Best Used Honda Minivan - Odyssey

The initial lead in minivan design came from domestic automakers like Chrysler who wanted to expand on the passenger and cargo capacity of the traditional station wagon without creating a vehicle so large that it was impractical for most families to own and operate. Despite the relatively small size of minivans when compared to truck-based SUV’s, they were still about as big as full-size American sedans, meaning that their dimensions did not mesh well with the roads found in urban areas overseas.

Japanese car companies initially had some difficulty getting the formula right when it came to creating a minivan which would find success in the United States. While Toyota, Honda and Nissan all had experience creating tall people-movers for the Japanese market, they were much smaller than what would be accepted by the average American buyer. These companies were not used to working with the size of vehicle required to be competitive with vans like the extended wheelbase Dodge Grand Caravan, and creating vans that were larger than their biggest sedans resulted in a trial and error strategy that created some of the more memorably strange vans ever sold.

Honda was much later to the minivan market in the United States than Toyota, and while this delay cost them important traction in the competitive marketplace, it also allowed them engineer a vehicle that would avoid the reputation for awkward styling and inconvenient maintenance that Toyota had developed with their Previa offering. The brand new Honda Odyssey went on sale as a 1995 model, but the van lacked the sliding rear doors already common to competitors from Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. This, in combination with small interior dimensions and a relatively weak 4-cylinder engine caused Honda to return to the drawing board relatively quickly, producing a new generation of Odyssey a mere three years later.

The second edition of Honda’s minivan was a rousing success, as the company incorporated many of the popular features of the day such as dual sliding rear doors as standard equipment. With a better drivetrain installed, the Odyssey was much more pleasant to drive, and Honda was able to see their minivan climb up the sales charts as one of the most successful people movers on the market. This article looks at the best generation of Honda Odyssey available as a used minivan, taking performance, interior room and fuel economy into consideration.

2005 – 2007 Honda Odyssey

Honda had enjoyed great success with the previous iteration of the Odyssey, so when it came time to release the third re-design in 2005, the company pulled out all of the stops in order to ensure that loyal buyers would not be disappointed. The 2005 – 2007 Odyssey is more angular and slab-sided than the vehicle it is replacing, and it is also wider and larger overall, keeping the vehicle competitive with some of the other stellar vans in its segment.

Powering the Honda Odyssey is a 3.5-liter V-6 engine that puts out 255 horsepower and 244 lb-ft of torque through a 5-speed automatic transmission. Upper trim levels are equipped with variable-valve timing which helps the van reach fuel economy numbers of 20 miles per gallon in city driving and 28 miles per gallon on the highway – better than average for such a tall vehicle. The van’s handling has also been addressed, and it now displays confidence and calm during cornering. The front end has also been tweaked to remove the last vestiges of torque steering during hard acceleration. The 2005 – 2007 Odyssey is definitely an upgrade over the 2004 and older vans when it comes to ride comfort, cabin noise and pure driving experience, and the Odyssey has inched closer to sedan-like characteristics in all three of those categories.

Inside, Honda continues to cram as many useful innovations as they can into the van’s sizeable passenger compartment. The van seats eight and can be configured in a number of different ways, including folding down the optional middle second seat and transforming it into a table. The third row folds neatly into the floor, and Honda has also integrated a deep rotating storage well between the two front seats that can be accessed by second row passengers.

The 2005 – 2007 Honda Odyssey is definitely a leader amongst used minivans, providing substantial value and excellent engineering to those looking to save a few dollars on a fully-feature people mover.