Short Take Road Test
They may be as fashionable as those old-timey, full-body swimsuits, but there’s no denying that minivans are the most sensible vehicles for schlepping large numbers of people as well as the occasional load of bulky cargo. Taken together, the Dodge Grand Caravan and the Chrysler Town & Country dominate the segment’s sales chart, but the Honda Odyssey has been our undisputed favorite over the years, taking first place in our most recent minivan comparo.
And now comes this brand-new model. Since there’s no point in messing with success, Honda has kept all the fundamentals that made previous Odysseys so good, but it has fine-tuned the package and wrapped it in more striking sheetmetal.
Bigger but Sleeker
The 2011 Odyssey rides on a platform that has the same 118.1-inch wheelbase as before, but the track is 1.4 inches wider. Overall, the van is nearly an inch longer and two inches girthier, but it looks sleeker, in part thanks to a roofline dropped by 0.4 inch. The new body shell contains a lot more high-strength steel—up from about 35 percent to 59 percent by weight, says Honda—which contributes to a stiffer and lighter structure. Our fully loaded Touring Elite weighed 4561 pounds, 84 fewer pounds than the last Touring model we tested, despite having more standard equipment.
The Odyssey retains its front MacPherson strut and rear multilink suspension layout, but it is retuned and now has shocks with integrated bypass valves that Honda says reduce impact harshness and minimize body roll. The rack-and-pinion steering system gets a variable displacement pump that’s meant to reduce effort at parking speeds and give more feedback on the highway. The brake rotors have grown in diameter from 11.7 inches to 12.6 inches at the front and from 12.3 to 13.1 inches out back. Eighteen-inch wheels and tires are now standard on Touring models, up from 17s.
Honda’s 3.5-liter SOHC i-VTEC V-6 engine with variable cylinder management becomes standard on all Odyssey models. It makes 248 hp and 250 lb-ft, modest increases of 4 hp and 5 lb-ft over last year’s cylinder-deactivating engine. The variable cylinder management moves the engine among three-, four-, and six-cylinder modes based on load, and Honda has fitted active engine mounts and a noise cancellation system to mitigate any noise and vibration issues. The only other major mechanical news is the fitment of a six-speed automatic transmission in place of a five-speed unit on the uplevel Touring and Touring Elite models. (All other Odysseys still have a five-speed auto.)
As Flexible as a Yogi
Most minivan buyers will be more concerned about what Honda has done to the Odyssey’s interior. In short, it has made the cabin even more practical and, on the Touring Elite, so luxurious that this author’s kids wanted to watch a movie in the van while it was parked outside his house. We’re not sure what this says about his parenting skills, but Dad said yes, and the kids fell in love with the 16.2-inch split-view screen for the onboard entertainment system, which allows the simultaneous display of, say, a movie and video games. The big screen is exclusive to and standard on the Touring Elite; a smaller screen is available on EX-L and Touring models.
Honda kept the third-row Magic Seat that folds flat into a well in the trunk but has redesigned it so it can be folded and stowed with one hand. Legroom in the third row has increased by 1.1 inches. The multifunction second-row seats that are standard on all but the base Odyssey remain, with some tweaks. The center seat is 3.9 inches wider than before and now slides forward by up to 5.5 inches, allowing a bawling baby to be more easily comforted by the grown-ups riding in front. The outboard captain’s chairs now slide laterally outward 1.5 inches each, which is good if you want to fit multiple child seats or seat three adults across the third row. The center seat can be converted into a large armrest with cup holders and a tray. No one save an NBA player will complain about second-row comfort.
Up front, the Touring Elite model has power seats with two-position memory for the driver. The previous sliding center console has been replaced by a removable unit that could swallow the contents of a filing cabinet, and the passenger footwell has a built-in retractable grocery-bag hook. Upscale models like this one now have a cool box on the lower part of the center stack that accommodates six 12-ounce cans of Miller Lite—for tailgates! when you’re not driving!—or soda.
The Touring Elite model is costly for a minivan, at a base price of $44,030, but it comes as loaded as a frat boy at a house party. (The available dealer-installed accessories include bike and ski racks, cargo nets, a remote engine starter, and a towing package.) A power liftgate and side doors, HID headlamps, and a blind-spot warning system are included, although Honda has yet to offer a collision-avoidance setup or lane-departure warning on this vehicle. The seats are leather-clad, and there’s a 650-watt, 12-speaker stereo in addition to the voice-activated navigation system, a multiview rear camera, and the DVD entertainment setup. There are 15 beverage holders, three 12-volt outlets, and one 115-volt socket. About the only thing the Odyssey lacks are the La-Z-Boy–style recliners that Toyota makes available in the Sienna.
And It’s Good to Drive
In addition to the aforementioned minivan goodness, the 2011 Odyssey drives very nicely. The ride is supple, although there is some tire noise transmitted into the cabin over severe bumps. The revised engine is hushed under most circumstances, and on the few occasions when it makes itself known—at wide-open throttle, for example—it sounds quite good. It’s impossible to detect if the engine is running on fewer than six cylinders on the highway, too. For minivan drivers who care to carve through corners, this Odyssey is composed and stable, although Honda removed a bit of steering feel with the new pump. Still, it’s as athletic as a minivan gets and is fun to drive on a back road.
The Odyssey performs impressively as well, with 60 mph coming in 7.4 seconds, a 1.2-second improvement over the old Touring model and 0.3 second quicker than a 2011 Sienna AWD we recently tested. Executing a 50-to-70-mph sprint takes 5.4 seconds instead of 6.1, and the standing quarter-mile is traversed almost a second quicker at 15.8 seconds with a trap speed of 90 mph. The Odyssey took 187 feet to slow from 70 mph to 0 and pulled 0.76 g on the skidpad, in line with that AWD Sienna and the last Odyssey. Our 18-mpg mileage figure wasn’t as good as we might have hoped for, given the EPA ratings of 19 mpg in the city and 28 on the highway.
The Touring Elite is pretty much the Bentley of minivans in terms of opulence and features, but if we were buying, we’d probably save ourselves a small fortune and grab the $31,730 EX and purchase portable navigation and DVD systems. (If you just have to have a built-in entertainment solution, go for an EX-L with that package and get a portable nav.) But whichever trim level you choose, it remains hard to go wrong with an Odyssey.
