by Dave and Carolyn
edited by Paul Williams
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The longer Dave and Carolyn drive the minivans, the more features they find, and the practicality of the minivan design becomes more evident. For example, Dave recently transported pieces of chair rail from the Home Depot that were up to three-and-a-half metres in length. With appropriate positioning and folding of seats, these fit in the van, along with other gear.
“I hope Honda doesn’t mind us using the van for this kind of thing,” said Dave, “But it really shows what you can fit in it.”
We don’t think Honda will mind, as this kind of activity really defines what family vans are about – namely: versatility.
Dave’s comments: Week Three
The Odyssey remains a pleasure to drive. It’s very quiet and very comfortable. The more I drive this vehicle the more I seem to be warming up to it. However, as noted previously, it’s not quite as agile or peppy as the Sienna was, but it’s no slouch either. The power moonroof is certainly a nice feature now that it is starting to cool down as August ends. We loaded the van with several kids and lots of stuff (coolers, chairs, etc.) for a picnic last weekend and everything went very well in this regard. The Odyssey has lots of storage compartments and lots of bins, etc. To be fair, all of the vans we have tested so far have had lots of bins, cup holders, and storage compartments. The designers seem to be following a “prototype” in this regard. I think the Hyundai Entourage had the most compartments (etc.) of all three vans.
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I like the rear spoiler that comes with this model � it suits this vehicle. The sound system � which I have cranked up quite loudly on several occasions while driving the van alone, sounds impressive � but not quite as impressive as the Entourage’s sound system was. I have noticed that when I execute an over the shoulder glance in this vehicle when changing lanes, my view does not seem to be hampered by the B pillar as much as it was in the previous two vans. I am not sure why this is the case; the pillar does not seem any smaller in this van.
Carolyn’s comments: Week three
The Honda Odyssey continues to impress me as it drives well and suits my needs as a new mother whose daily activities increasingly resemble those of a chauffeur! For example, I find that this minivan offers a lot of storage space for all of the gear that I carry around including what I need to keep my daughter and dog content, not to mention all of the gear that I need to keep me going (in this regard there are lots of cup holders stowed away to house my coffee and water bottles!).
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To give another example of this minivan’s storage capacity, my husband and I organized a birthday celebration for our daughter who just turned a year old, and we were able to easily load up the minivan with a ton of gear that we needed to transport to a local park (including our dog). The minivan is really practical in this sense.
Over and above practicality, this minivan also offers a high level of comfort. I really enjoy the leather seats and steering wheel, the dome convex conversation mirror (now I can ALWAYS see my daughter in the back seat regardless of where I am sitting in the front of the vehicle – very simple and clever) the climate control, heated side mirrors (I just discovered this feature this morning), and the built-in sunshades to protect my daughter’s eyes in the back row seat (while this might seem like a “small thing,” it really is an important and highly appreciated feature for me and for my daughter I am sure!).
I would also like to say that I find this minivan very aesthetically appealing as well. As I have noted before, I especially like the midnight pearl blue exterior.
Additionally, I like the look of the back tailgate because it is not so “boxy” looking, which is what I usually think about when I think of minivans (I think of them as being “square” and “boxy” and not nicely streamlined). Finally, I also like the front headlights – their shape is streamlined nicely to fit the front body of the minivan. At this point, my main criticism has to do with fuel efficiency as this minivan seems to use a lot of fuel; however, I will have to wait and see what the final figures reveal as I have not yet formally calculated this minivan’s fuel efficiency.
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