A Mum-view on the Honda Odyssey
Thanks to Nuffnang, Honda recently offered 8 bloggers the opportunity to test-drive and review one of their new Odyssey vehicles. Funnily enough, this came at the right time for me – I was on leave from work and was on full mum duty: driving the kids to/from school, running errands, attending appointments, doing the grocery run, etc.
The first thing I had to get used to was the length of this car compared to what I normally drive. It does have 3 rows of seats and sits up to 7 people, so it is meant to be longer than your standard car. Surprisingly, despite its length, it was not only quite powerful but really easy to drive and very nimble around corners and roundabouts! This is especially important when you’re trying to parallel park into that serendipitous spot right in front of the school or the grocery shop! So, I adapted to the length of the car very quickly.
I’ve driven a lot of different cars over the years and there are three things I think are important in a car when you have kids:
1. Safety
2. How easy it is to operate the entertainment system and temperature control
3. Storage and compartments
In regards to safety, some quick research confirmed that every Honda Odyssey comes equipped with class-leading safety features such as Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), front, side and full-length curtain airbags, advanced anti-lock braking and more.
In regards to the second point, I jumped into the car and figured out how to operate everything on the dash without having to pick up the manual. That’s a good sign. Music/radio and temperature controls were within easy reach meaning less fiddling when you’re driving and the kids are asking you to change the music or the temperature. One thing I like about Honda cars in general is that you can change the volume and mode/channel via a few buttons on the steering wheel.
Thumbs up also on all the storage compartments and pockets for knick-knacks, food and drink. This is important when you’re ferrying kids around from one appointment to another or when you’re going on long trips and you have to keep boredom at bay and the munchies satisfied.
The girls were really impressed with all the space. It’s definitely a plus for driving the girls and some of their friends to a play-date or an activity. You can also fold the back 2 rows down flat. Admittedly this can be dangerous because remember that awesome mid-century arm-chair you found at the op-shop at a ridiculously low price? Well, instead of regretfully walking away, now you can actually fit it in the back of the car and take it home! :-)
The Odyssey is also very fuel efficient for its size and I experienced this first hand when I took it for a day-trip to Geelong and back, and noticed only a small reduction in my fuel tank.
So overall, I really enjoyed driving this car and was embarrassingly hesitant when it came time to hand back the keys :-) In my humble opinion it’s definitely worth considering if you find yourself in the market for a versatile, fuel-efficient, family-oriented car.
And now an exciting competition for Australian readers!
“Fit your perfect family day into the Honda Odyssey”
What’s your perfect family day? Let us know by leaving a comment on this post describing your perfect family day. Honda and Nuffnang will choose the most creative and practical response across all 8 blogs and the winner will receive:
1. A Honda Odyssey car for 24 hours, and
2. $500 to help make their perfect family day become a reality!!
Please leave your comments on this post by 30 May 2010. Keep an eye on the Nuffnang blog after this date to find out who the winner will be!
May 4th, 2010 at 9:29 am
That would be the perfect car to take to a market too – everything would fit in the back!
My perfect family day would be to load up all my nephews (six little boys), and head to the country for a day out at Nana’s farm.
[Reply]
May 4th, 2010 at 10:06 am
Thanks for the great review Jho!
Having two kids of my own, and two sets of eager grandparents on top of that, it is often nice to go somewhere together. Even better if they all can fit in the same car so that everyone can share in the experience along the way.
According to the dictionary, Odyssey means “a long wandering and eventful journey” – and for me that would be an apt description for a day trip down to beach. (Sadly, now just a dream now that Summer is all but over). What could be more wonderful than cruising down the coast, taking in the sunshine while the grandparents play eye-spy with the kids in the back? Reaching our destination, we could pull out the picnic mats and umbrellas from the trunk, an esky filled with sandwiches and ice cold drinks and enjoy beach cricket amongst the seagulls and sandcastles.
Now that I think about it, having a 7 seater like the Odyssey is definitely friendlier to the environment than taking two separate cars – and a whole lot more fun too!
[Reply]
May 4th, 2010 at 11:09 am
Wow – the Odyssey looks like a good car! My mother-in-law uses a mobility scooter so having a 7seater car would allow us to take her (and her scooter), our family (Mum, Dad, two kids) and a friend each for the kids on a daytrip up the east coast of Tasmania to enjoy some playing on the beach, a gourmet lunch and perhaps some wine tasting for the grown-ups!
[Reply]
May 5th, 2010 at 9:54 am
Clearly the Odyssey would be roomy enough and safe enough to enable me to give my little nieces their first experience of snow.
We would drive up early on a blue-sky day, wrap the girls like powder-puffs, toboggan till they were crazy-laughing, eat hot jam doughnuts under snowgums, lay flat in the snow and make angels, gather twigs and leaves for a snowman, drink hot chocolate and then – bizzarely – stop for ice-creams on the way home!
We’d hope not to get the Odyssey too messy – but this car looks smart enough to clean itself!
[Reply]
May 7th, 2010 at 10:30 am
A perfect family day would be breakfast at the beach. So piling our three little beauties and swimming paraphernalia into the car (surfboards on the roof) for a morning swimming and a picnic at the beach.
After a rinse off we might change gear and head off for a bike ride before picking up a couple of cousins and driving over to the zoo for a late visit and some afternoon tea. Then we might drop the cousins home, pick the grandparents up and drive into the Botanical Gardens (if it’s warm) for a summertime picnic dinner.
So many options with such a groovy car.
cheers
Sarah
[Reply]
May 8th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Its not too often we get to go to the city as a family. Living down on the mornington peninsula you are an hour and a halfs drive too all the exciting things that go on in the city.
Gee! We’d start at the I’max theatre, then too stretch our legs we would all wonder through the vic market.
We would go to the victorian art gallery and then finish off at our favourite restaurant in victoria street!
[Reply]
May 14th, 2010 at 8:15 am
My family and I would drive from the Gold Coast to the Gallery of Modern Art and the cultural precint in Brisbane. Then take a trip crusing around the city.
[Reply]
May 27th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
The perfect family day would be for all of us( 7 total) to wake up, make a great breakfast together, then drive over to the beach. Its amazing that living 20 minutes away we don’t get there more often. After a morning relaxing -swimming-etc have a nice lunch at a local place on the beach. Then maybe some family fun of laser tag. These seem simple but with 5 daughters and the oldest moving away to college in september, that is all I need. These simple times will be gone in a few months as she leaves the nest to start her own life, we just want to enjoy ourselves TOGETHER!
[Reply]