Unlike most recent Odyssey drivers, Brent Romans has no wife, no kiddies, no kiddie crap, and no furniture to move across country. He's a single guy livin' it up in SoCal (by the way, he's got a high-paying auto journalist job too, if you're interested), drivin' round in a minivan. Despite his lack of need for this machine, it was hard for Romans to find fault with the vehicle. And you don't know how much that means, because you don't know Brent. This is one tough customer. "Just by the sheer fact that I don't mind driving it means that the Honda is a pretty impressive vehicle. In general, I don't like minivans. Don't like SUVs, either. I'm an equal-opportunity hater."
Romans reported that the V6 engine impressed him, saying it had plenty of torque and horsepower. One thing he noticed was when he left the shifter in D4 under full acceleration, the shift points happened before redline. Furthermore, the column-mounted shifter needs more work. Romans said, "The detents are vague and it is very easy to get D3 or D2 instead of D4." As other staffers have recommended, an "overdrive off" button instead of D3 would be much better. Romans said it would make passing maneuvers much easier, "Just click a button instead of trying to hunt around for the proper detent on the shift pattern." Also noted was an overly sensitive brake pedal upon initial application.
Although there is supposed to be a button for manual override of the dual power sliding doors, Romans never found it, but he did like the doors' convenience. "At one point, I parked the minivan in a tight parking spot. Opening the front door would have dinged the car next to me, so I popped the rear driver-side door and clambered in. It was impressively easy to then get into the driver seat." However, Romans noted that they are slow to both open and close, and are finicky about being locked or unlocked. Also, "If they are locked and you hit the "open" key fob button, the doors beep annoyingly at you."
Romans found the HO (Romans-speak for Honda Odyssey) to have a good turning radius, and thought that the sloping hood provides a good view of the road, but makes it harder to judge where the end of the minivan is for parking.
And so. Another month of delight with the Odyssey comes to an end.
Total Odometer Reading: 18,493
Best Fuel Economy: 14.8 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 14.8 mpg
Body Damage: $0
Maintenance Costs: $0
Problems: None.
