Road Test: Honda Odyssey Luxury

Review by Anthony Ziella - 07/October/2011

Since the Odyssey first arrived in Australia in late 1994, it has established itself as one of Honda’s most celebrated and awarded cars. The first generation made a strong impact on the industry, winning the prestigious Wheels “Car of the Year” award in 1995, marking the beginning of an illustrious award winning history.

Other awards to adorn the Odyssey trophy cabinet include Drives Car of the Year Award for “Best People Mover” (five time) and Australia’s Best Car Award for “Best People Mover” (four time), this car has won more awards than Walt Disney.

So how does this highly decorated people mover perform?

Drive: 5/5

The hands-down, best feature of the Honda Odyssey Luxury is its handling. It handles like Dwyane Wade, absolute silk.

The steering is so ridiculously smooth that you actually look forward to driving around corners and the car moves through the gears seamlessly.

With the cruise control engaged on a long highway, relaxed in the ultra comfortable leather seat, you may in fact forget you are driving at all sometime... which, I suppose, should effect it’s safety rating.

It drives just as well with seven in the car as it does with one and comes equipped with rear parking sensors and a reverse camera so parking this bad boy is a breeze.

Engine: 3/5

Beneath the compact hood the Odyssey Luxury is packing a gutsy 2.4 litre, 4 cylinder, i-VTEC engine. Not overly powerful, but just enough to do the job.

The Odyssey is also better than average in terms of fuel efficiency, with the full 60 litre tank clocking up 450km on the trip metre.

That one tank lasted me through seven days, which included a trip from Melbourne to St. Leonard (on the beach just outside of Geelong in Victoria) but I did roll back into the dealership with the petrol light burning brightly.

Exterior: 4/5

The Honda Odyssey Luxury is a sleek and sexy piece of machinery.

On the first day I was driving this baby around I had to pick up three mates of mine. Upon arrival I received two "Ooh, Yeah!"'s and a "Mad car, bro".

Not a bad initial reaction.

I’m not sure what it looks like in other colours but he Premium Night Blue suits the style and design of the car in much the same way as black does the Porsche Boxster and at night the HID head lights come on to give it a little extra edge.

Add smoked out, tinted windows, a reasonable set of chrome rims and maybe a blue neon or two and you are in full gangsta mode.

Safety: 4/5

When we are talking about seven seaters, we are talking about families. So safety is really important.

In this area the Odyssey is a bit of a class leader. It comes equipped with Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), advanced anti-locking braking system (ABS) and six, front, side and curtain airbags.

Interior: 4/5

The interior is another huge plus for the Odyssey Luxury. Honda has updated the 2011 model with silver metallic panels replacing the previous wood grain, but the first thing you will notice is the space.

This car can comfortably seat seven fully-grown males with no complaints about arm or leg room (this I comprehensively tested). The leather is ludicrously comfortable and the driver and passenger seats adjust to every which way you can think of.

When a friend of mine got in the car he proclaimed; "This car has lots of compartments, I like that".

If it's compartments you like, than this is defiantly the car for you. It features no less than six cup holders, four bottle holders and compartments galore, even a hidden one under the steering wheel that took me days to discover.

The back two seats fold down flat which is great for boot space, but when the back seats are up there isn't much room back there at all. If you have a large family you might want to think about getting roof racks if you're planning for long family holidays on the road.

The Odyssey also features a DVD player, satellite navigation system, blue tooth, rear parking sensors, a reverse camera and USB connectivity, all the modern day gadgets and more.

The DVD is a very handy edition to any family car but there is only the one monitor built into the dash, which means if you are sitting in the very back, then you'd better have excellent eye-sight.

Overall: 4.5/5

The Honda Odyssey Luxury is an excellent car, very reasonably priced at $45,920* and is one of the best looking seven seaters in it's price range.

This car is gutsy, fuel efficient and safe. If you are in the market for a seven seater that is spacious, handles well, is versatile and has sex appeal, then look no further than the 2011 Honda Odyssey Luxury.

* Prices are manufacturer list prices only, for the drive away price please contact your local authorised Honda dealer.