The Drive Car of the Year awards have been announced for
2010, with the Honda Odyssey winning the Best People Mover
category.
It has a great advantage in being a dedicated
people-mover rather than a converted van or SUV. First and foremost that
means all seven seats – arranged in a 2-3-2 formation – comfortably
seat an adult, each of them with access to storage.
And because of the clever way the rear seats fold out of the
floor there is still some luggage space when the Odyssey is fully
occupied.
Up-front, it’s a typically modern and sensible Honda. The
dash-mounted gear lever falls easily to hand, there is immense storage
space and a folding centre console that allows a walk-through
capability.
You sit low in the Odyssey, which means it rolls less,
accentuating car-like handling capabilities. Yet it does that without
sacrificing ride. This fundamentally unburstable driving quality is
backed up by ESC and ABS. Passive safety equipment includes front, side
and full-length curtain airbags.
More information on the Odyssey is available here.