2009 Honda Odyssey at MIMS
February 27, 2009 by David Twomey
Honda has unveiled the Australian-spec version of its fourth-generation Odyssey people mover at the Melbourne International Motor Show.
Boasting the look and feel of a sportier vehicle, the new Odyssey offers a comfortable drive and sure-footed handling couple with a luxurious and spacious interior.
With enough space to accommodate up to seven passengers, the new Odyssey is built to compliment the family lifestyle.
It includes a more powerful 132kW engine with improved fuel economy, mated to a five-speed automatic transmission with Grade Logic and Shift Hold.
Safety is paramount, with Honda introducing Vehicle Stability Assist as standard across the range, together with Motion Adaptive Electric Power Steering that detects instability in slippery conditions during cornering and braking and automatically initiates corrective steering inputs.
It also features active head restraints, three-point seatbelts in all seven seating positions and front, side and curtain airbags as standard.
The all-new Honda Odyssey will be on sale soon, with local pricing to be announced closer to the launch date.
Print it: 
to me the interior takes a backwards step.
That thing looks horrible! I always thought that Honda should have brought that too Europe ages ago but now they can keep it! Frumpy is the word. After the Exiga and now this it is only clearer to say that the Citroen C4 Grand Picasso is the only way to go in this segment. It even seems to be pretty reliable and well built.
Alex – French and reliable? You’ve got to be kidding.
What are the rear seats like? Do they sit adults or they really only for small kids. Kinda looks like a wagon gone wrong. Any guess on price?
No Sammo, I’m not kidding. Actually, the entire C4 range seems to be standing up quite well as far as reliability goes, or at least I haven’t heard or read anything bad and I have about many other cars and as you wrote, many of them are French. I know it’s a bit of a change from the usual situation but the C4 range seems to be mechanically sound. It is easy to stereotype, the C2 and C3 aren’t the best and Citroens of the past haven’t been anything to shout about. The C4 is pretty good though.
Somehow would not go to near any Citroen or Peugeot anymore, flimsey build quality, silly breakages and problems abound.
Here in Euroland we have the far better looking 6 seater Honda FRV in both petrol and diesel. It look great, residuals hold up well AND the reliability is good. Theres also the big thing about small numbers and obscurity.
Cupid, you are joking? The FR-V may be a good car and yes, I would say it looked better than this but it still looks pretty ugly. It’s awkward and weird. As for your build quality remarks, well it doesn’t quite fit with what all the motoring journalists say. Peugeots, Citroens and Renaults usually get top marks for bulid quality.
Alex – I currently run a 10yr old 406, the list of silly faults is getting longer. We had a Citroen ZX – great car but many broken interior bits and a failed engine at 70K miles. Followed by a Xzara TDi again loads of broken bits and tyre wear was awful. By the way Lex fleet motor suppliers put Citroen at the bottom of the list. JD powers surveys rate them lowly as well. What more evidence do you need that they are flawed.
The current Odyssey is a much nicer car. A backward step IMO.
@ ALEX
You must live in another dimension!
Cupid’s comment is 100% correct.All makes of cars do tend to have problems from time to time,French cars seems to have more than others but I believe that they have improved(esp. Renault) in quality terms in recent times.
Quality and reliabilty improvements take years to manifest in surveys.
the front end looks better than the old odyssey, the grill similar to the accord euro. The rear end looks confused and disjointed.
This car suffers from “WRX” syndrome. It’s good at what it’s designed to do, but the looks are wrong!
I wonder whether there really are three-point seatbelts in all seven seating positions. I was in Singapore last week and saw the car in the local dealership. The middle seat in the second row had a two-point seatbelt.
The Odyssey in Singapore has a standard reversing camera. I doubt it would be standard in Australia. Otherwise the car looks very impressive in the showroom.
If anyone been to the Melbourne Show, would you comment on the whether there are three-point seatbelts in all seven seating positions. Thank you.
This thing reminds me of a Nissan Cedric or a Toyota Crown Royal Saloon… it’s hideous!
From what I’ve seen, the tether points for the middle row are still at the feet of the rear row passengers, meaning the rearmost passengers have to thread their legs through a tangle of seatbelts if there is a child seat somewhere in the middle row.
I have a friend who’s had a C4 Picasso for nearly 2 years, and has not had a single fault or bits falling off. His regular maintenance costs are less than his corolla (20k service intervals at very reasonable prices: $270 for 20k service and $470 for 40k service).
If I was in the market for this type of car the Picasso would be the clear choice for me.
I agree Jake.
To buy a car in this segment, it needs to be a diesel. Petrol just doesn’t cut it short of a torquey V6 and then they are thirsty.
Haven’t driven an Odyssey or Picasso but on paper and in pictures/the flesh, Picasso sure looks the goods.
Rad339: It has a proper diagonal belt in the back. Specs can differ for each market. Singapore gets what they pay for.
Simon the Oddesey is better in the flesh and as always top shelf quality for honda. Just tested a previous gen Oddesey last week and it struggles with load bcause it 4cyl 2.4l is powered down with low compression. the only dieselk in hondas range is the euro civic (still not here)
Rad339 it has seven 3 point belts. recently picked up a brochure from local honda dealer and the camera is not standard but on the top spec here in aus, but the 3 points come standard.
Good that there would be seven 3 point seat-belts. I agree with Shak that the Odyssey is much better in the flesh. Of course the top-shelf quality is a Honda trademark.
I also saw in Singapore that there are child-seat anchor point at the back of the outer seats in the second row – no more child-seat strap hanging in mid-air across the third row occupant’s face. There are no anchor attachment for the second row middle seat and the two third row seats. I wonder anyone in Melbourne can report on the Australian specs child-seat anchor point arrangement.
The Singaporean brochure stated there was increase foot-room in the third row seat by 4cm and knee space by 2cm. These do not sound much but it certainly felt live-able when I (173cm height) sat in the third row seat. I sat in the Subaru Exiga third row seat and could not get comfortable with the foot space. Other interesting facts include increase boot capacity from 244L to 259L in 7-seat configuration, and from 672L to 708L in 5-seat configuration!
I have tried out the Peugeot 308 Touring – third row seat is short on head and leg-room, and the Citroen C4 Grand Picasso – the lack of rear suspension control is a deal-breaker.
After spending the last 6 months re-searching the 7 seater market due to the arrival of my 4th bundle of joy, the Odyssey is a clear winner over the Picasso, all SUV’s and any Diesel.
The Picasso is small, more expensive and no room behind the 3rd row for nothing more than a shopping bag, too bad for a pram. The New Odyssey gets better fuel economy than All 7 seaters – 7.5L/100klm, even the diesels, and at 20-30cents a litre cheaper, cheaper services it much cheaper to run.
Half the problem with your SUV’s are they dont have 50/50 split 3rd row seat, and again no room for a pram in 7 seat mode, so your Ford Territory and Toyta Klueger are off the list.
Mazda CX9, big car, split 3rd row looks great, not too badly priced, hang on 13L/100 Klm, off the list.
Toyota Tarago, great room, Actually same as new Odyssey, 8 seater, Hangon $51.7k for Base model +ONR, 9.5L/100klm economy and has more plastic in it than a barbie doll. But at $6k more than the Top of the range Odyssey and $12k more than the Base Odyssey, I am surprised they sell any Taragos.
After sitting in the 3rd row of the old model Odyssey and having plenty of room and comfortable seats, if the new Odyssey has improved on this, then this is even more reason to buy one especiaaly as my family grows the Odyssey will accomodate this.
Overall the Odyssey is very well priced, looks good, has heaps of features, high levels of safety, cheap to run and best of all, has excellent re-sale value.
Have had the current Odyssey for the past four years, was a revolution 7 seater when it arrived and made everything else look like a bus, won people mover of the year 3-4 years in a row, even after the arrival of the picasso, kluger etc etc etc. So I can understand the design approach to be a revolution, order book ready for this one when it arrives. Best car I have bought, honda quality and reliability are legendary.
I meant ‘evolution’ design
I have also had the current Odyssey for the past four years and absolutely love it and was looking forward to trading up to the new one as soon as it was released. I am howver very disappointed with the new model I seen at the MIMS last night. Is this really the finished product??? Front end looks great, but the rear…. And they have certainly cheapened the interior. I just can’t believe they could do this.
The interior is not all that bad, there are cleaner lines and the quality definitely hasn’t dropped off. The positive of this new model is that the luxury version will have xenons as std, mega plus. Bodykit also makes it less wagon/van, there really isn’t anything out there that compares for looks and versatility for 7 people. Lets hope it drives as well as it looks.
The current Odyssey has no ESP…This car costs more than 45,000..Ha Ha Ha…Wake up silly Honda !!
It’s a classy looking people mover.
The Motion Adaptive Electric Power Steering is just another
safety feature that could come in very handy indeed.
Well done HONDA!
Hmm… Not enough differences from my current 06 model to make me want to change. Might be different if they brought in the Absolute version