Okay lets be honest here it was saturday afternoon by the time we were actually packed and leaving our driveway. I don't want anyone to get the impression that we are some super family that can actually be loaded up and headed out on schedule. We left almost 3 and a half hours later than our goal. The destination was just a short jaunt up I-70 over the mountains to Grand Junction. This location offers some of the best biking in the state in my opinion. Only problem is when we rolled into town about 5:30 it was still 99 degrees out, not really ideal for lots of riding. The good news is the inside of the van was perfectly comfortable thanks to the air conditioning.
So here I sit on Monday looking out at the cold rainy morning thinking how lucky my wife and I are to have ridden some trails last night. The weather is a big part of the fun of living in Colorado. 99 deg one day and in the 60's and raining within 48 hours.
The new Odyssey now has just over 300 miles on the clock as of this morning. I have to say, it has been an eye opening first trip. I was amazed at how well, with 3 car seats installed it was able to swallow up all our bags and "stuff". Granted the poor suspension was sagged a bit and had me a little worried, but it made the trip just fine. For those of you who have either visited Colorado or live here you know about Eisenhower tunnel and the "race track" that is I-70. The Odyssey was impressive to say the least in its ability to go over the mountains fully loaded, with the AC on. We were able to maintain a good speed without the engine revving high or the transmission searching for gears. Apparently the V-6 and 6 speed auto are well matched, good job Honda.
Despite the heat we have been having, we never needed to really crank the AC, just a low setting seemed to be perfect. I run really hot personally so this was a nice revelation to say the least. Everyone seemed to have plenty of space and we realized how nice it was to have such a large windshield. We've driven in the mountains a lot over the years and we have had a number of vehicles. The Odyssey is the first one to actually impress with the amount of mountains and sky you can actually view while driving. It's not distracting at all, just very nice to be able to see when you have a chance. The gas mileage was a nice discovery as we would normally have needed to stop and fill up our old SUV upon getting here. Not this trip, in fact we did a few day trips on Sunday and still could have held off filling up until tomorrow. My wife and I have decided this van has been really well thought out and refined in terms of how a family uses a vehicle. Everything seems to be in just the right place, from buttons to storage, things just work. I'm certainly not saying its perfect, but it does come close.
The seating flexibility and configurations are a very nice feature as well. When we come to Grand Junction we are lucky enough to stay with family. So Sunday we loaded them up in the van as well and headed to the farmers market in Palisade along with a few other stops. The ability to carry 3 kids in car seats and 5 adults comfortably is wonderful. The power doors and rear lift gate have been a luxury. To be honest almost everything on this van seems like a luxury. Coming from a 13 year old car everything feels fresh and amazing, from the steering wheels controls to the backup camera.
When Philly and I were able to sneak away for a quick mountain bike ride we were able to test the audio capabilities a bit more in depth and I have to say we were impressed. I'm sure the sight of two old kids rocking out in a minivan was probably hilarious for the locals. The van really does handle like a car when its not loaded down with half our house inside. The steering is precise and the engine has more than enough power to get you in trouble.
So it may sound like everything is perfect and as it should be, but there are a few little things that could be better.
Really my biggest issue is that of the suspension not handling a large load very well. It handles okay, but you could feel the weight and a little extra sway. Granted I know we had the van almost to capacity on the way here. I think we may need to add some airbags to the rear springs, otherwise the tires will take a lot of extra wear on the inside corners. I know the bike rack is probably the culprit of the sagging suspension, but we are a biking family. So the van is not a truck, but it has done amazingly well and I have to say it gets praise form all members of the family so far.
I plan on doing a more in depth review and writing updates as things come up or opinions change in the future. After all we have only put about 300 miles on the van and I fully expect to have at least 20k miles on the clock by this time next year.
So for now "Ody" and I will say goodbye for this morning, I'm sure we'll be writing more about our adventures soon.
Cheers for now!
Aaron
