2025 Honda Odyssey First Test Review: Slightly Less Old, Still Solid?

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Pros

Excellent rideHarmonious primary controlsClever rear seat solutions

Cons

Low roofStill looks too familiarButtons scattered this way and that

The Honda Odyssey is old. Don’t let the minivan’s 2025 refresh fool you; it’s the same fifth-generation Odyssey on sale since 2017 , long enough to have witnessed major revisions of its Chrysler Pacifica and Toyota Sienna rivals, as well as the total replacement of a third— Kia’s Carnival , which hit the scene in 2020, taking over for the Sedona. Only close watchers of the minivan space might notice the 2025 Odyssey’s revised bumpers, new wheel designs, and new digital displays inside, although that assumes there are fevered minivan fans who track this stuff in the first place.

Lucky for you, we count ourselves among those hawkishly surveilling the van space for minute changes in cupholder locations, video screen counts, and other minutiae. America might think of vans as boring runabouts for parents who’ve given up (or empty-nesters lugging trays of flowers from the garden store), but to those who appreciate them, these little changes can make or break a minivan. Which brings us back to the Odyssey.

Small Changes, Meaningful Impact

Those “new” displays are merely current Honda units like those found in the Accord, Civic, and others for at least a generation. The 9.0-inch touchscreen is therefore new to the Odyssey, but not new to anyone who’s driven another Honda of the past couple of years or so. Ditto the 7.0-inch digital display that stands in for the left half of the gauge cluster—it mimics an analog tachometer, leaving a physical speedo on the right, and can be configured to show a number of different trip, audio, and safety notifications via a scrolling button on the steering wheel.

Compared to the 2024 Odyssey’s two-generations-old low-res gauge cluster display with its weird sci-fi design and laggy, equally graphically challenged touchscreen, the new gear is welcome, if not exactly cutting-edge. We also welcome the adoption of Honda’s latest-gen steering wheel controls, which look and feel as upmarket here as they do in the Civic, Accord, HR-V, and other models, as well as wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability.

On models so equipped, the flip-down rear-seat entertainment screen is all-new this year, with a larger 12.8-inch display and a … Read More