LIKES
- Roominess
- Sliding second-row seats
- Clever packaging
- Great standard safety gear
- Great standard features
DISLIKES
- Limited powertrain options
- Front-wheel drive only
- No HondaVac
- It’s expensive to be Elite
BUYING TIP
Honda ditched the underwhelming LX for 2023 and loaded the lineup with good features and a better value.
What kind of vehicle is the 2023 Honda Odyssey? What does it compare to?
The 2023 Honda Odyssey minivan seats eight with more room than most three-row SUVs. It plays catch-up with the fresh Kia Carnival, and AWD and hybrid variants of the Chrysler Pacifica and Toyota Sienna.
Is the 2023 Honda Odyssey a good minivan?
The Honda Odyssey earns top marks in safety and value, though its lone V-6 can’t match hybrid rivals. It earns a TCC Rating of 6.2 out of 10.
What's new for the 2023 Honda Odyssey?
Anchoring the middle of the lineup is a new Odyssey Sport trim that applies the popular blacked-out trend from crossover SUVs to the minivan. Honda ditched the dull LX trim in favor of a value-loaded EX grade, and EX-L, Sport, Touring, and Elite trims. For 2023, all Odysseys come with two years or 24,000 miles of scheduled maintenance at the dealer service center. Nice.
Seating eight passengers, the Odyssey lacks captain’s chairs but it features a second-row setup that fits three child safety seats, and the seats can slide forward and back, and side to side, or be removed to make various seating configurations.
The 3.5-liter V-6 powering the Odyssey is plenty capable, but it only comes with front-wheel drive and a 22-mpg combined rating. The Odyssey rides as quiet as a nap, and even though the 10-speed automatic transmission can be busy it’s not noticeable until the driver demands enough power to wake the napper in back.
Rest assured, however, that every Odyssey comes with a wealth of standard safety features, including automatic emergency braking, active lane control, blind-spot monitors, and adaptive cruise control. If impact is made, the IIHS and NHTSA rated the Odyssey with top scores.
How much does the 2023 Honda Odyssey cost?
With the underwhelming LX no longer in the picture, the 2023 Odyssey costs a bit more but is way better equipped. At a starting price of $38,635, including a $1,295 destination fee, the EX comes with an 8.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, heated front seats, power-sliding rear doors, and the LED light treatment. It’s a smart play.
But the new $42,505 Sport grade costs only $800 more than the EX-L, and warrants a closer look for its power tailgate, leather seats, and dark shade.
The top Elite trim exceeds $50,000, but you can still get Cabin Watch and a rear-seat entertainment system for less on the Touring.
In Lincoln, Alabama, alongside the Pilot and Ridgeline.
Styling
The 2023 Honda Odyssey looks like a minivan.
Is the 2023 Honda Odyssey a good-looking car?
If you don’t mind the genius that is power-sliding doors, 2023 Odyssey looks good by embracing design cues from the Pilot SUV. A new Sport trim adds some pizzaz. But minivans, like logic, have fallen out of favor so it’s stuck at a 5.
The new Sport model borrows from the dark-out SUV trend by trying to slim down the shape and take eyes away from the bulbous rear. Gloss black trim covers the grille, light surrounds, side mirrors, and mid-pillars, and it rides on 19-inch black wheels. It's available in white, or slimming black and red coats.
Inside, clever storage spaces in the doors and center console garner more attention than the wing-shaped dashboard slapped with gloss black plastic, fake chrome, and a neat if not abbreviated center stack.
Performance
Like Willie Dixon, the 2023 Honda Odyssey was built for comfort, not speed.
All Odysseys move by a 280-hp 3.5-liter V-6 that’s spry enough off the line, but in passing moves it can take a beat to sort through its busy 10-speed automatic transmission. Front struts and a multi-link rear suspension emphasize ride comfort more than handling, because the minivan’s shape was not made for cutting corners. The compliant ride earns it a point to a 6.
Is the Honda Odyssey 4WD?
No, you’d have to look to the Pacifica or Sienna for all-wheel drive; the Odyssey is front-wheel drive only.
Though it might take the 10-speed a moment to shift under heavy throttle, there’s enough power for reasonable passing moves and good grunt off the line. The steering stays centered but the wheel turns without much resistance, not unlike a boat, and on cloverleaf ramps and other curves, the broad proportions of the minivan cause it to list like a boat, too. The Odyssey can tow a small boat up to 3,500 pounds.
Comfort & Quality
The 2023 Honda Odyssey optimizes minivan versatility with sliding, folding, and removable seats.
