Driving The 2013 Honda Odyssey Touring Elite Around Town!

In one of my Wordless Wednesday posts, I mentioned that I was going to test drive a 2013 Honda Odyssey for one week and that I was really excited about it! And since the Honda Odyssey is one of my husband’s preferred vehicles out there, he was doubly excited about the test drive than I was.

Honda Odyssey

Photo Credit: Honda.com

The 2013 Honda Odyssey is a minivan with a seating capacity of up to 8 people.

It comes in 9 colors (Alabaster Silver Metallic, Celestial Blue Metallic, Crystal Black Pearl, Dark Cherry Pearl, Mocha Metallic, Smoky Topaz Metallic, Taffeta White, White Diamond Pearl, and Polished Metal Metallic) but the one that I drove was in a color I like — Polished Metal Metallic. I like that this color makes the mini van look so sleek.

Honda Odyssey 2

One of the first features I noticed about the Odyssey aside from its look is that it has power sliding doors. The tailgate, the door that opens to the back of the minivan, also opens and closes automatically upon the push of a button. I’ve always liked power  doors because it closes the door without much pressure. I don’t like it when people close doors with so much strength because it’s irritating when you’re inside the vehicle. So I’m really glad that this vehicle prevents that from happening.

 

On the inside, the 2013 Honda Odyssey is even more beautiful.

The driver has most controls within an arm’s reach. You have all the features that you would expect of a nice car — a navigation system/GPS, music player (radio/mp3/wma/connector to your phone or portable music player, etc), outside temperature indicator, bluetooth, and heated front seats.

I like that it also has a mini fridge, called a cool box, in front (lower right corner of photo below) where you can place water bottles and snacks to keep them cool.

Honda Odyssey 4

 

One of the features we got really excited about was the DVD Ultrawide Rear Entertainment System with HDMI®. My son can get really fussy when our car is at a stop. He just always wants the car to be constantly moving. So having an entertainment system helped him stay calm even when the Honda Odyssey wasn’t moving.

This features was such a big help for us when we went to Walnut Creek for a Saturday picnic. It’s about an hour’s drive from San Jose and if it weren’t for the Finding Nemo DVD playing on the screen (see 2nd photo below), I’m sure he would have given us such a hard time!

Honda Odyssey 5

Honda Odyssey 7

 

Oh and just in case you can’t hear the video too clearly or the others don’t really want to watch a movie, you can opt to just wear the headphones that come in the car. Each has its own volume control so even if the volume of the main car speakers are turned down, you can still hear the movie by simply adjusting your headphone.

Honda Odyssey 8

 

The Honda Odyssey Touring Elite also has a couple of other features that can make things really convenient for the family. One such feature is the thermostat located on the 2nd row of seats just above the sliding door. I like that people at the back don’t have to ask the people in front to adjust the air conditioning settings just so they can feel more comfortable.

Honda Odyssey 6

The minivan also has a power plug on the 3rd row but I forgot to take a photo of it.  But I love how we can charge multiple gadgets all at once using not only the power outlets in front but also the power outlet at the back.

Another great thing about this minivan was that we felt so comfortable when we drove it to Walnut Creek for a picnic with my church friends — to think that we had 2 car seats installed (one for my son, and one for a friend’s son). Even with the 2 car seats, we still had a lot of room for all the stuff we brought to the picnic — and we brought a lot!

The 2013 Honda Odyssey Touring Elite has just become my new dream vehicle! And since we’re planning to get a minivan in the next 2 years, this might just be our number one choice!

If you’re looking for a family car that has almost everything you need, I encourage you to drop by your nearest Honda dealer and do a test drive of the 2013 Honda Odyssey! I do know that they already have a 2014 model so perhaps you can check that one out too!

 

Disclosure: I was provided with a 2013 Honda Odyssey Touring Elite for one week in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received. Thoughts are my own. See my Disclosure Policy.

Comments

Driving The 2013 Honda Odyssey Touring Elite Around Town! — 19 Comments

  1. I love Odyssey! We have the older model but it is still great. Honda Odysseys are so roomy, and has a lot of power it doesn’t drag even if you’re going uphill. It drives like a car. Of course the newest model is i think by far the best. They probably did a lot of research and interview moms because it has all the features that would make a trip with little kids so convenient. The way the middle seats move individually so if you need to reach the baby in the car seat, how you can reconfigure the seats according to your needs, flatten it down, or turn it into tailgate seats… I could go on and on! I actually have a couple of very good friends (they don’t know each other) who just got this model early this year for their growing family. They were the type who declared they would NEVER EVER get a minivan despite of. After a while though, they realized the need for it and went shopping around, and liked this one the best. They are very happy with their purchase and are now odyssey converts. Aside from knowing you are safer driving an Odyssey, it is very convenient, entertaining and comfortable for the kids, drives smooth and powerful and tailors to your needs. It is also attractive. These things last a long time too and you can feel safe driving long distances. I also give two thumbs up for this baby!

  2. Power outlets? Headphones? They really thought of everything one might need in a good family car! We heading out to look at Hondas this week and I’ll be sure to give it a look.

  3. Wow, that’s one fancy Van, it doesn’t even look like a van, I would love something like this, makes things easier with my little ones!, especially with the headphones, great family vehicle!

  4. Whoa, this is some hot-looking set of wheels! We had a Civic years ago, and it was the most reliable car we ever had. THIS is just stunning – like a luxury car!!

  5. I could live in that Car! It is a cute car.I really like the fact it has a cool box too, that is really nice.

  6. Glad I stumbled onto your review of the Honady Odyssey – we’ve just begun shopping for a new car (Mid size SUV, SUV) and this is a great help in making our decisions! Thanks again!

  7. Thanks for the review. As our family is growing I have to start thinking about a bigger car to accomodate everyone. This one sounds great!

  8. we own an ‘odyssey’ and love it. we bought the 2006 in january of this year, and its the most comfortable vehicle i’ve ever had. we don’t have the dvd player, but on trips there is always portable.

  9. This sounds great. I love the power doors. It also sounds like it comes in great colors. I love that it holds up to eight people. Thank you for sharing this