2011 Honday Odyssey Minivan Road Test Review

2011 Honda Odyssey Road Test Review
A minivan in edgy design presents new features

By Bob Plunkett

After years topping the best-seller charts with models based on the third generation of model-year 2005, Honda's Odyssey minivan rolls out of a Honda manufacturing plant in Lincoln, Ala., in an edgy new design for 2011 models.

The revamped 2011 Honda Odyssey, configured in a wider stance with more cabin space and three tiers of seats for as many as eight passengers, dresses in an enhanced aerodynamic package and stocks a high-tech V6 powertrain which delivers class-leading fuel economy figures.

Honda introduced the Odyssey in 1995 as cast on a platform borrowed from the popular Accord sedan and equipped with the then-novel concept of not one but two doors on the flanks.

That original Odyssey focused on a sedan-height chassis and user-friendly interior features, as Honda incorporated favored traits of rival minivans and developed creative new concepts driven by Honda's research of the minivan market.

A second design for Odyssey emerged in 1999 on a larger and broader platform and the floor still set low like a car so you could step inside or climb out easily. [Full Article]