With removable second-row seats and a third-row bench that folds into the floor, the 2023 Odyssey doubles as a mobile family room or a weekend work van. With room for eight passengers on every trim, the Odyssey’s capacious cabin, ample cargo room, and versatile and comfortable seating earn it a point each to a 9.
EX-L and above trims get leather-trimmed first-row and outer second-row seats, and even though the Touring and Elite trims lack the mid-row captain’s chairs that double as recliners, the seats come with armrests and long-distance comfort. The driver gets 12-way power adjustments standard, which is what the captain needs.
Instead of captain’s chairs, the second row has a sort of choose-your-own chair setup Honda calls Magic Slide. The middle seat can be removed, then the two remaining second-row seats slide laterally as well as fore and aft for easier ingress and egress. It’s clever and dynamic but not as convenient as the Chrysler Pacifica’s Stow-N-Go seats that fold flat into the floor.
The 33 cubic feet of cargo space with all three rows up beats most SUVs, and that balloons to 88.6 cubic feet with both rows of seats down, besting even the Honda Pilot (83.9 cubic feet).
With the third row folded and the second-row seats removed, the Odyssey gets to work with a truck-like 144.9 cubic feet of cargo room.
With the base LX stricken from the model lineup, Honda trims the Odyssey in leather power seats in all but the base EX. Heated seats come standard, as does all-day comfort. Even on top trims, the Odyssey doesn’t pretend to luxury levels, and that’s just fine for this family hauler.
Safety
The 2023 Honda Odyssey aces crash tests and tries to avoid real ones.
How safe is the Honda Odyssey?
The Honda Odyssey earned a top five-star crash-test rating from the NHTSA and a Top Safety Pick+ award from the IIHS last year, and we expect it to do the same this year. Those ratings earn it a point each, as does the wealth of standard safety features. It’s an 8.
Every Odyssey comes with the Honda Sensing suite of safety features that includes active lane control, blind-spot monitors, automatic high beams, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control down to a stop, and a rear seat reminder that alerts drivers of cargo and passengers left in the rear seats.
Features
The new Odyssey Sport puts bling in the minivan thing.
Honda ditched the base LX and its dinky display screen for 2023. The EX becomes the base model with a starting price of $38,635, including a $1,295 destination fee.
Standard on all Odysseys are heated front seats, an 8.0-inch touchscreen with smartphone compatibility, satellite radio, two USB ports, three-zone climate control, power-sliding rear doors, and remote start. The relative value and reasonably sized if not crowded touchscreen interface earns it a point each to a 7.
Honda’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty doesn’t earn a point on our scale, but its two years or 24,000 miles of complimentary scheduled maintenance adds some assurance.
If the no-frills base model doesn’t do it for you, the EX-L makes the most sense for value. But for just $800 more than the EX-L, the new Odyssey Sport trim might draw the most Odyssey sales at $42,505. In addition to leather upholstery, a 12-way power-adjustable driver's seat, three-zone climate control, and a power tailgate on the EX-L, the Sport sports blacked out trim pieces on the grille, light surrounds, side mirrors and mid-pillars, and it rides on 19-inch black wheels seemingly borrowed from the black crossover SUV trend. The night vibe continues inside with black leather upholstery and red contrast stitching, as well as a black headliner and red accent lightning.
How much is a fully loaded 2022 Honda Odyssey?
For $50,765, the Elite jumps the proverbial shark that would even make the Fonz look at other minivans. In addition to the Touring model’s 19-inch alloy wheels, parking sensors, and rear-seat entertainment system with CabinWatch, the Elite adds ambient lighting, a wireless smartphone charger, a heated steering wheel, 11-speaker sound, heated and cooled front seats, and power-folding side mirrors.
Fuel Economy
The 2023 Honda Odyssey maxes out at just 22 mpg combined.
Is the Honda Odyssey good on gas?
Compared to hybrid offerings in the Toyota Sienna and Chrysler Pacifica, the Honda Odyssey can’t keep pace with its EPA-rated 19 mpg city, 28 highway, 22 combined. That’s only a 2 on our updated scale.
The front-wheel-drive Odyssey matches similar minivans such as the Kia Carnival and Chrysler Pacifica, but it falls way short of the Pacifica plug-in hybrid’s 32-mile electric range and 30 mpg combined rating when the battery is depleted. The 2023 Toyota Sienna hybrid gets 36 mpg combined with front-wheel drive, and AWD costs it one mpg. The EPA estimates the Odyssey will cost $1,300 more annually in fuel costs versus the Sienna.
0 comments:
Post a Comment