days.</font>

You're my hero. Have toyed w/the idea of driving from metro-NYC to Buffalo, MO (wife's ancestral home) w/our twin girls but I flat out don't have the guts. Yahoo Maps says it's 1200.3 miles. (It's the last 0.3 that kills ya!) We will be going in June and they will be 28 months then. Once again, I don't have the guts. They would need too many "run-around-breaks" at that age.


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dMax
'02 GG EX-L w/fog lights

 

[sweaver]

1,802 miles for me! First I drove 600 miles "around town" to break it in before hitting the mountains (Gatlinburg). I had a full load with a car top carrier and it did not even sweat the mountain terrain. Those 3rd and 2nd gears saved a lot of braking.
Atlanta to Gatlinburg to Peoria to Indianapolis back to Atlanta.

By the way TCS..."on all the time"? Do you mean the switch is depressed so the light is on? I though that was "off"

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1996 Odyssey 120,000 miles
2002EX Odyssey w/towing package
http://www.homestead.com/weaverhouse/index.html

 

[A. B. Hair]

TCS Switch is in he correct working position with the light off. It is out of working action if the light is on. BTW when I purchased the '99 EX the dealer told me incorrectly. The same dealer told me the same thing on the '02 but this time I read her the book.
A.B. Hair