2018 Honda Odyssey: What's It Like to Live With?
We're adding a 2018 Honda Odyssey to our long-term test fleet.
What do you want to know about?
Introduction
Your parents are visiting from out of town to spend a week with you and the grandkids. You've been showing them a good time and today the six of you are headed for a day at the beach, with dinner after. But taking two vehicles runs counter to the idea of family togetherness, which is why you're glad you bought a minivan like the 2018 Honda Odyssey.
Would a three-row SUV have done the trick? Probably, but not as well. Minivans are more efficient, less expensive, and easier to get into than legacy truck-based behemoths such as the Chevrolet Suburban and the Ford Expedition. Minivans also offer superior third-row accommodations and an enviable reserve of cargo space when those third-row seats are upright and occupied, particularly when compared with today's SUV of choice, the car-based crossover. And for young and old alike, nothing can compete with the ease of clambering in and out of the ample space offered by rear sliding doors.
The logic of all this remains unchanged since minivans once ruled the family vehicle marketplace, and it's why we're always eager to have one on hand. But unlike the box-on-wheels blandness that defined past minivan style, today's crop contains a couple of lookers. Our long-term Chrysler Pacifica was easy on the eyes, and the 2018 Honda Odyssey is as attractive as it is functional and innovative.
What Did We Buy?
Honda's Odyssey has been around for 24 years, though it didn't grow to full size until the second generation debuted in 1999. Today's fifth-generation 2018 Honda Odyssey is longer, lower, wider and far more interesting than that second-gen turning-point vehicle. And it's even better-suited to keeping three rows of passengers grinning.
The 2018 Odyssey offers new second-row seats that can be configured as a three-across bench or with a removable center section that yields dual captain's chairs with a center aisle. From there you can also slide either captain's chair toward its counterpart and, if you require, tip it forward to create a wide passage to the third row.
Entertainment options are many in the vastly improved touchscreen audio system, which now supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. But it also offers specific new features meant for Mom and Dad. An airline pilot-style intercom system can project your cheerful voice through the rear speakers or into the rear-seat headphones. The available overhead camera can display a pinch-zoomable image on the touchscreen of what the kids are up to in the back seats.
As ever, the Odyssey is powered by a 3.5-liter V6 engine, and this latest iteration makes considerably more power and torque (280 horsepower, 262 pound-feet of torque) than before. But this is truly the year of the transmission since Honda has brought both nine-speed and 10-speed automatics to the Odyssey lineup. It's also the year of the chassis, with improved steering and greater structural rigidity, making the Odyssey quieter and more pleasurable to drive.
What Options Does It Have?
Honda doesn't believe in options, preferring to keep things simple with distinct trim levels that contain standard equipment and nothing else. Once you choose a trim level, your only remaining decisions are paint and interior colors. It's refreshingly simple.
People who know Honda will recognize the six trim levels. The LX is the entry-level version with 17-inch wheels, a nine-speed transmission, manual sliding doors and a basic audio system. The EX adds the configurable middle-row seat, power-sliding doors, three-zone automatic climate control, and an 8-inch touchscreen audio system with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, HD radio and XM satellite. It also comes with driver safety aids such as adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, lane departure mitigation and blind-spot/cross-traffic monitoring.
That's a well-equipped minivan, but stepping up to the EX-L adds leather upholstery, a sunroof, a power liftgate and a few other tidbits. The EX-L with navigation and rear-seat entertainment is exactly what it sounds like: an EX-L with added built-in navigation and a rear entertainment screen supported by a Blu-ray player and HDMI inputs. It also has the cabin intercom system.
That one tempted us, but we bought the Touring for its 10-speed transmission and cabin video monitoring system. Other things we got in the bargain include an automatic stop-start system, LED headlights, front and rear parking sensors, a built-in vacuum and a hands-free liftgate.
The Elite is the top trim, but we decided we could live without its 19-inch wheels, premium audio system, ventilated seats, power-folding mirrors and other baubles.
The 2018 Honda Odyssey Touring's sticker price is $45,505, including destination. We got ours for $41,613 from Jeff Wyler Honda in Florence, Kentucky.
Why We Bought It
We like having minivans around. They're excellent family vehicles and they're unquestionably handy. It's worth reminding ourselves and others how much better they carry people than a three-row SUV and how much more lockable, enclosed space they offer than anything short of a commercial van. Well-conceived minivans such as the Honda Odyssey still have a place in a market seemingly overrun by SUVs.
