So my wife and I are loving this '06 Honda Odyssey, which we splurged on in terms of going with the EX-L trim line since our intention was to keep this people mover for at 12 years - 2 kids with sports and car pooling lots of friends and teammates, traveling with extended family several times a year, and cargo hauler. This would get us through high school with each child and it would owe us nothing. Keep in mind I had already worn out 3 Honda's (all over 150,000 miles) without a problem, just basic maintenance and care (and a timing belt in each) prior to this car and felt the company had proven its reliability.

Well, everything was going as planned until the 95,000 miles. As usual, performed the required maintenance on time, replaced timing belt, and struts. Then this vibration begins and becomes more and more pronounced especially as the Variable Cylinder Management system kicks in - dealership wouldn't acknowledge it despite 3 separate visits and road tests, then a local mechanic took the time to research it (he felt the vibration on first road test). The vibration literally shook the whole steering column and rear view mirror; every passenger could feel it, front to back; the car was unbearable to drive by 112,000 miles.

Local mechanic discovered that the rear motor mount may be the culprit, then confirmed when he discovered the mount was so damaged that the engine was resting on the frame of the vehicle. Replaced to the tune of $400 only to discover that the vibration only decreased and needed the other 4 or 5 motor mount to be replaced as well - another $400. Honda and dealership could have cared less after issuing complaints as I began to discover the engineering debacle that is the VCM - Variable Cylinder Management. AVOID ALL HONDA V6'S - this company refuses to cease production of this system on its V6 engines and there are unbelievable amounts of complaints about this systems lack of reliability to which Honda has had to be sued over to minimally acknowledge the problems.

At first I noticed a small growl or vibration.I thought it might be a wheel bearing going out. It was probably just the first motor mount had broken. Then I noticed a little more vibration. The Honda dealer didn't find the cause. I moved from Iowa to Texas and the Van started shaking at 55 to 65 but I had just bought new tires and I was blaming the vibration on the old tires because I had a belt break in a tire and that would have caused a similar symptom. But then the new tires produced a worse vibration and I took them back three times to have them re-balanced.

Again I took it to a different Honda dealer and THEY DIDN'T FIND THE PROBLEM! Then I search the web and bingo. It all made sense suddenly. Even though I had replaced the mounts at a dealership as "Preventative Maintenance" so I never really felt the symptoms; didn't mean they weren't broken again just 75,000 miles later. So I replaced the motor mounts at about 175,000 miles and I need to replace them again at 250,000 miles. I have never replaced one motor mount on the 26 other cars and trucks I've driven in my lifetime let alone ten.