Performance
and fuel efficiency. Comfort and handling. Sportiness and
utility. Polar opposites, you say? Yet Honda has merged
such assets into the redesign of its Odyssey minivan for
2005. This third generation Odyssey, with all new underpinnings,
remains a true minivan, but boosts power and performance
and an earth-friendly stance through advanced technology.
Improvements
include an all-new chassis and more rigid body structure
for better and firmer handling. Honda mates a new, five-speed
auto trans to its 255-horsepower VTEC V-6, adding about
15 ticks of engine gusto. It's the first segment use of
"Variable Cylinder Management" to improve performance
and fuel efficiency. Among safety the add-ons are tire pressure
monitoring, side curtain airbags, a stability assist system
to prevent rollovers and improved crash compatibility with
other vehicles. Rear seat activities are visible in a convex
interior mirror.
Honda
seems to have compromised (or maybe not) by choosing adjustable
legroom over mid-range space achieved by the likes of the
competitors Chrysler and Dodge models with disappearing
second row seats. Honda still has you hoist them out to
carry something really big. But the second row separates,
as bucket seats, or merges into a bench. And a stowable
mid-row seat, available on upper level models, boosts total
seating to eight. The disappearing third row "Magic"
seating Honda was first to invent now flips more easily
into the storage floor with headrests intact.
Long
revered as practical, the Odyssey moves toward luxury with
a new, top-level Touring edition. It joins the base LX,
EX, and volume, leather-seated EX-L versions. In the minivan
cup holder race, Honda now has 15 truly usable ones. Among
amenities, depending on model, are a navigation system with
backup camera, XM Satellite Radio-readiness, power tailgate
and a rotating storage tray. While Honda hadn't released
prices by press time, it's expected to match the $20,000
to nearly $40,000 range of competitors.
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