With all the talk of fuel economy these days, you might be fooled into thinking that 25 mpg on the EPA's highway test is impressive for a mid-size car. I don't think it is. 25 mpg is, however, an impressive result for a 4700-lb vehicle that can carry eight passengers in quiet comfort. When it comes to hauling people and stuff, the minivan was a better alternative twenty years ago, it was a better alternative to all of those big, ungainly SUVs people insisted on driving, and it's still a better alternative today.
Among those minivans, the Honda Odyssey remains king. And if you think you're too cool to drive a minivan, go ahead and try to sell your ill-handling, 12-mpg SUV now. You won't look so cool crying on the dealership floor when the salesperson tells you it's worth 10% of what you paid for it - or worse, that he won't even consider taking it in on trade.
What makes the Odyssey so good?
Well, for starters, it drives more like a luxury sedan than a big van. It's quiet and rides as smoothly as a limo. After driving an SUV, you simply won't believe how much road feel the Odyssey has on-center. Because it's front-wheel drive, the van does suffer from a bit of torque steer, but less than the Pilot SUV that's based on the same chassis.
The smooth V-6
The Odyssey won't outaccelerate a sports car, but its 3.5-liter V-6 generates 244 horsepower and never any vibrations. Journalists endlessly praise Nissan's VQ-series V-6, but every time I get into a Honda, I'm reminded that it is, in fact, Honda that makes the world's best V-6 engines.... Read full article