This is a 3rd Generation Honda Odyssey (RB1/RB2) – sold in the home market and other countries in Asia and the Middle East. It differed significantly from the North American model, mostly in height. And it certainly begs the question, is it a van or a station wagon?
Well, I guess the question is really moot – Honda marketed it as a van, just like previous versions. But I can remember when I first saw one – and thought; “that’s a sharp-looking station wagon”…
The profile certainly looks wagon-ish. It is about 1.5 meters tall (61 inches), which is about 18 centimeters (6-7 inches) lower than equivalent vans from other manufacturers.
2010 JDM Odyssey
It sold fairly well, and the follow-on 4th Generation (2008 – 2013) kept the same basic dimensions.
2014 JDM Odyssey
With the 5th Gen introduced in late 2013 the height and contours returned to a typical van-like 1.7 meters, and incorporated a sliding rear door. More room and practicality, less style…
Perhaps because of their lower profile, they’ve become a favorite of the tuner community here in Japan.
In my mind, this model, more than any other, hits that fine line between a van and a wagon.
What do you think?
More Info:
2004 – 2008 Honda Odyssey – World’s Sexiest Minivan
It’s a wagon – or really, a crossover (like many smaller CUVs, it need not offer AWD to qualify). It needs a taller roof and sliding doors to be a minivan. Of course, there will always be some vehicles that intentionally blur two or more categories, but this Odyssey, like the first ones sold in the U.S., isn’t a van.
I vote for wagon. Its body, regardless the ground clearance, isn’t tall enough to be a van (either panel van or people mover).
Nobody in the US has ever understood this vehicle – it doesn’t fit into any of the usual checkboxes. Which is why even though it was originally developed for our market, we never got another one after the 1995-98 version failed to catch on here.
I don’t care what everyone wants to call it, I want one. And I am angry and disappointed at the rest of you for not buying them when we had a chance to show Honda what would sell over here. Of course I didn’t buy one either when they were available, waiting until I bought an old, cheap, high-mile one before falling madly in love with them. So I blame myself too.
I really thought Honda might re-introduce these after fuel prices spiked in 2006, but it was not to be. In the unlikely event I transfer to Japan, one of these would be my car.
Someone bought one it was in my mates driveway a week or so back they’d swapped car so the Honda owner could do a fast comfortable 900km trip, The Honda buyer now realises his mistake and wants out now hes driven something designed and built properly.
Not my experience. I chose it for any really long trip over the Renault owned at the same time. It didn’t look or even feel too comfy inside at first, but it felt fine after many hours. Proper handling and great stability helped. Even the too-light steering was just a matter of adaptation. Only caveat: no long stretches of dirt, it was there the ultimate lack of suspension travel showed up, but it practically never did even on really bad made roads at speed.
Not that a manual version would have increased sales appreciably but the first gen Odysseys in the US market were automatics only. They were every bit as good a vehicle as the fourth gen Accord, only roomier.
“I really thought Honda might re-introduce these after fuel prices spiked in 2006.
I thought the same, but since Honda had the V-6 powered US Odyssey, use the Acura nameplate.That would accomplish four things:
1) Keep it from sharing a showroom with Odyssey
2) Help differentiate Acura from Honda.
3) Help differentiate Acura from Lexus and Infinti.
4) Justify a higher asking price for a premium product.
It is too bad J P Cavanaugh that we have to wait until 2028 to import these into the United States while our Canadian neighbors can already have these.
For comparison, the Buick Regal TourX is 58.4″ tall, about an inch higher than the Opel Insignia Tourer from which it’s derived. While (barely) marketed as a ‘crossover,’ it’s clearly (to me) a wagon.
Another similarly-shaped comparison would be the 2nd-gen Mazda5, which sat at 64.2″ tall and was marketed as a minivan.
Maybe the delineation is whether the 2nd row doors slide open or not? The Odyssey’s height sits about in the middle of the two, and I’m with you, JPC – I’d drive one in a heartbeat.
