2011 Honda Odyssey Long Term Wrap (Part I)

The 2012s are coming and it’s time to complete our long term review.   Can’t find a 2011?  There’s not much new for 2012 on most trims, but the already-great-value EX trim is gaining some features including the multi information display and bluetooth HandsFreeLink and USB audio!

As for the Odyssey, what can I say that hasn’t already been said in my previews, in Kecia’s review, in one of my updates or on our forum?  It’s uber safe, ultra flexible and arguably the best family vehicle on the road if you often have 6, 7  or 8 passengers.  That’s high praise, but it is well deserved.  I’m going to leave the rest of our parting comments for my wife and daughter.  I do want to note that fuel economy was about 18-20mpg in the city and 24-26mpg on the highway over a few months and a few thousand miles.  I had only one real reliability issue.  The blind spot system went out a couple weeks ago with a dashboard warning.

My wife was going to write a paragraph as well, but it turned into its own blog that will now be Part II.  Until then, here are some thoughts from my daughter.

I thought the Honda Odyssey touring elite was amazing. Long car rides, like to Michigan weren’t boring. We all watched Star Wars instead of whining and constantly asking when we would get there. Also, if the movie was getting boring I could just put on the wireless headphones and listen to crystal clear radio. Now I bet youre wondering how were the radio and the movie playing at once. Well I’ll tell you. There were two different sets of speakers, the surround sound which plays the movie or the radio without needing headphones and of course the wireless headphones. These are all good things about the minivan but here’s one thing that annoyed me. The car only came with two sets of headphones so if three people wanted to listen to music and three people still wanted to watch the movie there would be no solution unless you were sitting in the back row. In the back row there is a plug to plug in headphones, there’s actually two headphone plugs. But if more than four people want to listen to music youre out of luck. Speaking of plugs also, in the back row there’s an AC plug. No not air conditioning and AC plug is pretty much a plug that you can find in any house. It’s the plug that lets you plug in your vacuum cleaners, or computer charger, but it’s not in your house it’s in the car. Overall I loved the Honda Odyssey touring elite it wasn’t like any other car I’ve been in, and it’s a lot of fun.

Speaking of that AC, it has a lot of uses.