Minivans are simple machines. Sure, they’ve got loads of family-friendly gadgets nowadays, making them rolling living rooms for their tiny passengers. But at their core, they’re just boxes on wheels designed to maximize space, transport a bunch of people, and allow them to get in and out as easily as possible. The 2025 Honda Odyssey may look a tiny bit different than before, but its mission remains the same as it did when it went on sale in 1995.
Virtually unchanged since 2018, the Odyssey isn’t in a hurry to shake things up in a major way—even in the face of its fancier, hybrid, and all-wheel-drive competitors. That doesn’t mean it’s fallen behind either, as a solid round of updates for 2025 is giving the Honda minivan more of what most families need and want. Because at the end of the day, a minivan is all about two things: comfort and simplicity.
Does the 2025 Honda Odyssey check those boxes and then some? I packed the family up and set out on a 1,000-mile road trip to find out.
The Basics
Things are pretty straightforward when it comes to minivans because there are essentially just four of them for sale in the U.S. today. There’s the Odyssey, the Toyota Sienna, the Kia Carnival, and the Chrysler Pacifica (and technically its odd sideshoot, the Voyager). The Odyssey comes in your choice of four different trims: EX-L, Sport-L, Touring, and Elite.
The nipped-and-tucked Odyssey gets a fresh face, featuring a new grille, and reworked headlight and fog light surrounds. The new fascia is all black, so it does look sportier and more aggressive than in previous years—especially out back, where the new vertical reflectors are inspired by those on the Acura NSX supercar. My tester was equipped with newly designed 19-inch wheels and also a new-for-2025 Smoke Blue Pearl color which got a fair share of compliments.
The interior also sees several improvements, primarily on the tech front. The traditional gauge cluster is replaced by a 7.0-inch screen that’s now a standard feature, as well as the 9.0-inch center touchscreen with a new, faster processor. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a wireless phone charger, and USB-C ports are now standard. Kiddos in the back get treated to a completely new rear entertainment system, which now features a larger 12.8-inch screen and has streaming capabilities via a relocated HDMI plug and the minivan’s own hotspot. It’s worth noting that this entertainment system is only available in the Touring and Elite trims.
Things remain the same under the hood, with the proven 3.5-liter V6 and 10-speed automatic transmission powering the 4,590-pound minivan with ease. Performance figures remain the same at 280 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque and a 3,500-pound maximum towing capacity.
Road-Tripping the Honda Odyssey
The last time I drove an Odyssey was nearly seven years ago when it was completely redesigned for 2018, so a 15-hour road trip seemed like a good chance to get reacquainted with it. And not to mention, the ideal opportunity to test the Odyssey’s improvements over the years.
If you or someone in your family has owned a minivan, you know that packing one up for a trip is essentially Minivan Ownership 101. In my case, we were only rolling four deep, so two in the front seats and two in the middle-row captain chairs. I didn’t need the third-row bench but chose to leave it upright to take advantage of the deep cargo space behind it, and I also didn’t need to tinker with the “Magic Slide” feature in the captain chairs, something that’s convenient mostly for parents with baby seats.
Because it wasn’t many of us and it was only a weekend trip, there was also no real need to get creative with our packing strategy, so I just threw everything into the cargo area and made sure it stayed in place throughout the drive. I placed water bottles in four of the 17 cupholders, and since I was the first journalist to test this particular Odyssey, I also had to set up the Amazon Fire TV Stick and Wi-Fi hotspot for the rear entertainment system.
With everything and everyone loaded up, we hit the road. Heading north from Indiana to near the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is an uneventful straight shot with minor highway changes, but it would test the minivan’s comfort and user-friendliness.
Cruising down the highway, the 2025 Odyssey feels virtually the same as the last model I drove. However, I was reminded just how quiet and smooth it is, even while riding on big 19-inch wheels. The Odyssey feels hunkered down and capable, and once I reached Northern Michigan’s 75-mph speed limit areas (Which totally means you can do 85, right?), its ability to gobble up miles effortlessly while keeping up with faster traffic became even more evident. The plush suspension made sure everyone, especially those in the rear, rode comfortably. Access to our Airbnb was via a three-mile gravel road plagued with potholes and ruts which made things a bit louder, but the ride quality always remained comfortable.
Speaking to the 2025 updates, the Odyssey feels fresh and with the times thanks to the new screens and revamped rear entertainment system. Especially when compared to the Chrysler Pacifica, the cabin is more comfortable, airy, and its dash layout is considerably easier to use. The new digital gauge cluster is legible under any lighting conditions and is definitely an upgrade over the outgoing setup. The new center touchscreen does a fine job and won’t leave you wishing for more, and even the operating system to work the rear entertainment system is much more intuitive than before.
Onto the rear seats. I’m slightly conflicted about where the Odyssey stacks up. Both the Toyota and Kia offer executive seating options for the middle row, giving occupants a wider, fancier, reclining chair with retractable foot support while the Honda sticks to traditional captain’s chair. Personally, I believe that if you’re going to ferry kids around, you’re better off with the most simple solution because it’s going to get used and abused, and likely covered in disgusting stuff.
