Most of these models show what intentions they have since their very names. Chrysler offered Caravan, Town & Country and Voyager, while Renault and Pontiac were more literal with Espace and Trans Sport. This situation is interesting because it reached the point of some of them expressing they had plenty of room with a very clever metaphor: the other meaning of “space”. Yes, this is what opened the door for names such as Aerostar, Astro, Galaxy… and Space Runner, Space Star and Space Wagon, the latter three all from Mitsubishi. Honda’s share of these inspirations first came with Shuttle, which turned into Odyssey later.
If you’re remembering that Honda already released a new Odyssey for 2014 a few months ago, in United States, the fact is that country has its own version of this minivan. Every other market which offers it receives the same version sold in Japan, whose new generation is what you see in this article. Since the automaker has achieved big success with Fit since its first generation, its big sister could concentrate itself at bigger and wealthier families. It must be the biggest vehicle to receive Honda’s latest design trend so far, which receives the curious name of EXCITING H DESIGN!!!. Yes, with capital letters and three exclamation points.
In other words, the new Odyssey features the “Solid Wing Face” at the front, with grille and headlights visually connected as one element. Below them, the secondary grille is tall rather than wide, in order to leave the section more imponent. The sides maintain this impression using equally tall windows, but this decision also converged into the sheetmetal section getting too big. Odyssey once again shows itself as a typical full-size minivan, like the current Town & Country and what Espace would look like if received a new generation today. It looks much fancier than small and medium MPVs (like Fiat 500L or Citroën C4 Picasso), which is completely appropriate for the price range in which it works, but still staying very far from commercial vehicles.
And how could such a large vehicle could express it’s different from examples like JAC Refine? Odyssey has a lot of design elements capable of that, like a rear fascia design that looks bolder than Civic’s or Accord’s, but it has much more to offer. There’s a whole new platform, which increases the internal space by lowering the floor and enabling a higher roof. This room also became easier to access, by adopting sliding rear doors for the first time at the global model, and easier to use: the seats can be arranged in several different combinations by being folded and/or removed. So far it’s pretty much everything what most minivans offer in nowadays, but there’s one more card to play.
Odyssey brings the Absolute version once again, along with the regular trim levels. This is intended to be a high-luxury variation, which enhances the exterior with more chrome accents, better-looking wheels and an imponent exclusive front grille, like the pictures show. And if the dashboard doesn’t look as stunning as the outside, there are several equipments to make the cabin more comfortable than ever. While third-row seats can be reclined individually, the second-row pair two have footrests and articulated backrests – when you recline the latter ones, the seats rise a little in order to create a more relaxing position. Honda claims both rows have around the same level of head clearance.
When it comes to trim levels, the standard Odyssey comes in B, G and EX and Absolute comes in basic and EX. According to the trim, it’s possible to have seven or eight seats and front or all-wheel-drive, but the gearbox will always be a CVT. The only engine is a four-cylinder Earth Dreams 2.4L, which has start/stop system as standard but equips Absolute adding direct injection, seven-speed transmission mode and shift paddles. Odyssey reaches 173 hp at the regular versions and 182 hp in the more expensive ones, and uses wheels from 16” to 18”. The equipment list features lots of comfort items and several of the recent electronic safety systems.