Honda Odyssey 2019 Review

Its demise has seemed imminent for years, but the faithful people-mover (Multi-Passenger Vehicle, or MPV) is losing the battle against the strong-selling SUV. Considering the practicality and flexibility MPVs offer that’s a bit of a shame; but no matter how you look at it, the numbers don’t lie.

In 2018 the MPV segment sold just 13,357 units locally, less than five per cent of that of combined SUV sales. It makes you wonder just how much longer the MPV can hang around.

Here, we are looking at the upper-spec Honda Odyssey VTi-L to see if it’s still relevant in an increasingly SUV-rich passenger car market.

Introduced locally in February 2014 the Honda Odyssey was last updated back in 2017. It scored even better safety features and a number of aesthetic updates, but continues to offer much the same standard equipment and the same driveline package as it did five years ago.

The two-model Honda Odyssey range comprises the entry-level, eight-seat VTi (from $37,990 plus on-road costs) and the top-spec, top-selling seven-seat VTi-L (from $47,950 plus ORCs).

The latter justifies the $10,000 premium over the base model with wide-ranging inclusions such as multi-adjustable centre-row Captain’s chairs, retracting door mirrors, LED see-around-the-corner headlights, LED foglights, three-zone climate-control, all-round one-touch power windows, third-row floor vents and an electrochromatic rear-view mirror.

The top-spec Odyssey also scores retractable rear-door blinds, keyless entry and ignition, partial-leather trim, heated and powered front seats (with eight-way adjustment on the driver’s side) and built-in sat-nav.

Most significantly, only the Odyssey VTi-L comes with a full line-up of Honda Sensing safety technology that includes autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, lane-keep assist, rear cross-traffic alert, self-parking capability, 360-degree bird’s-eye view cameras and road-departure mitigation.

This – as you would hope given the 10-grand price increase and despite one or two unexpected omissions – makes up quite a list that easily outstrips most of the Honda’s equivalent-price competitors.

For all its thoughtful interior architecture and its almost indulgent club-style ambience, the Honda Odyssey is surprisingly capable on the road.

The 129kW/225Nm 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine works well with a transmission that generally does a good job of avoiding the more annoying rpm-holding characteristics of a CVT. Unless there’s a full passenger load on board and a few freeway hills to put it under pressure, it generally has enough verve to cope and is pretty quiet and smooth as well.

A downside was the cruise control that – unless it was sensing a vehicle in front – that just wasn’t interested in maintaining the set speed on any sort of downhill gradient.

The ride comfort of the Odyssey VTi-L on a generous 2900mm wheelbase is cushy yet well-controlled. The steering, though it tends towards being low-geared (2.8 turns from lock to lock), is well weighted, and doesn’t have you feeling as if you are driving a glorified trader’s van.

Although Honda claims a combined fuel consumption figure of 7.8L/100km for the Odyssey – which is better than the turbo-diesel Hyundai iMax and the V6 petrol-powered Kia Carnival – we fell well short of that over a week of mixed driving. We averaged 10.3L/100km, or a little worse than we’ve managed with Odysseys in the past.

With a shiny, chrome-infested grille, new-look (so-called ‘Aero’) front end, newly-trimmed doors and instrument panel, as well as the Odyssey VTi-L’s extra storage compartments built into the centre-row seats – which also get larger, more comfortable headrests – the recently-updated Odyssey pair were introduced to the Australian market at the tail-end of 2017.

Although the prices went up over the pre-update versions, the Odyssey’s value proposition, when compared to its competition, remained uncompromised. It’s hard to find big MPV – apart from the Chinese G10 LDV – that can be had for the VTi’s pre on-road price of less than $40,000.

Honda, as evidenced in other vehicles in the range including the light-class Jazz hatchback, knows a thing or two about packaging.

As well as doing a sterling job of catering for passengers in all three rows (with the normal observation that the rearmost seats, though more acceptable than many MPVs for full-grown adults, are not as generous as the first or second rows), the Odyssey is notable for things like the surprising 330 litres of luggage space that are left available even in seven-seat mode.

What was disappointing in the VTi-L was the inability to fold the left-side second-row Captain’s chair down to a flat position to make the most of its loading capacity, while we were a little puzzled to find that the tailgate is manually, rather than electrically operated and that the eight-way driver’s seat, though notably comfortable and supportive, comes without memory settings.

The sometimes-reluctant responses of the heavily touch-screen-reliant dash controls were annoying too, while the VTi-L’s sunroof was a bit unexpectedly pokey.

If you’d like your luxury MPV to pull a small caravan or similar, the Odyssey VTi-L gives you a braked capacity of just 1000kg to play with – which is on the low side compared, for example, with Volkswagen’s Multivan which is rated at a solid 2500kg.

As one of the few MPVs selling in reasonable numbers on the Australian market, the Honda Odyssey’s main rivals include the Hyundai iMax, Kia Carnival, LDV G10, the languishing Toyota Tarago and the commercial van-based Volkswagen Multivan.

In VTi-L form, the Honda Odyssey offers an experience – what with its leather trim, centre-row Captain’s chairs, climate-controlled comfort and dual power-sliding side doors – that almost borders on luxurious.

Its easy driveability, its on-road comfort and the executive-jet interior which even Kia’s Carnival can’t quite match, make for a remarkably good MPV, even after five years on the market.

The Odyssey VTi-L compares well on value with the likes of the Hyundai iMax Elite, Kia Carnival Si and Volkswagen Multivan Comfortline TDI340.

The Honda Odyssey VTi-L ends up being a highly-competent, high-value full-size MPV. It does all the things a seven-seater should do, and is especially well attended-to in terms of safety tech.

If you were looking for something to gripe about, you could say that it lacks the slinky and well-proportioned good looks of the third-generation Odyssey that was introduced in 2004 and continued through to 2008.

The current-generation Honda Odyssey makes the best out of an angular van that has been designed for a purpose, rather than with the hope of winning any styling awards.

How much does the 2019 Honda Odyssey VTi-L cost?
Price: $47,590 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol
Output: 129kW/225Nm
Transmission: Continuously variable
Fuel: 7.8L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 183g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP (2014)