It’s a tall-roof or raised-roof wagon. Just like the first one, the 1983 Honda Civic Wagon/Shuttle. That’s what it was called then and what the genre still is called now. Or should be.
They did the same on a shorter wheelbase and called it City, it was basically a tall Civic and you could get a cabriolet and a turbo version, few survive here.
Honda did call it a Wagovan in the US the first year or two, but then dropped it. I can’t even find an ad for it anymore.
This looks an awful lot like a hatchback to me.
Not sure how they compare in length, but very much reminds me of the late 1980s Dodge Colt Vista Wagon or the original 1980s MPV in concept. Also the 1980s Honda Civic Wagon. Looks like it got streamlined from the original 1980s concept. A cross between a mini van and station wagon best sums them up.
I agree the Colt Vista (Mitsubishi Chariot) from Aug. 1983 on, makes a big blur because it was slightly longer than Chrysler’s original vans, but lacked a sliding door in place of regular 4-door configuration. That sliding passenger door was the game changer, it seems, and much less the packaging efficiency.
The only reason these and similar cars are not now called wagons is that “wagon” is currently unfashionable. In the early 2000s, Consumer Reports lumped several such together in test reports, as “tall wagons.” They included Ford Focus, Honda CR-V, Mazda5, Toyota/Pontiac twins, the Chrysler PT Cruiser and Chevrolet HHR.
I consider a wagon a car who’s body style is directly related to a sedan….i.e. the Golf Sportwagen and Alltrack….They share their hood fenders, widshield and doors with the Golf…The are simply longer with a larger cargo area. American station wagons, such as the caprice, estate wagon and country squire meet this standard…being related to the Caprice sedan, LeSabre, and LTD respectively
To me it’s the Jackalope of the car world.
It looks similar to Prius V to me.
From a logical standpoint, it’s a station wagon. From a marketing standpoint, it’s a Lifestyle Utility Vehicle.
Either way, I like it.
” is it a van or a station wagon?”
Whatever the Mercedes R class is, that is what this is.
It’s a minivan for the family, unlike the Odyssey which is the minivan for seniors.
The Dodge and Chrysler dominated the family van market, so Honda wisely became the Oldsmobile of minivans.
It seems like a tall wagon similar to the original Chrysler Pacifica or Mercedes R Class with a side of early Renault Espace. The lowered ones definitely look cooler than any “normal” minivan. My ideal is still a Mazda5 with a Mazdaspeed engine since sliding doors are really useful and the smaller footprint suits my nuclear family needs
Pretty much universally referred to as a “people mover” here, an unhelpful answer to the question at hand. A vaneoplemovergon? Sounds German, that, “People’s Car fur Alles ist der vaneoplemovergon”.
Probably not a van because no-one bought them new or old to haul crap about, though they were vastly more capable of that (sans passengers) than you’d think. In my direct experience, in the company of a cheerful Islander ex-partner (who, bless her, was never too worried about what one was supposed to do with material things generally), this once included a fridge AND a double bed, with mattress. And a weekly shop for six.
One thing I can tell you, for all their style, they fit real people. Adults can sit in row three, three and it’s quite alright. So maybe a van?
Or not. Their limit is a family of four kids. Anything more, and you have to have a van-van, like a Vanagon. And to be honest, you spend a bit of time wishing you had the more capacious size, because, though an awful lot of shit – and in the inevitable yearly shared family outbreak of gastroenteritis, that word is meant literally – could be packed into one even with six on board, not everything needed always could be. Like a friend, or on at least one occasion, overtired and the car over-stuffed, one of the actual kids.
One other thing: an excellent, excellent car. JPC is right to be angry, even if it’s with himself it seems. Excellent handling, seats of unlikely comfort, 30 mpg, almost enough performance with the 2.3 four for Aus conditions, (though it’d be marginal in US ones). Dead only by kangaroo at 320,000 kms, and mourned still.
I always saw these as a practical solution to resolve a niche need for near-urban storage parking challenges in places like Nerima, where my inlaws live. So many parking spaces at homes are tuck-under, with low head room, that this vehicle would serve so obviously well.