But our 2018 Honda Odyssey Touring is not just about sheer practicality. This edition is packed with clever and innovative features, and its touchscreen audio system has a few tricks up its sleeve that we really want to live with. Our initial drives also suggest that this new Odyssey doesn't drive like a minivan. Its revised steering, chassis and 10-speed transmission make it a far more pleasant machine to wheel about.
That's the premise of our decision, at any rate. Follow along as we put the 2018 Honda Odyssey through its paces and see if we still feel the same as the year progresses. Look for detailed impressions and regular updates over on our long-term road test page.
Edmunds purchased this vehicle for the purpose of evaluation.
Monthly Update for July 2018
Where Did We Drive It?
We purchased our 2018 Honda Odyssey in June from a dealership in Kentucky. So half of June and into July consisted of Dan Edmunds driving the minivan back to California. It wasn't a straight shot either. His meandering path home took him through 10 states and covered 5,150 miles. Two days after its return, the van was already off on family road trips and cargo-hauling errands around town. When July ended, we'd owned the Odyssey for a little more than a month and had already amassed 7,300 miles.
What Kind of Fuel Economy Did It Get?
We've covered a lot of highway miles since purchasing the Odyssey, so our lifetime average will likely start falling a few ticks as we do more city driving. I have a feeling that the best range record will stand for quite a while, though.
Average lifetime mpg: 24.4
EPA mpg rating: 22 combined (19 city/28 highway)
Best fill mpg: 30.2
Best range: 450.5 miles
Current odometer: 7,383 miles
Maintenance and Upkeep
The cover popped off the puddle light on the driver-side door. We'll replace that at the Odyssey's first service appointment.
Logbook Highlights
Performance
"I needed a car to transport me from Santa Monica to the Greek Theatre, which is a pretty significant drive — figure an hour or more in traffic. Hadn't driven the Odyssey in a while, so I went for it. What impresses me most about this van is how quickly I get used to its bulk. It drives more like a supersize hatchback than a massive minivan, which increases driver confidence while navigating urban gridlock or winding hillside streets. The Odyssey has historically been known as the driver's choice in this class, and there's nothing about this latest model that makes me think otherwise." — Josh Sadlier, senior manager, content strategy
Comfort
"I know it's a minivan, but to me, the Odyssey is the ultimate sport-utility vehicle. The powertrain and suspension are sedanlike, and the cargo area is large enough to throw in all my camping gear without any sort of radical Tetris-ing. One note about noise: Square-edge bumps, such as those found in broken concrete freeways and expansion joints, send a bit more boominess than you'd expect into the cabin." — Calvin Kim, road test engineer
Cargo Space
"I like the adjustability of the second-row seats but wish the seatbacks could fold flat! Also, while the outside seats can slide fore-aft, freeing up more cargo space, the middle seat (the '20' in 40/20/40-split folding configuration) is fixed, intruding into the cargo space when the outside seats are pushed forward. Wish that one could slide as well." — Calvin Kim
"I just used the Odyssey to pick up a twin mattress. With the third-row seats already folded flat, I only needed to tilt up the center section of the second row to slide the mattress all the way in. It was a perfect fit. I didn't even have to remove the two child seats that were installed in the outboard positions of that second row. So easy." — Mike Schmidt, senior manager, vehicle testing operations
Monthly Update for August 2018
Where Did We Drive It?
What kind of vehicle would you want to drive to your own wedding? Ferrari? Classic American iron? How about a 2018 Honda Odyssey?
Yep, Carlos Lago drove the van to his wedding last month in Santa Barbara. How's that for a vote of confidence? Calvin Kim also drove the Odyssey up to San Francisco. And later in the month, Mike Schmidt hauled his family of four to San Diego for a day trip. Heavy use in August gave our crew plenty of opportunities to opine about what they do and don't like about our new people mover.
What Kind of Fuel Economy Did It Get?
After 2,600 miles in August, our Odyssey averaged 19.7 mpg, which is lower than what the EPA says to expect. And it knocked our lifetime average down a notch from last month's result of 24.4 mpg. Part of the reason could be attributed to a couple of fill-ups during Carlos' stint.
Average lifetime mpg: 23.3
EPA mpg rating: 23 combined (19 city/28 highway)
Best fill mpg: 30.2
Best range: 450.5 miles
Current odometer: 9,029 miles
Maintenance and Upkeep
None.
Logbook Highlights
Comfort
"I've always loved minivans for their ability to carry loads of cargo and people in comfort. I consider them the original overland vehicles. And the Odyssey takes all the things I like about minivans and brings them up to another level.
