I hope I'm in the right place to ask, but I'm going car hunting this week and my plan was to originally seek an early-mid 2000 Odyssey with 150k or lower in miles..but someone grabs them as soon as they are advertised.

So as an alternative, Does anyone know another mini-van of ANY MAKE that is like the Odyssey that is RELIABLE and easy to MAINTAIN?(Please don't say "The Town and Country!"..I already had one and it was a pain to even change the spark plugs.)

Thank You in Advance!

 

Just my experience with the J series V6... you don't want VCM (Variable Cylinder Management). It will lead to problems down the road. Some variants do not have VCM, like the J35A9. If you do get VCM you can disable it with the VCM muzzler. I'd do that first.

Timing belt tensioner seems to be a chronic issue on basically every J series I've seen with over 150K miles. It will make this noise that sounds like a sticking valve but it's just the tensioner bouncing back and forth. To repair this, you'll need a minimum of an air compressor and a very powerful impact, and a jack or two. Catalytic converters are insane to remove. Bank 2 (front side) requires grill, radiator shroud, radiator brace removal, top hose, front right two coil packs and wiring, just to get access. Bank 1 (rear) requires pulling the passenger side axle and engine mount removal temporarily, supporting engine on jack.

Not as bad as most USDM vehicles... but still more complex than most 4 cylinder engines. Pilot and Ridgeline will have the same configuration (with or without VCM)