How My Family Loved Honda Odyssey (MY18) After 800km of Driving in 2 Days

My love. I mean the Honda Odyssey

My family of 4 has just had a wonderful trip to Geraldton, Western Australia. We drove for about 400 km each way from Perth in a people mover car, Honda Odyssey, and we all agreed that the car has contributed to the trip a great experience.

I bought the Honda Odyssey as a used car and this was the first time it was with my family on the long trip. The car was manufactured in 2018, only 3 years old, so it is almost similar to the newest model. In the point of view for a long-distance family trip with kids, I would vote this car at 9 over 10 for its comfort and convenience.

Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS)

How boring is it when you have to always keep looking at the road, holding the steering wheel to ensure the car is in the middle of the lines continuously in 2 or 3 hours? I understand you could think this is the minimum of the safety we have to do right? No, until you use a combination of ACC and LKAS in the Honda Odyssey. The ACC helps to control the car’s speed for whatever happens on the road in front of the car. LKAS helps to control the steering wheel itself to keep your car in the middle of the lines. With this combination, I had relaxed my foot and hands for around 30% of the driving time with a speed of 100 to 110 km per hour. Of course, it is not a self-driving car, even not a semi self-driving car, it only works against very basic events in front of your car, it cannot make a prediction or handle a weird sudden event (a kangaroo crossing, a pedestrian going to walk out etc.). So in such 30% relaxing, I still kept an eye on the road and ready for an emergency brake. However, that all created an unforgettable experience on a trip I have never had before. It was really convenient, it bought time for me to have a longer look at the wonderful views through your window, to turn back for a quick chat/poke to your kids, to have a longer and deeper look to your partner’s eyes etc. Those such things seem easy and normal on your day, but it becomes a luxury when you are driving for 2 -3 hours.

My lover inside a big lover.

Low fuel consumption, 8.4l/100 km

That is quite a good figure in term of fuel expense for a people mover car. I have reset trip A on the car control panel and 8.4l/100km was an average fuel consumption for a distance of 800 km and almost with freeway speed (100 –110 km/hour). On my daily commute, it is 9.4l/100 km (city drive, 50 km with 60–70 km per hour). The fuel tank in this vehicle is quite small, its capacity is only 55 litres (around 520 km per full tank), but that did not make any difficulty to us at all.

Big cargo space

The cargo space turns triple time larger if you fold the last seat row down. This is so important, especially when you don’t want to make the kids upset because of leaving their favourite stuff at home, or when it is a camping trip which requires many bulky things like tents, gazabo, portable chairs, trolleys etc. On the trip, we just brought everything, the kids just threw everything they wanted into the cargo. It was probably more than needed, but we did not have to worry about it, which made us really enjoyed the moment. Moreover, it even was enough space for four of us to sleep in at night (we are Asian-size adults with 2 kids under 4-year-old. For really comfortable, it would be enough for 2 adults.)

When the last row seats folded down, it is huge cargo space.

Quick cooling

The cooling system of this car works really well. The internal air is quickly cooled up after I parked the car in direct sun at a 35 degree. In this Honda Odyssey, there are 4 exhaust fans on the roof along the rear of the car with separated cooling control systems for the driver space and the passenger’s space. In the other words, there are 2 separated fans for each row behind the driver seat. That sometimes makes a big difference. In some other cars, the fans are either placed too low which might be covered by your cargos or just 2 of them for both seat rows that take a longer time to cool up the passengers (may also be not strong enough if there are 5 people at the back). On the trip, we felt so happy every time when we looked back at the kids and saw them sleeping comfortably. Moreover, there are built-in sunshade curtains that help to prevent heat as well.

Some other things I like about this car:

1. You can walk from the driver seat rows through to the back of the car. It was convenient as my wife easily walked down to handle some kids stuff without stopping the car.
2. Automatic doors. Saving space, don’t worry about scratching into other cars. Your kids become VIPs to just step in and out of the car without touching the door.
3. Auto parking. Yes, you don’t have to control the steering wheel to park the car. The car will be done for you
4. Camera 360. With the bird view angle, you can easily check the surrounding when parking, reversing etc.

Something I don’t like about this car:

1. The navigation software is way too old-fashion. It is OK to use but for the most updated things, I just used my phone. However, it is really useful if there is no Internet connection.
2. It is V4 engine. Yes, it less powered, you can hear an engine noise when trying to accelerate quickly. But for my family of 4 on the trip previously, I have no complaints.

Hope you enjoy the reading.