20 Reasons Why the 2018 Honda Odyssey Rocks!

How does Honda top its already best-selling minivan is the U.S.? By redesigning the vehicle from the ground up with a focus on peace of mind for the parents and easy-to-use technology for the kids.

As a Dad, I live by the saying: happy wife, happy life. But after my entire family experienced the all-new 2018 Honda Odyssey on the Big Island of Hawaii, we were all pretty happy living with the features, connectivity, and comfort of the newly re-crafted Odyssey. 

So let's take deep dive look at 20 of the features we think make the new 2018 Honda Odyssey a solid contender as the best minivan for the 2018 model year.

The entertainment set-up consists of a 10.2-inch high-resolution ceiling mounted video screen that can be seen by all rear passengers. The reason for a single vs. multiple screens is that Honda wanted to focus on core family togetherness. There is a combo Blu-ray/DVD/CD player along with a pair of wireless headphones. You can also plug in another pair of headphones through the audio jacks. The system can connect to the WiFi which enables you to stream movies and television through apps like PBS Kids, Toon Googles, and Epix.

"Are we there yet?" This simple 4-word phrase sends shivers down the spine of most parents and probably gets muttered a couple million times every road trip. With the How Much Farther app, you can tell those little monsters to check for themselves. The HMF app shows: distance traveled, distance to destination, and travel time remaining. It's also configurable with multiple backgrounds and animations.  

The Honda CabinControl App gives the rear passengers the ability to control many features from their smartphone.  Especially designed for children; the CabinControl App gives second and third-row passengers the ability to control the audio system, climate including heat and air, rear entertainment, and music playlist. By providing a smartphone app, Honda has removed what can be a distraction for the driver since they no longer have to adjust these systems for the rear passengers.

Not all center consoles are created equal. Honda's new multi-function center console is more spacious and flexible than ever. First, a convenient smartphone tray features wireless phone charging. The sliding tambour door means no more clam-shell hinges when opening the console. The space is also wide enough for large tablets. There is a tray up front for purses or grocery bag storage. A media drawer stores DVD and Blue-ray discs. And last but not least, there are plenty of USB and auxiliary jacks.

Sound is very sneaky, it travels from the outside of a vehicle into the interior through any little nook or gap. The Honda engineers aimed to make family conversation in the cabin a top priority, so they worked hard to reduce road noise in the 5th generation redesign. The heavy use of sound deadening materials such as acoustic foam makes the Odyssey's interior almost "vault-like," reducing highway road noise by 2-3 decibels. 

Maybe the greatest invention to ever be put into the family car is the built-in vacuum. HondaVac is essentially a wet/dry vacuum located in the rear side panel of the van. The vacuum can reach to the furthest corners of the interior so no spec of dirt is safe. 

When the kids smash Cheetos into the carpet or they decide to empty out their shoes after a day at the beach; you will be armed with the necessary tool needed to clean up the mess. It's actually quite fun to use and maybe, just maybe, the kids will be inspired to clean up after themselves!

The elimination of the rear sliding door rails from body panels is nothing new.  In fact some of the competitors in the minivan segment like the Toyota Sienna, Chrysler Town & Country, and the Dodge Grand Caravan did away with this design intrusive element years ago. This is probably one of the only areas where Honda has been dragging its feet. Thankfully this pet peeve of mine has been addressed with the redesign of the 5th generation model. Those ugly sliding doors rails have been nicely integrated under the rear slide glass. The result is an integrated rail that is practically invisible to the naked eye.  

Another great update to the Honda Odyssey is the addition of a power lift tailgate. Out with the old gas strut technology and in with the new electric motor and worm gear assembly which saves weight and improves the width the tailgate can open. The tailgate can be programmed to open to a specific height which can be useful in a parking garage with a low ceiling. Also shorter drivers can program the tailgate to stop at a level that is convenient for them to reach. The Hands-Free system automates the opening of the tailgate with a simple kicking motion. 

The Magic Slide Seating System is the one single innovation that makes the Honda Odyssey rise above all others as a minivan that rocks for parents. With the center second-row section removed, it's now easier than ever to install multiple car seats (even rear facing). How many millions of backs have been tweaked when securing Jr. into his car seat? With the Magic Slide seats you can simply slide the seat close to the door, strap Jr. in and slide him back to the center where it is safest. 

The 2018 Honda Odyssey has the most flexible second-row of seats on the market today. The Magic Slide System allows for a myriad of arrangements but most importantly all three second-row seats are, slidable, reconfigurable, and removable. So you can have an 8-passenger vehicle with the full second-row installed or you can remove the center second-row seat which gives you a set of captain's chairs. You can also slide the captain's chairs together which Honda calls the "Buddy Mode" or both seats can be slid to one side of the vehicle making it easy for rear third-row passengers to get in and out.   

Honda developed its own smartphone-like operating system to power the 8-inch touchscreen infotainment center. The Honda Operating System is very intuitive and features touch drag and drop so you can organize favorite app tiles any way you please. 

