2021 Honda Odyssey – Model Overview

Since it first hit the market in 1994, the Honda Odyssey has become the best-selling minivan in the United States — more than 1.1 million have found their way into American driveways. It’s the best-selling minivan for good reason, as Honda continues to improve this already impressive vehicle. The 2021 model achieved stellar reviews, with U.S. News and World Report naming it the best minivan on the market as well as the 2021 Best Minivan for the Money. Use this guide to find out what else you can expect with the 2021 Odyssey.

Exterior

The 2021 Honda Odyssey is available in five trims: LX, EX, EX-L, Touring, and Elite. Exterior styling revisions keep the minivan looking fresh, with its grille getting an update making it resemble those you’d find on the Pilot SUV and Ridgeline pickup truck. The grille is now flanked by LED headlights in all trims. Its front bumper also debuts. The base trim features 18-inch alloy wheels along with rear privacy glass, while the top-of-the-line Elite trim now has redesigned 19-inch alloy wheels along with self-dimming mirrors.

Interior

The Odyssey’s interior remains one of the vehicle’s highlights, further enhanced by additional comfort features for the 2021 model year. It now has second-row seats that fold flat, allowing you to remove them more easily. The base trim seats seven people behind second-row captain’s chairs and a third-row bench seat. The other trims seat eight with three second-row seats along with Honda’s Magic Slide system. This feature allows you to slide the seats forward, backward, and sideways into various setups. All three rows of seats are spacious enough even for adults, providing plenty of headroom and legroom.

Other subtle interior features include carpeted floor mats designed purposefully to hide dirt and plush leather upholstery found in the Elite trim. This upholstery is perforated and has exposed stitching, enhancing its premium appearance. Its large center console located between the front seats gives you plenty of storage for a variety of items, whether you need tissues, wipes, pens, or food. To help you clean up spills that are bound to happen, the minivan’s Elite trim comes equipped with HondaVac, which is a built-in vacuum cleaner. 

Infotainment

Although the standard infotainment system is rather basic with a 5-inch display, all other levels offer a responsive 8-inch touch-screen display that supports smartphone integration via Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The minivan also comes with an abundance of optional features to improve the ride for both you and your travelers. It offers HD and satellite radio, wireless device charging, a Wi-Fi hot spot, navigation, and a rear-seat entertainment system with a 10.2-inch display. 

The vehicle also comes with a CabinWatch camera that lets you monitor rear passengers via the infotainment screen as well as CabinTalk, which allows you to turn the stereo into a PA-type system where you can project your voice to the rear seats. CabinControl gives you the capability to take control of the rear-seat entertainment system and climate settings so you can help younger children who might not be old enough to operate the settings themselves. 

Engine Option

Although the 2021 Odyssey only has one available engine option, it remains a powerful one. The 3.5-liter V-6 engine sends 280 horsepower along with 262 pound-feet of torque to the front wheels. A start/stop feature when idling along with automatic cylinder deactivation that shuts off three cylinders helps you save fuel. It also includes Normal, Econ, Snow, and Sport driving modes to enhance your driving efficiency.

The minivan can accelerate quickly no matter if you’re the only one inside or driving a full load of passengers. It also includes a 10-speed automatic transmission and includes paddle shifters mounted behind the steering wheel.

Fuel Economy

Compared to other minivans in its class, the 2021 Odyssey achieves some of the best numbers. It gets an EPA-estimated 19 mpg in the city and 26 mpg on the highway. Only the 2021 Chrysler Pacifica gets similar numbers, although the Toyota Sienna and Kia Sedona aren’t far behind.

Cargo Space

Whether you’re heading off on a road trip, transporting sports equipment to practice, or bringing home groceries, you will enjoy the impressive amount of cargo space found in the 2021 Odyssey. Behind the third-row seats, you’ll find 38.6 cubic feet of space. Thanks to a low load floor, you can also easily lift heavier items in the area. Since the minivan’s third row of seats fold flat into a recessed space in the floor, you can use that space for cargo when that third row is in use.

The cargo area expands to an impressive 92.3 cubic feet of space when you fold down those rear seats. Physically removing the second-row seats and folding down the third-row seats gives you up to 158 cubic feet of space, depending on the trim. The minivan’s wide hatch opening also makes it easy to load large or bulky items in the area. For additional assistance when it comes to loading and unloading cargo, the EX-L trim has a powered tailgate.

Safety Features

The 2021 models also received additional standard safety features in the Honda Sensing suite. The vehicle now comes with adaptive cruise control with low-speed following, lane-keep assist, and forward collision mitigation with automatic emergency braking. Other standard features include automatic high-beam headlights, a rearview camera, and lane-departure warning. It also includes a rear-seat reminder, which alerts you to check the back seat if you exit the vehicle.

Available safety upgrades include front and rear parking sensors, rain-sensing windshield wipers, rear cross-traffic alert, and blind-spot monitoring. Thanks to all of these superb safety features, the Odyssey earned a five-star safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Sometimes the best way to get a feel for a vehicle is to get behind the wheel and take it for a drive. If you’re interested in experiencing all the 2021 Honda Odyssey has to offer, reach out to the experts at Performance Honda. They can answer any questions you might have and schedule a test drive.

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