Maxi-minivan Honda Odyssey piles on features

There’s plenty of room for everyone in a rig that gives SUVs a run for their money

It’s called a Odyssey feels pretty

That’s not a complaint. Especially if you have a large, extended family. With seating for up to eight, Honda says this vehicle was designed with the whole clan in mind.

The interior of the 2018 Odyssey is roomy enough to allow you to lay an adult-sized bicycle in the rear without folding down the second-row seats. Odyssey is so big that it can be equipped with an “in-car public address system” to reinforce the warnings to your kids in the rear seats with the “Voice of God.”

Yet at 16.9 feet in overall length, it’s but the Honda almost 2 feet shorter than the hulking Chevrolet Suburban, a full-size SUV.

Sure, minivans are out of fashion these days. Families want SUVs even as they acknowledge the practicality of a minivan. But Odyssey remains a major player, along with Toyota’s Sienna and Fiat Chrysler’s Pacifica.

For the next generation, the goal was to innovate, says Dan Tiet, senior product planner for the vehicle. He says developing the next Odyssey was a pleasure to design because it’s basically a large box that can be packed with interesting ideas. Chief among them:

The Magic Slide second-row seats allow the seats to roll left or right, not just front and back. Ostensibly, the feature makes it easier to separate feuding youngsters. The real benefit is that it becomes a lot easier to reach the third-row seats. It’s the easiest entry that we’ve encountered yet in trying to climb into the back row. Called CabinWatch, the system involves mounting a camera above the second row that allows you to spy on your kids. The camera lets you see what your kids are reading or see what objects they are clutching in their fists.

Honda now has a feature to deal with kids wanting to know how much longer they are going to be stuck in the car. The feature keeps tabs on the route to a destination like the flight-track programs in the seatback viewers on some airplanes.

The minivan is powered by a 3.5-liter V-6 engine with a nine-speed automatic transmission in the lower trim levels and a 10-speed in the higher ones.

The powertrain is so quiet you’ll basically detect shifting. The engine provides adequate power and comes in at 19 miles per gallon in city driving, 28 mpg on the highway for 22 mpg overall. We averaged 26.3 mpg.

Prices start at $29,990 for the base Odyssey, plus $940 in destination fees.