"The second-row seat flexibility is smart. You can pop out the center seat section and free up more cargo room, which is useful when you're only traveling with one or two other passengers. And the comfort of the second-row seats is just as good as front-seat comfort. The Odyssey is an awesome people mover." — Calvin Kim, road test engineer
"Our Odyssey feels so good to drive and ride along in. I know it's a behemoth compared to the Accord sedan, but it's just as easygoing. The comfort belies its size. I know Calvin mentioned something like this last month. I'm here to second that sentiment. As far as minivans go, this is the best for ride comfort and handling, in my opinion." — Rex Tokeshi-Torres, vehicle testing technician
Interior
"My kids get excited when they see the Odyssey in our driveway. To be fair, they were just as into our long-term Pacifica. Aside from the rear entertainment headsets, they are big on the sliding doors. The handles are easy enough for my 4-year-old to pull. And with the auto-open feature, that's all she needs to get in. Press a button and the doors close. In my experience as a parent, any time you ask a kid to push a button, you're going to get a favorable response." — Mike Schmidt, senior manager, vehicle testing operations
Technology-Audio
"No doubt the Odyssey is large and comfortable, but I experienced a couple of interesting software glitches from the software side of the vehicle. One was a warning telling me to 'Check Tuner' without any further elaboration. As I was listening to satellite radio at the time, I imagine there was an issue with the receiver and the head unit. Since I didn't know what to check exactly, I called upon my extensive background in computer debugging and power-cycled the radio. That's what it took to get the satellite radio tuner back in business.
"Another was a warning telling me that the anti-theft system had lost power. This time there were instructions on how to fix the problem. Thank you, Honda." — Calvin Kim
"I am not convinced that CabinTalk is worth it. This feature projects a front passenger's (parent's) voice through the speakers to its rear passengers (kids). It will even silence the rear entertainment headsets to deliver your message. In my family road-trip experience, the phrase most projected toward the rear occupants is some (usually less polite) variation of: 'Will you stop fighting?' But once kids put those headsets on, backseat bickering ends. Headsets are a parent's champion.
"I used CabinTalk once to ask those same rugrats if they wanted to make an ice cream stop. Their initial response was, 'Yay!' It was immediately followed by, 'Will you unmute the show now, please?'" — Mike Schmidt
"Here's something that infuriates me: If you equip a car with adaptive cruise control, why not make it able to come to a complete stop? The Odyssey's adaptive cruise works until about 25 mph (or a little below it), and then you get a notice in the instrument panel saying something along the lines of 'The adaptive cruise is canceled due to low speed.' Why, Honda, why?" — Rex Tokeshi-Torres
"I've heard from fellow enthusiasts and Edmunds drivers that they yearn for simpler cars, ones with less clutter and potential issues. But after spending a few days in our Odyssey Touring, I have a different opinion.
"The Odyssey's secondary controls, such as climate control and radio, are intuitive. But the optional stuff, the equipment that gets piled on when you start optioning up your car, is a little more difficult to use. For the Odyssey, that means lots of page swiping and going through menus. But my rear-seat passengers loved the ability to watch streaming video from the Odyssey's onboard data modem and communicating with the front-seat passengers using the CabinTalk function.
"One note on setting up the onboard hotspot connection: AT&T gives you three months and 3 GB of free access. It's easiest to set up the system from inside the car, but use your laptop to do it, as you'll need to validate your email address." — Calvin Kim
Cargo Space
"Here at Edmunds, we have the unique luxury of selecting from a wide variety of vehicles for special occasions. So when it came to scheduling a vehicle to use for my wedding, I had to choose carefully. Would it be a luxury car so we could leave the event in style? Or a sports car so we could make a quick getaway? I chose our Honda Odyssey. And it was perfect.
"Utility: We had a ton of stuff to bring to the wedding, such as gift bags, signage, suits, luggage, and, of course, a dress. The van was completely loaded, and we were thankful for the space.
"Seating space: We got married out of town, and family flew in from all parts of the country. I had five groomsmen, and we needed wheels to get us to and from the bachelor party. The Odyssey's three rows handled our group perfectly.
"Comfort: This van is smooth, powerful and overall impressive to drive. It was the perfect companion for our wedding, even if it wasn't as flashy as a sports car." — Carlos Lago, manager, feature content
Update for Fall 2018
Where Did We Drive It?