Think of CabinTalk as a PA system for your car. With a quick touch of the CabinTalk button, you can have a conversation with the rear passengers without having to turn around and yell. There are hands-free microphones both front and rear that allow easy communication. You can even interrupt the kids and talk to them through their headphones which are great for getting that Drive-Thru order in a jiffy.

CabinWatch allows you to easily monitor the kids in the second and third row without having to spin around and look over your shoulder. This feature is especially great for new parents with infants who can now keep an eye on the child's well-being. CabinWatch has a pinch-zoom feature that allows you to zoom in for a closer look. The CabinWatch system is also an infrared camera so you can see in the dark.

The 2018 Honda Odyssey has ports everywhere! USB ports for your wireless devices, 110V 2-plug (house current) outlets, 12-Volt outlets, and an HDMI port. 11 various ports in all! These HDMI ports can be used for connecting devices like Apple TV, Amazon Fire Stick, Roku, and even gaming consoles.

The engine that powers the 2018 Honda Odyssey is the same Earth Dreams 3.5-liter direct injected i-VTEC V-6 engine found in the Ridgeline. Power output is up to 280 horsepower which is a 32 horsepower gain over the 4th generation. There is also over 260 lb-ft. of torque on tap too!  The outgoing model only had a 6-speed automatic transmission but for the 2018 model year you have 2 transmission choices: a 9-speed automatic available on the LX/EX/EX-L trim levels and a 10-speed automatic transmission for the Touring/Elite trims.

The 280 horsepower is more than enough to get up to highway speeds in a hurry. With 9 to 10 speeds on tap, you will be cruising at 1500 RPM at 70 MPH which is good for fuel economy. As a bonus, the 10-speed transmission comes with idle-stop technology to help save fuel when the minivan is not in motion.

When talking about naturally aspirated minivan fuel economy; the 2018 Honda Odyssey has a class-leading 19 MPG in the city, 28 MPG on the Highway and 22 MPG combined. There is the Chrysler Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid on the scene which gets a pretty astounding 84 MPGe, but that car starts at $40k and once the juice runs out the mileage drops to 32 MPG. 

A couple of the fuel saving features on the new Odyssey include an active shutter grille (as seen above), underbody aero package, ECON driving mode, idle-stop system, direct injection, and a first-ever 10-speed automatic transmission. The 10-speed transmission is a first ever for a minivan and a FWD vehicle.

Minivans are the modern day version of the station wagon from National Lampoon's Vacation. These people haulers are almost always used for the daily commuter or long summer family road trips. So it's no surprise that ride quality was at the forefront when it came to re-engineering the chassis.

Odyssey engineers wanted to give us the most comfortable and quiet ride possible. This was accomplished by taking Honda's Global Light Truck Platform - which shares the same platform that underpins the Honda Pilot - and updating it for family duty. Advanced materials such as high-strength steel and aluminum were used to improve body rigidity (improved 44% over the previous generation) and reduce weight. Ride and handling are improved thanks to a redesigned rear suspension which also works to minimize noise and vibration.

Modern vehicle safety can be broken down into two parts: crashworthiness, and crash avoidance.

Crashworthiness is simply how well the car and occupants do in a physical crash. Unfortunately, the crash test ratings for the 2018 model year are not available at the time of this writing, but the 5th generation Odyssey is projected to be a top safety pick by building upon the IIHS and NHTSA scores received by the 4th generation vehicle. The 2018 model benefits from an Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) Body Structure, Dual-Stage, Multiple-Threshold Front Airbags, side airbags both front and rear, knee airbags, automatic tensioning seat belts, and LATCH anchors for car seats.

Know that the 2018 Honda Odyssey excels when it comes to crash avoidance features. 4 of the 5 trims come packed with tons of safety features including Honda Sensing which is a suite of safety and driver assistance technologies which includes: Collision Mitigation Braking, Forward Collision Warning, Lane Keeping Assist System, Road Departure Mitigation, Lane Departure Warning, and Adaptive Cruise Control.

I don't know about you, but my female-dominant family needs a lot of cargo room. Here is one eye-opening statistic that demonstrates just how versatile this van is: the Odyssey manages 155 cubic feet of cargo room behind 1st row while the Chevrolet Suburban only measures 122 cubic feet cargo room behind its first row.

The third-row seats have the ability to fold flat into the floor while the entire second-row can be removed to maximize cargo room. The operation of the stow-and-go seats is a manual affair with the pull of a strap. This is actually preferable to an automatic folding row as found in the Pacifica which can take some time to fold flat.  

The North American 2018 Honda Odyssey was designed and developed by Honda R&D Americas. On top of that, the Odyssey is manufactured at Honda's largest light truck production plant, located in Lincoln, Alabama. This 3.7 million square foot facility is also home to the Pilot, Ridgeline, Acura MDX, and V-6 engine production lines.