We’ve had the 2006 Honda Odyssey for two weeks now and I thought I would share some of my comments on it. All in all, I really like the vehicle a lot more than I expected I would. There are a couple positives and negatives I would point out though.

Positives

  • I’m amazed at the engine management. The ECO mode (which cuts runs the 6-cylinder on only 3 to conserve fuel) is pretty amazing. I’ve never felt it turn on and off, and it cycles all the time. You would think this would only turn on when you are cruising down the highway, but it is very active and seems to have no negative for performance that I can perceive.
  • We still keep finding more interesting and thoughtful feaures. Just discovered another storage area today. And I found where the Honda designers actually created a spot to hold a pen. They thought of pretty much everything.

Negatives

  • This one is driving me nuts. We bought the touring edition for a number of reasons, but a big one in my book is driver memory. My last two cars have been a BMW and Audi and it’s standard in them that it remembers the driver seat position and other things depending if Key1 or Key2 opens the car. The touring Odyssey has this and I really wanted it. When your wife is almost a foot shorter than you it’s a really nice feature to not mess with your seat all the time. However, the mirrors are not linked to the memory! This is just incredibly stupid to me. So while my seat is positioned correctly when I get in, the mirrors are not.
  • Let me touch on XM, which comes standard with the car along with a 3-month trial subscription.
    • First off, I don’t get it. I’ve heard from a number of people, and people I would value their input on these topics, that XM and satellite radio in general is great. I’m not seeing it. The programming is just boring. With the exception of unique features like the Comedy channels or listening to CNN Headline News I don’t see the value, and those unique features just aren’t all that compelling.
    • XM missed the boat, at least with our family, in a big way when they didn’t get NPR. That’s only on Sirius.
    • Can I rant for a bit that XM had the opportunity, creating a completely digital new music distribution method, to do so much but seems to have done so little. For example, the navigation system will show the XM information and it’s a nice touch that you get song and artist as you listen (but really, FM can do this with RDS support). Where is the album art? How about other graphics related to the artist? Or how about just not cutting off the song title after 40 characters? How ridiculously dumb is this.

I’ve added the rubber floor mats to it so we are ready for winter and I got the cooler bags for the lazy susan (yes, it really has a lazy susan in it!). So, still liking it a lot, just wishing my mirrors would move “automagically” and don’t think we’ll be signing up for XM.