Honda Reveals New 2011 Odyssey

Honda revealed its fourth-generation Odyssey minivan Thursday in an online news conference from its research and development center in Ohio.

The location for the conference was important because the new 2011 Odyssey, which will be released in the fall, is the first Honda van developed by a team of engineers in the United States. It will be built at the same plant in Alabama where the current Odyssey is assembled.

The new minivan looks sleeker. It has a roofline that is 1.6 inches lower than the current model and a track (the distance between opposite wheels) that is 1.4 inches wider, also improving aerodynamics for better fuel economy and providing more interior width. Honda added almost an inch of extra shoulder room in the front row.

The engine is a 3.5-liter V-6 with Honda’s three-mode variable cylinder management system, which allows the engine to run on 3, 4 or 6 cylinders, depending on how much power is needed. The old model has the same type of V-6; if any enhancements have been made to the engine for the new model, Honda is not saying.

Much of the information Honda gave out Thursday had to do with the interior and seating.
Honda created a “cool box” that will hold and keep cool six 12-ounce cans or four 20-ounce bottles while the vehicle is running. A new center console between the first row seats is large enough to hold a purse. And it can be removed so someone can walk through to the second row and then be reinstalled.

There are three seating configurations for the second row. The center seat between the two captain’s chairs has been a very narrow affair, but now it is four inches wider so that it might be comfortable for even an adult. The second change is “wide mode” seating that allows both outboard seats to move sideways almost two inches so that some of the largest child seats on the market can fit in all three seats simultaneously. Finally, the center seat has a comfort slide feature so that parents can move an infant in that seat almost six inches closer to the front row.

As for the third row, Honda said the cabin was wider back there to make adults more comfortable by keeping the sliding door motor below shoulder level. Third-row legroom was increased by one inch as well. Honda said it has made the third row “magic seat” that folds into a well in the floor — a concept that Honda introduced to the market years ago — easier to stow or lift. Instead of having to use a handle and a strap, it can now be done with just one strap.

Honda has not announced pricing for the 2011 Odyssey. Preliminary estimated fuel economy for the top-of-the-line Touring Elite model is 19 miles per gallon in the city and 28 m.p.g. on the highway. That’s an improvement over the outgoing Odyssey Touring model.

Source;
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/honda-reveals-new-2011-odyssey/