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odyssey has all the right features by jim robinson metroland car critic the only problem honda faces with its new minivan the odyssey is keeping cus tomers at bay until they go on sale in middecember brilliant is a word i seldom use with any vehicle but the new odyssey is just that as we should have expected from honda it is nimble capa cious and innovative all at the same time my first view of the odyssey was walking around a corner looking for the new v6-pow- ered accord and being met by a minivan of villager propor tions with a rather pretty pug nose the odyssey was a sur prise and yet very honda all at once on the outside it uses four doors instead of a sliding unit at one side inside it is airy and bright with startling headroom like the civic the inside room belies what seems to be out ward compactness and sit ting behind the steering wheel one knows instantly he shes driving a honda thanks to the familiar gauging and placement of switchgear for anyone who loved their civic or accord they are going to be made to feel very much at home youve heard minivan makers say their vehicle drives like a car but in fact they drive like a mini- van particularly the firstgen eration ones with rear drive which were based on small pickup trucks the odyssey really does drive like a car at one point my codriver was going 80 mph on a twolane road and i thought we were doing 60 mph in some of the other frontdrive minivans 80 mph 140 kmh is a very noisy place to be but not so in the odyssey thats due to the adoption of fourwheel dou ble wishbone independent suspension with honda progressive valve hpc shock absorbers and stabilizer bars all of which were factored to make the vehicle feel like an accord braking is by four- wheel discs with abs as an option the only power plant avail able is hondas trusty 22- litre four cylinder 140 hp 16valve engine mounted transversely and driving the front wheels though a four- speed electronic automatic transmission the only one offered a fivespeed manual being unavailable also unavailable until perhaps next year is the 27litre v6 which has finally found its way into the honda lineup based on my time with the odyssey i dont believe the v6 is necessary however that was done with just two on board the fullload family hondas minivan the 1995 odyssey is a bright innovative design that is truly carlike to drive test will be coming early in 1995 at this writing honda had not finalized pricing but it should be in the 26000- 28000 range honda brass used previa mpv and villager as segment targets no mention was made of caravan voyager all odyssey models in canada come in a single trim level with standard features including dual air bags air conditioning power windows- mirrorslocks and 15inch wheels with allseason tires as all four doors have win dows its thought this should supply enough secondary ventilation the rear side win dows are fixed odyssey comes in two seat ing plans the sixseater has two cap tains chairs in the middle row that can be removed indi vidually while the seven- seater has a foldforward 5050 split centre bench seat the front two seats are cap tains chairs it is with the rear seat that the innovation can be found it can be folded down to dis appear under the floor it can be folded flat along with the centre bench to create a day bed lastly the seat cushion can be folded up and the seat back down to create a rear ward facing twin seat which the japanese have dubbed fishing mode and it should be noted that the second and third rows of seats come with headrests for safety and speaking of safety the odyssey meets all 1997 safety requirements for side impact protection plus a30mph off set front frontal and rear impact protection crush zones designed in honda has learned well from the competition and while being among the last of the big automakers to offer a minivan they have taken the genre another giant step for ward 4411 hwy 7 t n service hours hon wod ttuin 1 ft 7m- 530 pm turn 730 800 pm sl91 pm committed to serving you since 1966 north markham motors ltd 4611 hwy 7 unionville ontario area code 905 autobahn motors 166 bullock unit ei mttkham keep gksdit ut we have the parts the equipment and the knowledge maintenance repairs and performance 4725971 awh