The Honda Odyssey Is The Fastest Car You’d Never Guess Is Fast
As automotive enthusiasts, we sometimes convince ourselves that our cars are faster or more stealthy than they really are. Sure, everyone knows a Tesla is quick these days. Even a de-badged SRT8 Charger isn’t fooling anyone. If you want speed and the ability to fly under the radar, your best bet might be the new Honda Odyssey minivan – I’m serious!
Every year, I take a family road trip in a minivan, a great way to understand the latest in family transportation. Minivans are built for daily abuse while still providing comfort which, for a parent, is basically half the job. This is my third year running this test, and while the Odyssey isn’t the most luxurious, most fuel-efficient, or even the cheapest van, it is, however, the fastest and handles the best. Do you need a sporty minivan? Probably not. However, you might find yourself on a back road, and for a fleeting moment, you get to live your old life again.
Why Does This Car Exist?
Honda is unique among the major automakers in North America. It has only one truck, the Ridgeline, and lacks big, truck-based SUVs that are quite popular. Honda expects to be competitive in the market segments in which it plays. This doesn’t mean Honda is overly conservative. It still offers exciting performance cars like the Honda Civic Type R, oddballs such as the hybrid Acura NSX, and mainstream attempts at brilliance like the Honda Element.
When Honda entered the minivan market in 1994, the Accord-based Honda Odyssey was notable for its lack of sliding doors. It was more of an MPV than a real minivan. By the time the second-generation was released, it was larger, V6-powered, and had the sliding doors it needed. Since then, the Odyssey has consistently been one of the more competitive vans on the market. The current generation has been around since 2018 with few changes. For 2025, it received a visual upgrade that feels more like the Acura NSX than the new Honda Accord. The new rear bumper takes the vertical reflectors from the NSX. This, along with a new front fascia and larger fog lights, is designed for a more “premium, aspirational” look, according to Honda.
Does it Do Minivan Things Well?
The default seating configuration for American families is a seven-seater vehicle. This usually means two parents, possibly three kids, and a couple of friends—or perhaps a family with one kid and a family with two kids. I often find situations where eight seats are needed, and a minivan is the perfect option.
The Honda Odyssey Elite, which I drove, has seating for eight, with two up front, three in the middle, and three in the back. The car has the same gauge cluster as my CR-V, which made me smile every time I saw how many seatbelts I could get plugged in at once.
When we went for Christmas church service this year, we got all three kids, all four parents, and one grandma in the car comfortably. I asked my family what they thought about being cramped in the back, and my sister-in-law was impressed with the comfort, and said they’d be fine being carted around like this for a few hours.
It’s worth mentioning the little tricks Honda has added to make this an ideal situation for parents. One is what Honda calls its “Magic Slide” second-row. You can remove the middle seat in the second row and either slide the two seats on the outside together or apart. The van is full of features like this that you will appreciate on road trips. One of my favorites is the two-stage sunglass holder that creates a mirror that looks back at your inhabitants.
There is also a camera mode, similar to what you find in other vans. However, the view the display while driving isn’t ideal. The simpler mirror system works better in my experience.
There is a fold-down screen. Most kids have their own devices, but I didn’t want my daughter on her iPad the entire 14-hour drive. So, she watched Home Alone on a screen slightly further away and dangling from the ceiling. This was made possible by an Amazon Fire Stick connected to the HDMI port that was hotspotting off the car’s WiFi. The system worked for around 97% of the trip.
This Thing Kinda Hauls
What the Honda Odyssey lacks in chair-stowage, it more than makes up for in performance. While some SUVs are quick and powerful, the Odyssey is just an honest setup with MacPherson front struts and a multi-link rear suspension with trailing arms for the unpowered rear wheels.
The Odyssey has a 3.5-liter V6, with VTEC, producing 280 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque. The Sienna makes do with 245 horses, while the Carnival Hybrid has just 242 horsepower, although it offers more torque. Technically, the Chrysler should be the fastest with 287 horsepower. However, the 0-60 mph time is as low as 6.4 seconds, making it quicker than any minivan sold in the United States, including every Chrysler variant, that isn’t a pure EV. It is also faster than my Honda CR-V and, on a good day, Thomas’s Porsche Boxster.
I usually charge up a few on-ramps when I have a minivan to test the vehicle’s acceleration, and my family almost never notices. They noticed with the Odyssey. The VTEC doesn’t sound terrible, and it pulls pretty well for a vehicle that can haul six kids and all their snacks. The Odyssey features a 10-speed automatic with a push-button interface and flappy paddles. The Odyssey handles better than my CR-V in almost every way. It doesn’t exactly dance around turns, but the lower center of gravity helps keep the big van surprisingly well-planted. The electronically-boosted rack-and-pinion steering is a touch light, but more communicative than any other minivan I’ve ever driven.
This doesn’t make it fast, per se. It’s not secretly a sports car. It’s a between-the-lines kind of fast. A maybe-the-kids-are-asleep-and-won’t-notice-me-apexing-this-turn kind of fast. A no-one-is-around-and-I-need-to-hear-noise kind of fast.
The Sharon, Lois & Bram In The Room
Having only one drivetrain means that the Odyssey is now the only minivan on the market that lacks a hybrid option. I missed the hybrid. I drove almost 1,700 miles of highway and town driving and got an admirable 26.7 MPG. The Sienna gets 36 MPG combined. That difference adds up quite quickly. The Carnival Hybrid gets 33 MPG combined, also significant if you drive these things long enough.
The Odyssey I borrowed was the Elite trim, and it started around $52,000 for all the features, including the 10-inch center screen, rear-seat screen, wireless phone charger, and hands-free liftgate. As with most Honda products, the lower trims still include nice features.
Would I Buy This One?
I assume a hybrid Odyssey will come along at some point, but it might not be this generation. It is a shame, too because it makes recommending the otherwise pleasant Honda van to people a little harder. The Kia Carnival is the most attractive and comfortable of all of the minivans, and in base trim, the hybrid is still a couple of grand cheaper than the cheapest Odyssey, which starts around $42,000.
You can’t go wrong with a Sienna, a Carnival, or an Odyssey. If you’re struggling with the idea of owning a minivan, the Carnival is the least minivan-like. If you’re less interested in a hybrid and fancy yourself a Max Verstappen, then the Odyssey is really the only choice.
