The 2021 Honda Odyssey Looks Downright Fast - Jalopnik

Illustration for article titled The 2021 Honda Odyssey Looks Downright Fast — Photo: Honda

The 2021 Honda Odyssey is getting a facelift, which includes a snout that looks a lot like what’s on today’s Civic. I think the minivan actually wears it better.

The vehicle’s not going to be swifter than the Odyseey we know and love now, it’s still running the same 280-HP 4,500-pound people mover geared for economy rather than acceleration. But come on. That face looks pretty fierce, right?

The new Odyssey’s not dramatically changed for the new model year but does have some practical updates you might appreciate. Honda says that the second-row seats fold “nearly flat” on all trim levels, and the availability of the company’s “Magic Slide” seating system has been expanded.

Magic Slide, for those of you who aren’t up on Honda’s minivan marketing material, refers to the Odyssey’s trick second-row seats that can slide laterally to increase passenger and cargo-hauling flexibility.

Here’s a clip that illustrates it in action. Honda’s been touting this for some time:

For those of you who tend to forget what might be placed in those second-row seats, Honda is expanding on its driver alert system so you have fewer excuses for leaving living things behind.

“Odyssey’s new Rear Seat Reminder system alerts drivers to check their rear seating area when exiting the vehicle after placing children, pets or other precious cargo there. When the vehicle is switched off, a chime sounds, and a message to check the rear seating area appears on the instrument panel. On Touring and Elite trims, the Rear-Seat Reminder system is integrated with the CabinWatch rear-seat camera system, the first integration of a rear-seat camera into a Rear Seat Reminder system in the industry. When activated, in addition to the audible and text warnings, the Rear-Seat Reminder uses the CabinWatch camera to display the rear seating area on the center console’s Display Audio screen.”

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The thought of needing a camera to be reminded that a kid or pet was sharing a car is deeply sad to me, but I guess I’ve left my phone in my car a few times so anything’s possible.

Check out Honda’s release for the full rundown of minor updates that have been done to the Odyssey by trim level. The front bumper and grille are what really caught my eye–the minivan really does look pretty good. Now we just need Bisimoto to do a tuner version and we’ll be in business!

In addition to its rundown on what’s fresh-for-2021, Honda released 117 images of the facelifted Odyssey and posted them on its site. 117! Every detail, down to multiple pictures of the same shot (some with lights on, some with lights off) has been captured and cataloged.

I was joking about making a slideshow to see how far people would slog through, but you know what, Honda’s marketing team deserves to be rewarded for its thoroughness. So, here, 116 more Odyssey pictures. I challenge all of you to find a corner of this minivan that hasn’t been documented: