OpenRoad Driver Volume 11 Issue 1 | Page 54

54 » OpenRoad Driver Drive a Honda? Write a car review and win one of multiple cash prizes! http://openroadcars.ca/review 2014 Honda Odyssey Touring Words by TREVOR HOFMANN » We all love good ideas, and the new Odyssey is full of them. For one, the bin at the base of the centre stack can be upgraded to cool drinks. For another, they’ve included a built-in Shop-Vac in the all-new 2014 Odyssey Touring, a brilliant idea that’s bound to be as popular with parent s as it is with the young’uns. 2014 models also provide two large infotainment screens on the centre stack, the lower of the two being a separate touchscreen just for the audio system. My tester was a Touring model, which in Honda-speak is top of the line. That means it had leather upholstery with a memoryenhanced 10-way powered driver’s seat, memory-linked power-folding side mirrors with integrated turn signals and reverse tilt, a multi-information display, blind-spot detection, the aforementioned vacuum on the inside, and HID headlights to improve forward vision. There’s a lot more I’m not mentioning, but you get the gist. Honda’s fully independent MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension setup is plenty agile through fast corners and solidly planted on the freeway. The six-speed automatic shifts through its cogs quickly, snapping from gear to gear with nice positive engagement under full throttle, yet when tooling around town it goes about its business almost imperceptibly, as it should. Pricing for the 2014 Honda Odyssey starts at $29,990 plus delivery fees, while my topline Odyssey Touring model was priced at $46,490 plus destination charges. While that might seem like a lot for a minivan at first glance, it’s a small price to pay for its full load of family-friendly features and overall impressive capabilities.