Is The 2021 Honda Odyssey A VAST Improvement Over The Old One?

Honda's family-hauling minivan gets a makeover

Since the model originally debuted 25 years ago, the Honda Odyssey has been a dutiful family companion for millions in every corner of the U.S. Now, the automaker is giving its long-lived minivan a slight refresh after its last major overhaul for the 2018 model year. For 2021, the Odyssey gets updated styling, standard Honda Sensing safety tech across the entire range, and a rear seat occupant reminder added to the van’s CabinWatch and CabinTalk systems. EX-L and above models get four-way power lumbar support, a nice touch for those long family road trips, but that’s more or less it.

So, is the 2021 Honda Odyssey a major improvement over the “old” one? In this video, Tommy takes a closer look around the updated minivan, and we bring in TFL’s newest team member Blaze to give it the puppy seal of approval. Mind you, give it a few months and we’ll need this sort of space, since Blaze the Bernese Mountain Dog will be huge.

As before, you still get a 3.5-liter V-6 engine in the 2021 Honda Odyssey. That makes it one of the more powerful options in the segment (as the new Sienna drops its V-6 option), with 280 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque. The 10-speed automatic sticks around, sending all its power strictly to the front wheels. Pricing for the LX trim starts at $32,910, with the Elite model shown in the video below touching the $50,000 mark.