I had a 2005 Odyssey and passed it onto my daughter who has 3 young children. they love the van and it as been a winner. I now drive a lexus NX, but if I were in the market for a minivan, I would wait until the new Toyota van comes out. You really cant beat Toyota reliability and overall quality and while they sometimes lack the high tech stuff found on competitors, I prefer trouble free driving over additional tech and trips for service. Toyota also uses better transmissions than does Honda and have overall better reliability. Buy the new Toyota minivan when it comes out. FYI, my wife drive a RAV4 and chose it over the CR-V.

 

How's the break-in going? Today's engines, even at FCA, are built to much better tolerances than they were decades ago, metal-alloys are better, and lubricating oils are much better, so the traditional 1000-mile feather-footing on the gas pedal is not as critically important as it used to be. Still, for at least the first several hundred miles, it is wise to vary the engine speed often (which is not hard to do in the stop and go traffic here), avoid towing, keep the RPMs below about 4000 or so, not brake full-force except in an emergency, and don't accelerate full-throttle. Doing so will seat the brake pads better and lessen the engine's chance of being a premature oil-burner, even if you are only going to keep it three years or less, on a lease.

 

So far, so good. 220 miles or so. I just drive them normally.

 

So not just your wife. I know the temptation on a brand-new vehicle can be strong, even if you didn't originally want another Pacifica.

 

We probably drive the Pacifica 50/50. I've been driving it more getting it cleaned up and all, but anytime we go anywhere with the kids basically we take it.

 

Just out of curiosity, where is the engine air intake located? We had a single mom friend that had a nice Dodge Caravan V-6 & she was picking up her kids from a practice in a thunderstorm. She went thru a low spot on the street that was flooded with about a foot of water. A big 4WD with huge tires blasted past her & literally drowned the front of her Caravan. The engine sucked in the water & locked up. We went to rescue her & I lifted the hood & couldn’t believe how low the air intake was located. If you followed any vehicle that throws a lot of water up, could have destroyed that engine. USAA totaled the van. The air intake was a total POS design! There are lots of stories on the forums of the same thing happening. She now owns a Honda Odyssey. Check out your air intake location & hopefully they changed them.

 

It's at the front edge of the hood, then goes straight back into the airbox right in front of the windshield. You can see it pretty clearly at the beginning of this installation video for a performance intake (seriously? why is this a thing?).

 

geko beat me to it. You'd be shocked how many people modify these!

 

Your’s is golden! Her intake was down just above the bumper. I’m glad they changed that!

 

Mmarshall has a good point about modern engines. Being a lease car, I don't imagine that breaking it in or any other special care is a priority. Other than a general appearance of cleanliness, which is something many of us can't ignore. Me included. I even run a rental car thru the car wash if it wasn't clean when received.

 

Haha, so do I

 

Less of a need for a break-in, though, with modern vehicles, does not necessarily mean no break-in at all. That is why there are are still references to it in the Owners' Manuals.

 

What about a slightly used navigator? They sticker new at 80k, but one with under 20k and 2 years old would be around 50k.

 

And, used car leasing options are available through 3rd party leasing companies like D&M or Autoflex.

 

uh, maybe you didn't see but he already got another pacifica.