The 2011 Honda Odyssey is the latest offering from Honda, and according to the auto major at least one version of the 2011 Odyssey minivan will be delivering a remarkable fuel economy of 28 miles per gallon on the highways. As a matter of fact, they even have got the word from the feds on it, just as Honda had predicted. But more than the fuel economy we are concerned about the sheet metal dogleg positioned right in front of the rear wheel. While we think it’s a kind of mismatch, Honda thinks that you’ll instead imagine it as unique lightning bolt depicted by the 2011 Odyssey minivan’s side styling. The 2011 Odyssey will start from $28,580 for its LX starter model and will go up to $44,030 for its Touring Elite.
The interiors for the 2011 Honda Odyssey gets significant amount of makeover and is slated to go on sale Sept. 30. Honda has altered the model lineup and standard features, which makes the head-to-head comparison of the vehicle a bit tricky. But on a whole the 2011 Odyssey is around 3% to 4% more pricey than the 2010.
The base prices of Odyssey are thousand dollars more than the recently designed 2011 Toyota Sienna minivan, which has a price tag of $25,220 for its base, four-cylinder variant and $40,730 for its Limited V6 engine powered all-wheel drive model. If you compare the prices of the top models of the two vehicles then you can see the difference, the top model of 2011 Honda Odyssey Touring Elite is priced at $44,030, while for Sienna its $40,730. The top model of Odyssey comes loaded with a dual-view screen for its rear entertainment system. The best thing about this system is that it will be displaying two different programs from different sources, and hence the kids won’t have to fight over what to watch and what not to. Toyota pioneered this dual-view rear entertainment system in its redesigned 2011 Sienna minivan.
Toyota even charges some extra for the features which now are standard on Honda, such as the dual-view rear entertainment screen available on high-end models of the vehicle. According to Toyota the price increase on the 2011 Sienna was just around $200, or even less than 1%, on average.
The real disappointment that the 2011 Honda Odyssey, gives is that: there is no four-cylinder Odyssey available, neither is there an all wheel drive variant, and the Odyssey doesn’t even conceals the sliding door track, like the Chrysler and Toyota’s do.
The top models of Honda Odyssey models, like Touring and Touring Elite, priced above 40 grand, have a six-speed automatic transmission as their standard transmission instead of the five-speed, which is standard on lower end models. The six speed automatic transmission versions delivers just one extra mile per gallon. But according to Honda, the 6AT has been used for enhancing performance and not mileage.
Finally, what we can say here is that the Honda Odyssey, on a whole is a lot quieter and refined than Toyota Sienna, and if you are looking for a family minivan, considering it won’t harm you at all.
We will be reviewing the 2011 Honda Odyssey in our review section, so for more information on this all new Minivan from Honda, come back again.
