Autoblog

Thousands of soccer moms would probably argue that Honda's Odyssey is the greatest vehicle ever built. Well, the rest of us know that the Toyota Sienna is an equal, but both are still relatively boring.

Mugen has been making pedestrian Hondas more exciting for 35 years and its most recent project is the new JDM Honda Odyssey, which is a different vehicle entirely than the Odyssey sold in the U.S. Nevertheless, it could possibly be the most exciting-looking minivan ever created, "looking" being the key word there. For the JDM Odyssey, Mugen leaves its 203-hp four-cylinder alone and focuses mostly on the minivan's appearance. A new grille, new front and rear fascias, sporty-looking rear wing, side ground effects a line of custom wheels make up the Mugenized Odyssey. A sport exhaust and brake kit with slotted rotors are as close to performance upgrades as you're going to get. Nevertheless, it's still cooler than any minivan we have over here. Including the Odyssey and Sienna.


[Source: Nihon Car]

What other automaker would spend the time and expense of developing a new airbag just because, you know, airbags could be better? The same one who developed a new rail car for the same reason. The Japanese automaker has developed a new airbag it claims will give drivers better protection in accidents. The shaped bag uses a spiral seam to induce more even inflation, which provides a larger surface area and creates uniform pressure around the bag more quickly than in a conventional airbag system. Thus, the driver is cushioned sooner. The i-SRS system also uses a gas release valve that helps control airbag deployment and pressure, and holds the gas inside the bag until a preset time. The technology is already slated to appear on the Honda Life in Japan this November.

Outside the vehicle, Honda will be adding a new multi-view camera to the upcoming JDM Odyssey, much like Nissan's Around View Monitor. Four wide-angle CCD cameras will be placed in the front, back, and on the side mirrors. Each view can be seen individually or combined for a computer generated aerial shot of the car's movements. Because they're wide angle, Honda has also incorporated a view with the front camera that extends the driver's line of sight in low-visibility intersections, such as when exiting a parking garage (see right pic). It sounds similar to the front-mounted camera system on the Rolls-Royce Phantom. Unfortunately there's no word on when either technology will come to the U.S. Thanks for the tip, phaedra!

[Source: Honda]

Click above for high-res gallery of the 2009 Honda Pilot

Honda has got to be happy that it has a hot selling compact car to take some of the pain out of the slowing minivan and SUV markets. Hurt by the sky-high price of gasoline, both the Odyssey and Pilot, both recently redesigned, are sitting on dealers lots longer than Honda would like. In order to match production with consumer demand, Honda will close its plant in Lincoln, Alabama for two days next month and cut second shift production at the plant every Friday in August through October. Displaced workers can choose to take either unpaid time off or use paid vacation leave. Some of that unused capacity will be taken up by the Ridgeline, which will now be assembled at the Lincoln plant instead of in Ontario where it is currently being built.

The Civic, on the other hand, will see its production boosted at the East Liberty, Ohio plant and in Alliston, Ontario, where capacity will be available due to the Ridgeline's departure. Score another point for Honda's modular manufacturing techniques.


[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

The moral of a certain African tale is: no matter whether you're the lion or the gazelle, when you get up every morning you better be ready to run. That counts for rams, as well. One of Chrysler LLC's most profitable divisions is getting run down in a historically dominant specialty: minivans. The Dodge Caravan (and Grand Caravan), specifically, is in danger of losing its best selling minivan title to the Honda Odyssey.

The Detroit Free Press reports that year-to-date, Dodge has sold 154,824 Caravans, which is a 21.4-percent decline from last year. Part of that has been explained with the arrival of a new model and the elimination of the cheaper, short wheelbase version. Honda meanwhile has sold 158,139 Odysseys so far this year, which is only a 2.3-percent decline from last year. Honda also has a new version of the Odyseey this year, introduced in August, and has outsold Dodge for the past six months -- which means the new model picked up where the old one left its marker.

Follow the jump for more.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

click above image to view more pics of the 2008 Honda Odyssey

The 2008 Honda Odyssey, which went on sale four days ago, has been priced at $25,850 for the base model LX, which is a $205 increase over the previous model. The EX model has also gone up by $265 to $28,960. The two engine choices available are a 3.5-liter, all-aluminum, SOHC VTEC V6 with 244 HP, and a 3.5-liter, all-aluminum iVTEC V6 with 241 HP and variable cylinder management (VCM). The VCM can shut down two or three of the V6's cylinders for better fuel economy just like in the Accord sedan.