On the other hand, if your kids are older and you often do road trips, I can see how a nicer chair and rear cabin with more amenities could also be pretty sweet. On that front, my teenage daughter thoroughly enjoyed her seating position as well as the new rear entertainment system. She was able to stream Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and a ton of other content via a Fire TV Stick connected to the HDMI port. The minivan’s Wi-Fi never skipped a beat even in rural areas, and I can say that even the Bluetooth headphones were easy to pair and always remained connected. [Ed. note: What the hell happened to just looking out the window? -CT]
I have always hated rear entertainment systems with a passion because they are like printers: you never need them, but when you do, they never work. Thankfully, that was not the case with Honda’s new system.
The Highs and Lows
After spending a week with the refreshed Odyssey, I appreciated its straightforward approach to everything. After all, it’s a Honda. While some may say that the minivan is feeling tired and outdated, I would actually say that Honda isn’t fixing what’s not broken. More for the sake of more isn’t better, and that’s the Odyssey’s forte; it gives you what you need and it’s packaged exactly how you need it.
My biggest gripe was the adaptive cruise control, which I used plenty of during our road trip. It had a tendency to tap on the brakes for no apparent reason while cruising at the set speed. I’m not talking full panic braking or anything close to that but just enough to make your head bob a tiny bit—like when you lightly tap the brakes to disengage cruise control. It did this several times on our way north and on our way back home. Besides that, the system could be smoother when decelerating and slightly quicker when accelerating to get back up to the set speed. Also, I get the engineering challenges in deploying them, but I feel like second-row heated seats should be standard in this segment nowadays.
Honda Odyssey Features, Options, and Competition
The 2025 Honda Odyssey starts at $43,315 for a base model and climbs to $52,275 for an Elite model like this tester. You get a few goodies for that extra coin, including handsfree tailgate access, a wireless phone charger, CabinWatch and CabinTalk to keep an eye on the kids and also yell at them while you’re driving, 19-inch wheels, heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, an 11-speaker premium audio system, perforated leather seats, rain-sensing wipers, and that nifty rear entertainment system.
All Odysseys feature Honda Sensing as standard, which includes Collision Mitigation Braking System with Advanced Pedestrian Detection, Forward Collision Warning, Lane Keeping Assist System, Road Departure Mitigation with Lane Departure Warning, and Adaptive Cruise Control with Low-Speed Follow.
In terms of the competition, getting into a range-topping Toyota Sienna will set you back $61,000, though you get a hybrid drivetrain, all-wheel drive, two-tone leather, a head-up display, digital rearview mirror, JBL sound system, and more. It’s a similar story with the plug-in hybrid Chrysler Pacifica, which comes in at $62,000 before hefty incentives can currently knock it down to around the same price as the Odyssey Elite. Lastly, the Kia Carnival, which our reviews editor Chris Tsui recently called “The Great Minivan You’ll Wish You Bought Tomorrow,” ranks somewhere in the middle at roughly $58,000 fully loaded. In a weird turn of events, the Honda Odyssey is actually the lowest-priced minivan and the value-minded player in the segment (again, with the exception of the rando Voyager).
Fuel Economy
The 2025 Honda Odyssey is rated at 19 mpg city, 28 mpg highway, and 22 mpg combined. I observed about 24 mpg combined during my weeklong test and averaged 27.1 mpg over the course of the 1,000-mile road trip. Compared to its direct V6 competition, it gets practically identical miles but lags, naturally, against the hybrid bunch.
Value and Verdict
Rekindling with the Honda Odyssey after nearly seven years apart was a pleasant experience, and it reminded me of how good the quintessential Honda minivan still is. It nails comfort and simplicity, passes most other tests with flying colors, and proves that minivans are still the vehicles to road-trip in.
Yes, it’s an aging minivan, but it’s aging with grace. And given its competitors’ steeper price tags, it’s also aging in a way that its tried-and-true package remains available to consumers at a great price. No, it’s not the fanciest, and I kind of wish Honda made a higher-up trim with even more swanky features and luxury touches—but maybe that’s not where the segment is really at. After all, there are plenty of luxury SUVs out there already.
It’ll be interesting to see what Honda decides to do for the Odyssey’s next generation—if there is one. Honda claims the Odyssey makes up one-third of all minivan retail sales, so perhaps there’s too much money on the table to retire the legendary nameplate. Whatever the outcome is, if you’re in the market for a proven family ride, the 2025 Honda Odyssey should be at the top of your list.
| 2025 Honda Odyssey Specs | |
|---|---|
| Base Price (Elite as tested) | $43,315 ($52,275) |
| Powertrain | 3.5-liter V6 | 10-speed automatic | front-wheel drive |
| Horsepower | 280 @ 6,000 rpm |
| Torque | 262 lb-ft @ 4,700 rpm |
| Seating Capacity | 8 |
| Cargo Volume | 32.8 cubic feet behind third row | 86.6 cubic feet behind second row | 140.7 cubic feet behind first row |
| Curb Weight | 4,526-4,590 pounds |
| Max Towing | 3,500 pounds |
| EPA Fuel Economy | 19 mpg city | 28 highway | 22 combined |
| Quick Take | Despite its sporty-looking exterior and relatively good handling, the Odyssey is a proven family car that sticks to the minivan basics: comfort and simplicity. |
| Score | 9/10 |
Email the author at jerry@thedrive.com