Our 2018 Honda Odyssey is still hard at work in our test fleet. It spends most of its days now in the holding pattern of family life. Take the kids to school in the morning. Pick them up in the afternoon. Then it's off to basketball practice and later the grocery store. Every so often it sneaks away for a weekend out of town. By and large, however, we've settled into what we expect the majority of minivan owners do with their Odysseys on a regular basis.
What Kind of Fuel Economy Did It Get?
As a result of its now heavily urban use, our average lifetime fuel economy is creeping closer to the EPA city estimates. We're now down just below 21 mpg overall. We find the onboard mpg meter tends to estimate 1%-2% higher than our actual fuel economy during city-heavy fills. We've seen it range as high as 5% over long highway drives.
Average lifetime mpg: 20.8
EPA mpg rating: 22 combined (19 city/28 highway)
Best fill mpg: 30.2
Best range: 450.5 miles
Current odometer: 10,373 miles
Maintenance and Upkeep
None.
Update for 2019
Where Did We Drive It?
Since the last update, our 2018 Honda Odyssey has remained in an urban holding pattern. From the perspective of utility, that is fantastic news. The minivan continues to do everything we ask of it without talking back. Well, not too much. We are starting to experience some of the quibbles we've heard about from fellow Odyssey owners on the forums. A few items have grown past the quibble stage and graduated to legitimate concerns. We'll get into those below.
What Kind of Fuel Economy Did It Get?
This is the first update where our overall fuel economy dipped below EPA estimates. A steady serving of city driving and stop-and-go Los Angeles traffic is taking a toll. Month after month of declining mpg brings us now to a 17.4 mpg lifetime average. We have some weekend getaways planned in the coming months and expect our mpg to creep back up, even if only slightly.
Average lifetime mpg: 17.4
EPA mpg rating: 22 combined (19 city/28 highway)
Best fill mpg: 30.2
Best range: 450.5 miles
Current odometer: 19,389 miles
Maintenance and Upkeep
Our Odyssey recently requested a B1 service. That involved an oil change, oil filter replacement and tire rotation. Since we drove the van while California wildfires were burning locally, we also elected to change out the cabin air filter at this service. This covers the normal items on our to-do list. There's more.
Remember those concerns we mentioned above? Here's our list: (1) a clunky feel from the steering rack, noticed especially during parking lot maneuvers; (2) a rattle at idle after a cold start — for example, after the car was parked overnight; (3) a rear hatch that was opening in a jerky fashion; and finally, (4) a key fob that didn't work all of the time.
Some strategically placed lubricant seems to have fixed the clunk we felt. We feared the worst with the cold-start rattle. The morning of our appointment was the first time we heard it and the dealer ultimately returned a "could not replicate" diagnosis. We weren't too happy, but oddly enough, it hasn't happened since. New struts fixed the wonky rear hatch opening. And we replaced the key fob battery ourselves. That was an easy one.
Update for 2020
Where Did We Drive It?
Our 2018 Honda Odyssey has come a long way since we purchased it in June 2018. We can still count on it to deliver the multifunctional-minivan goods. We continue to enjoy its versatility and kid-friendliness. After all, kid-friendliness is parent-friendliness. A routine barrage of carpet Cheerios, snacks on-the-go and muddy soccer cleats is testing its interior durability, however.
What Kind of Fuel Economy Did It Get?
A year of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders has limited the miles driven since our last update, but it hasn't done much to help our fuel economy. Our average now sits at 16.6 mpg. All other fuel economy milestones remain unchanged.
Average lifetime mpg: 16.6
EPA mpg rating: 22 combined (19 city/28 highway)
Best fill mpg: 30.2
Best range: 450.5 miles
Current odometer: 26,644 miles
Maintenance and Upkeep
Our most recent dealership visit included routine maintenance and a dose of recalls.
First was the routine Service B: fresh oil, new oil filter and we added a tire rotation.
Next came the less routine: The rear brake pads needed replacing. We've seen this from Hondas before. The tendency of the anti-locking braking system to share the stopping work between all brakes causes the otherwise underutilized rears to wear out early. At the same time we replaced the front pads. They had a little life remaining. But stop-and-go driving had aged them prematurely and, frankly, it was convenient. We also swallowed our pride and requested a four-wheel alignment to remedy a (literal) run-in with that annoyingly tall curb in front of our house.
Finally, Honda addressed several recalls. Here is a breakdown of those:
Recall 20-012: Replace clips for floor harness and moonroof drain tube
Recall 20-024: Replace both left and right exterior sliding-door handle cables and bush joints
Recall 20-047: Update the gauge control software
Recall 20-059: Update rear camera software
Total Cost: $1,117.67