The '08 Odyssey has gotten subtle exterior tweaks including a new grille and front fascia. The 5-star crash-rated people carrier also gets Bluetooth HandsFreeLink, a 4-way power passenger seat, rearview camera placed in the rearview mirror, and side-view mirrors tied to memory settings with reverse tilt-down. Inside, there are new colors and textures for the instrument panel, new seating fabric, another storage bin, and a standard AUX input for the stereo. Buy away, soccer moms.

[Source: Honda]

click above image for additional high-res images of the 2008 Honda Odyssey

One of my buds just bought his first minivan. He traded in his Nissan Maxima for a 2005 Honda Odyssey. That transition from sports sedan to minivan can be tough pill to swallow, but most enthusiasts we know consider the Odyssey a good compromise for being more attractive than most, as well as offering a powertrain and handling package that's sportier than the minivan mean. For 2008, Honda has dressed up the Odyssey with some styling tweaks, including a new six-sided grille and front bumper fascia. The interior has received new colors, textures and fabrics, as well. Bluetooth connectivity for cell phones is now available, as is a 4-way power passenger seat, rearview camera display in the rearview mirror and side mirrors that tilt down when in reverse. There are two engines available for 2008, both 3.5L V6s. The first is a SOHC VTEC motor that produces 244 HP and 242 ft-lbs. of torque. The second is a SOHC i-VTEC with Variable Cylinder Management, similar to the system used on the new 2008 Honda Accord's V6. VCM improves fuel economy of the 3.5L from 16/23 to 17/25, which isn't a huge jump, but may be appreciated by parent-run chauffeur services. I'll be emailing this post to my friend, just so he knows the Odyssey is still going strong despite some competitors (looking at you Ford and GM) have exited the segment.

[Source: Honda]

Sometimes news is just too good to keep to yourself. Just ask GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz. With his company supposedly claiming 13 spots on Edmund's Consumers' Most Wanted list, Lutz just had to brag a bit on the corporate blog before the winners were made public.

And he should brag. Most other car of the year awards are chosen by us automotive writers who usually prefer horsepower over hip room. As the name implies, Edmund's CMW awards are chosen by the car-buying public. And despite not voting with their wallets, the car-buying public who visits Edmund's really like their GMs.

The GMC Acadia got Most Significant vehicle of the year, beating out Honda's Fit, the Toyota Camry Hybrid, the Ford Edge and the Toyota Tundra.

Click through to see Edmund's press release as well as the other category winners.

[Source: Edmunds, GM FastLane Blog]

Honda has just announced that it is issuing a recall of 528,406 Chinese-made cars. Apparently they need to fix power steering lines and pumps as well as fuel pump relays on the hundreds of thousands of affected vehicles. Seeing as how China is such a large country with such a large number of potential Honda Accord owners, maybe the numbers don't look that big over there, but from our perspective they look HUGE.

Bloomberg News reported the breakdown thusly: 419,613 Accord sedans produced between January 7, 2003 and December 21, 2006; 68,993 Odysseys produced between February 22, 2005 and Valentine's Day this year for faulty bolts on the cars' power-steering pumps; and 39,800 Accords, Odysseys and Fits made between August 1, 2005 and September 30, 2005 because glue may have leaked into their fuel-pump relays. Free dealer repairs will begin on March 19 for every vehicle that got caught in this rather large net.

That half-million car mark represents a record of sorts for the Chinese auto industry. Reuters attributes the recalls to recent price wars in China, which may have "taken a toll on the quality of vehicles." The number of recalled vehicles by Honda alone this year has already surpassed the 350,000 units recalled last year. China is currently the world's second-largest vehicle market, but concerns about quality might hold it back. Other carmakers, including PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and Audi all had vehicle recalls from their Chinese-based subsidiaries.

[Source: just-auto]
[Autoblog China posts]

Our sister site, Autoblog Spanish, recently posted on the debut of the 2007 Honda Stream, a model sold in Europe and Asia that could best be described as a four-door, three-row minvan. The new Stream's design seems to borrow heavily from Honda's current design language, which places a large brand badge front and center in a wide grille that's flanked by sharply shaped headlights. The back of the Stream resembles a CRV with taillights that run up the rear all the way to the roof. The seven-seater with a fold-flat third row reminds us of what the Odyssey might have been had Honda not turned it into a traditional minivan here in North America. Traction control and an automatic transmission appear to be standard on the base model, while a six-speed is likely for the sportier RSZ. We're still a bit unclear as to what engine will be available, but from what we can gather there'll be two, one of which will be a 1.8L i-VTEC.

There's also rumors floating around that forces within Honda North America want to see the Stream on sale in the States.

More pics of the '07 Stream after the jump...

[Source: Autoblog Spanish]