Overview & Reviews
The Odyssey gains an intermittent rear window wiper this year, as well as an auto up-and-down driver-side window.
- Excellent crash test scores, huge interior, fold-flat third-row seat, powerful V6, optional navigation and entertainment system.
- Quality of some interior materials could be better, high demand limits negotiating possibilities.
User Reviews:
Showing 1 through 10 of 385.00-
Been driving it for 12 years - 2003 Honda Odyssey
By manyhondas - May 31 - 12:40 amBought it new as a family van and now has 178,000 miles. In early years, we used it for long trips to Florida, New York, & Canada. Got power and accelerates well. Comfort is fine for local driving but on very long road trips, I wished I had more seat adjustments. The design ambiance is awesome and thats why its still in our driveway. Had two repaint jobs, one major maintenance overhaul, and transmission was rebuilt once. For many years, this minivan has performed better than I expected. Now that its 12 years old, our air conditioner acts weird about every 6 months until my mechanic tinkers around with it. We are tough and assertive urban city drivers.
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Family workhorse - 2003 Honda Odyssey
By smithiedad - April 8 - 9:39 amWe were gifted our 2003 Odyssey 3 years ago from a friend when it had 184,000 miles. Now is has 315,000. Its our family workhorse and its been a dandy. Id buy another Odyssey for certain. Original engine and auto trans. We stay up on our maintenance and its been very good. Excellent value. Weve got our sights on 500K miles!
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Transmission Problems - 2003 Honda Odyssey
By jannydd - January 17 - 10:19 amWe own a 2004 Honda Odyssey EX-L van & encouraged our son, with a baby on the way, to purchase a 2003 (147,000 miles) van 5 days ago. We felt it was a great investment for a new family with limited cash. Less than a week & the transmission is slipping between 30-40 mph. These kids dont have the money to fix the issue because the Honda dealer told me a new tranny is thousands of $s. The private party, who admits to selling cars as his business, will not stand behind the vehicle. Of course Honda is not standing behind these tranny problems. How many times will Honda have to be sued, due to transmission lock-ups causing crashes, before they will take responsibility for the tranny issue?
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garbage - 2003 Honda Odyssey
By moparman90 - January 1 - 11:55 pmwe have had this thing for 6 months we bought with 120,000 miles... 3 days later the transmission blew out on me... then here we are 8,000 miles later and the transmission is shot again WTF... the heated seats dont work half the time it has no EVIC and thats just stupid for a 2003... it is just AWFUL in the snow with good tires... the clock on the dash doesnt light up another stupid thing... the battery went i had to take the thing in just to get the factory radio set... i have a 2000 jeep grand cherokee with 225,000 miles never had ANY mojor problems i will try to convince her to sell this crap box and get a jeep... my jeep in 2wd is better than this thing with front wheel drive DONT BUY
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An Excellant family vehicle - 2003 Honda Odyssey
By rporterincincy - August 26 - 2:25 pmI really like my 2003 Honda Odyssey. It now has 143,000 miles and runs like its brand new. Very smooth, powerful and dependable. Like any other car it does have some quirks. My Odyssey goes through tires every 35,000 miles (wears evenly, and I rotate them every 3000-6000 miles), and goes through front brakes every 40,000 miles (evenly worn brakes). I just installed top of the line ceramic brakes to see if this would improve the ride. My car has no rust (wax every 3-4 months), no wear on the interior, and I change the oil every 3,000 miles. My dealer is great and I like working with them. The car is very versatile and we enjoy going on trips with it. No major issues yet.
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Transmission Failed - 2003 Honda Odyssey
By mykidsmom1 - November 9 - 12:00 pmPurchased 2003 Odyssey new from the dealer (had to preorder because they were in such demand?) NHTSA tranny recall @ dealer 8/2004 w/39,000 miles. Last week, with 164,000 highway miles (never TOWED) slipping btween 2nd & 3rd gears & lock up 2x on busy highway. Extremely scary could have been hit and killed. Dealer diagnosed "internal transmission failure". American Honda is useless & tried blaming us. Dealer agreed to discount AFTER we asked, they never offered. Inherent well-documented serious tranny problem. Shame on Honda. Just traded our 93 Ford Aerostar w/just 157K miles & never had tranny problem. Wonder why Hyundai is Americas #1 Car Dealer....No more Hondas for us!!!
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A "Me Too" Transmission Failure - 2003 Honda Odyssey
By surferboi - October 3 - 2:38 pmAdd me to the long list of people who have experienced transmission failure. My check engine and traction control lights came on last week while I was on the highway to the airport. I figured Id take it in when I got back. Transmission started slipping and died less than 50 miles later, just this morning on the way back from a short trip to the airport. 135K miles on the car and it has been running like a champ. And now I get online and see that Im not the only one. I was always a little suspect about the speed at which they were making these models. Now I guess we are seeing the effect.
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Trans Failure - 2003 Honda Odyssey
By pwinth - September 16 - 10:55 amLoved my 2003 Honda Odyssey till transmission suddenly failed going 70mph on the freeway with my children in the back seat. Trans suddenly downshifted to 2nd/1st then continued to wildly shift back and forth, just through good luck no horrible accident. For $100, dealer tells me trans is cooked. Found out via Internet this is a very common problem, in fact most people dont get as much use as we did. We took good care and was in beautiful condition prior to this incident. New trans -> $4800, Honda America refuses to help, they say warranty is 36,000 miles and I should be happy I got 160,000 miles. If Id have known of this potential issue, Id have sold it pronto while value was $5k.
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Disappointed Honda Owner - 2003 Honda Odyssey
By nohondamom - January 6 - 12:34 pmPurchased a 2003 Honda Odyssey in Fall 2002. I started having trouble with it after 100,000 miles. All maintenance were kept up. Transmission was the major problem. I had to replace it twice within 1 month (had to pay about $1500, while Honda covered the rest). Then a year later I was told the transmission was leaking. Shift Solenoids A and B Gaskets had to be replaced, luckily it was still under warranty. Now Jan 2011, I found out my transmission has a leak again with other major issues. Im told the cost of repair is not worth it. The car is almost 180,000mile. Extremely disappointed that it could not make it to 200,000miles.Told it should last well over 200,000.Will not buy Honda again!
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Why all the negative comments? - 2003 Honda Odyssey
By happyhondaowner - December 4 - 2:00 amThe 2003 Odyssey EX-L we purchased new about 8 years ago has been a very good, reliable and enjoyable car. I read on the post about all transmission and door problems, etc. but we have not experienced those problems. We drive about 12k miles/year. Im not saying were lucky... I think we take care of our car with maintenance, with not driving it hard, etc. This was our first Honda and we dont have anything bad to say about it. Its plenty spacious for the family and all the trips and things we take with us. My 2 cents. its a great car , but if you get a lemon, youll have a sour taste in your mouth - (we must have got the cherry)!
