Honda Odyssey 2009 Review

Road Test

Price Guide (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges): $43,990
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): nil
Crash rating: TBA
Fuel: 91 RON ULP
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 8.9
CO2 emissions (g/km): 212
Also consider: Citroen C4 Picasso (more here), Kia Rondo 7 (more here), Peugeot 308 Touring (more here), Subaru Exiga (when it arrives)

Overall rating: 2.5/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 2.5/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 2.5/5.0
Safety: 3.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 2.5/5.0
X-factor: 2.5/5.0

About our ratings

Honda has opted for evolution with its latest iteration of Odyssey, the company's seven-seat peoplemover. As mentioned in our launch review (more here here), the new model is demonstrably better than the old -- via (mostly) detail improvements.

Overall, there appears to be more interior space in the new Odyssey, but it's incremental rather than a massive leap forward.

In an earlier review (more here), this writer noted that the superseded model offered about enough luggage volume for one large case and some sundry bags for a weekend away if the third-row seating was occupied. With the third row seat down in that model, luggage capacity was 672 litres, which is substantial enough. The new model betters that with 708 litres of boot space -- and it certainly feels, subjectively, that much larger too. Thus if you only need to cart around five people, not seven, the Odyssey offers luggage-carrying equivalent to about 1.4 Ford Falcon boots.

With all three rows of seats upright, there's still luggage capacity for a week's worth of groceries, even for a family of seven -- but just. The third-row seat stows away quite neatly, but there's a bit of double-handling and chances are new owners won't succeed the first time unless the owner's manual is opened to the appropriate page. It's not as easy to do or as intuitive as the third-row seat in the Citroen C4 Picasso -- one of this reviewer's favourite peoplemovers.

Seats in the third row are really designed for kids and adults will, perforce, raise the headrests immediately for any trip enduring longer than five minutes. Taller adults (and teens) will find their heads brushing the headlining, but kids there will be able to see out, thanks to the Odyssey's stadium seating.

As was the case with the superseded Odyssey, the new car has HVAC vents in the headlining for the third-row seats and even the base model of the new car comes with a multi-zone climate control -- one of our peeves previously. So there's been progress made there.

There's reasonable knee and legroom in both the second and third-row seats of the new Odyssey, even with front and second-row seats set back as far as possible -- and that's from an adult's point of view too.

The second-row seating folds flat much easier than we recall for the previous Odyssey. It sits there like a flat-pack transformer-esque lump though, without the previous model's reversible floor to save the carpet from the mud and grime. In this regard -- and notwithstanding the simpler deployment -- it's a step backwards from the previous model.

And since we're on the subject, and the third-row seat folds away so neatly, the second-row seating seems like it's been engineered by work experience kids. Why are the seats in the second row not removable to liberate more cargo space -- as in the Peugeot 308 Touring? The second-row seating has a return memory, but why does this leave the second-row backrests inclined almost upright?

Reversing the Odyssey would be easier with reverse parking sensors, something we mentioned for the previous model. The field of vision to the 3/4 rear is obscured by the quite thick D pillars and the relatively small tailgate window, so backing the car -- if you don't use mirrors -- may pose a challenge.

As for the previous model, the new Odyssey has a sort of fold-away centre console between the front seats. Also like the previous model, it provides walk-through access to and from the front passenger seat for kids only. The kids of the right stature to take advantage of this walk-through facility you probably wouldn't want occupying the front passenger seat anyway -- with its airbag ready to fire in the event of a prang.

In the review of the last Odyssey, it was noted that the driver's seat was positioned too close to the pedals and there was insufficient aft adjustment. That remains the case -- Honda designs the Odyssey this way to optimise room for occupants of all three rows of seats.

As least the driving position has been salvaged with the provision of reach adjustment for the steering wheel. There's now enough flexibility for the driver to make him or herself comfortable.

The seats themselves are uncommonly well designed for a peoplemover. In the unaccustomed role of holding occupants in place during higher-speed cornering, they performed above and beyond the call of duty. There's also an impressively large footrest for the driver's left foot.

In our review of the previous Odyssey (in top-spec Luxury trim), we bemoaned the lack of a facility to play MP3 music. That has been addressed in this car, although there's no iPod/USB connection -- which comes as a slight surprise in a car that costs nearly as much as the previous Odyssey did in Luxury trim.

There's an open bin underneath the audio system head unit, which will play MP3 discs in the base model. In combination, the open slot and the head unit cheapen the interior presentation a little. The new model, even in base trim, also gains a trip computer, something the old Odyssey flagship didn't warrant.

The tyres aren't as noisy in this new model and drivetrain NVH is also much improved. The engine is fairly refined up to about 5500rpm and then develops a slight snarl to it. Compared with the previous model, it's also significantly improved. A very low level of whine from the transmission was detected in an intermediate gear during acceleration.

Speaking of the transmission, it's smoother than before, but Honda has deleted any sequential-shift facility. Many Odyssey buyers probably won't care about that, but the new car's shift lever (with its button to select third gear and shift positions for second and first) is so 1980s, it should be wearing legwarmers. There's a button on the side to shift out of overdrive 5th into 3rd. If you want lower ratios than that, you have to pull the lever back a notch -- and again for 1st. The fact that Odyssey buyers aren't likely to shift manually doesn't redeem the shift lever at all.

On the plus side, it seems like Honda has let its chassis engineers come out to play for the new Odyssey. While the ride remains comfortable, the vehicle's dynamics seem to have been ratcheted up a peg or three. The balance between ride and handling is much better now and steering offers more feedback too. Add to that steering turn-in which doesn't leave you waiting plus well-sorted roadholding and body control.

By the standards of a peoplemover, the Odyssey safe and competent in corners now. In a straight line, the ABS brakes will let you know they're on the job, but they do so without much melodrama.

Fuel consumption for the week averaged 11.4L/100km, which seems like a lot, but the Odyssey didn't get out on the open road much, than other about 30km of freeway. We would expect typical buyers to do better most of the time.

The engine, while not effortless from low speeds, is substantially livelier than we recall for the previous model. It doesn't gain much in the way of torque, but it is more powerful. That's certainly apparent in the way it will spin a wheel away from a standing start and reach high revs (up to 7000rpm without changing up). No longer does it take 'sands through the hourglass' to measure the time it takes to reach the redline.

There's been no change to the car's peak torque figure, so you'll still need to rev it occasionally, but it is significantly upgraded in drivetrain NVH and won't wake the kids as it hits the rev-limiter.

So here's our take on the new Odyssey: there has been incremental improvement in packaging and fairly substantial gains in the driveability of the car without detriment to comfort. Our earlier concerns have been addressed with this new model, and steep price aside, if you like the Odyssey as it is, you'll love the new one.

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