2026 Honda Odyssey | Still a Family Leader for 2026?? (Anything New??)

What's going on YouTube? So last year Honda's iconic minivan the Odyssey underwent an extensive refresh which included some things like new technology. But now 2026 models are hitting dealerships so we wanted to spend the day with this model to see if anything else has changed. So should you buy this over all the competition or even an SUV? Well let's go ahead and find out. All right so let's kick things off here with a spec dump. Under the hood you're going to find just a 3.5 liter v6 engine across the entire lineup. It makes 280 horsepower. It's paired to a 10 speed automatic transmission and our combined fuel economy is 22 mpg. Now the base price for 2026 is about $43,000 and if you're looking to buy one or any new vehicle we'd encourage you to go to carconfections.com slash newcarquotes to get the best price. Now of course later on we'll take it out for a spin to show you the performance of the powertrain. We'll also be getting things like our sound level reading so you can see how quiet this will be for your family. But let's go ahead and close up the hood so we can take a look at the exterior as well as the most important interior. So jumping in with the exterior design up here in the front you're not going to notice any major changes for 2026 that's because this was updated like we said for 2025 model year. When they refreshed it they did change a few elements with the grille to make it look a bit different than it did previously including this little accent down here at the bottom. Now in terms of trim differences you have a matte black finish on all of your trims except for the elite. This is the model that's going to get the gloss black finish for a more premium design. And speaking of the trim levels you might have noticed when Mason mentioned the base price that it was fairly high. I just want to reiterate that this model doesn't really have any true base trims anymore. It starts at the EXL trim level which is typically the middle trim in the Honda lineup. So you don't have that LX or EX version that you can choose. Now let's talk about the headlights. So you have standard full LED headlights. These are reflector LEDs. You also have an LED daytime running light that loops around. Your turn signal is separated down here in this housing and that's next to your standard LED fog lights. And as we walk around to the back the Odyssey continues with that fairly stylish design. Yeah and as far as design touches we have a spoiler up top a wiper right here. We have this chrome piece that kind of traces through the entire rear. And then if you go for an upper level example you'll have the shiny black piece right through the middle section. And then let's talk about our taillights. So our taillights are going to be fully incandescent. That's something I really would not like to see in 2026 especially for a loaded model like this. But they are going to be fully incandescent. They have a darkened finish. And then down here at the lower area this is all going to be finished in a body color. Your max towing comes in at 3,500 pounds. And here's your fun fact for the day. These reflectors are brought over from the NSX Supercar. So this minivan is pretty cool. Moving on to the wheels. 18 inch alloys are standard on the Odyssey. Many of the trims come with 19 inch alloys which is what we have on today's elite trim level. This is the contrast design. The other versions have some different finishes that you can choose from but I think these look quite nice overall. And then as far as our mirrors you have standard blind spot monitoring and standard heating. If you choose the elite you get some pretty nice features. So you have power folding and you also get auto dimming on both the driver and passenger side. Now at the side of the Odyssey there's not really anything mini about this minivan. It's 205.2 inches long which does mean it's going to be longer than vehicles like the Honda Pilot if you happen to be cross shopping with that. We have some chrome window surrounds. We do not have roof rails even on the elite model. And then as far as your safety systems are concerned I'm happy to tell you of course Honda knows this is a family vehicle. You will get all of your active safety features as standard equipment. But guys there's a lot to talk about when it comes to all the family friendly features on the inside. So let's get into that. But first if you're new here we're brothers and we've been reviewing cars since we were 12 and 16. We started young and since then we've reviewed over 2,000 cars at every price point. No matter what you're looking for from our long-term vehicle videos to our side-by-side comparisons we'd love for you to subscribe to be a part of our car confections family. Let's learn a lot and have some fun with all the latest cars. All right now it's time to check out the interior. Here's our key fob. It's the typical Honda key fob. I like their key fob. It's very small and gets the job done. High quality as well. Standard smart entry and remote start on all models. You also have the power door buttons right there. That means getting inside just grab behind the handle and it will unlock the door for you. And then we can check out the interior. So like I mentioned we have the Elite trim that's going to give you some special niceties. And before we get into all those individual details we'll start with the seats. So since we don't have any base trims anymore all the Odyssey's come standard with real leather seating. Here on the Elite you get a little bit of additional color contrast and the piping so the seats are going to be kind of elevated in that regard. You also notice the perforation that runs through here and overall these seats are super comfortable as you'd expect. Power adjustment is also standard equipment with four-way lumbar support and you also have standard memory seats located right there on the door trim. Let's climb on inside. Closing up the door we've got a little sound animation there but closing up the door let's look at the cabin materials. You've got a leather trim over here on the armrest and through the center section. We also have gloss black for our center door trim and also our door handle that's on the Touring and Elite trims. Soft touch plastic all along the top. We have a leatherette that covers the top part of the dashboard with a stitching detail. More of the gloss black and we even have a faux wood accent here on the Elite to make it feel a little bit more premium inside of the interior. Down here on the lower panels everything is going to be hard touch but very solidly put together which is what we expect from. Now we'll fire it up with the standard push button start. So beginning our interior tour with the gauge cluster we have got a partially digital one so the left hand side is a seven inch reconfigurable display that you can switch between several different kinds of information and then on the other side you have an analog speedometer. Now there's no head-up display on this model we don't really expect that per se in a minivan and then as we pull back to the steering wheel we've got a leather wrapped steering wheel that's standard on all models. We also have rain sensing wipers and steering wheel heating those are Elite exclusive features. Now let's take a look over here at interior storage. Obviously if you're interested in buying a minivan you want maximum storage and I think you'll be happy with what you find up here in the Odyssey. So inside the center console we've got it loaded down with donuts that of course is our logo and we throw them in the center console so you can compare to the competition. In this case we've got 24 donuts because we not only have this bin which is super deep but in front of that you've got a storage drawer so between the two of them our center console here can can can easily contain two dozen donuts which is the maximum amount that we bring along with us. Now you've got a wireless phone charging pad prominently there in the center by the way that's standard equipment on all models two cup holders a giant pit here for all different variety of things like a diaper bag or something like that and then you've got a bunch of power outlets located above it. Typical Honda fashion we have a push button style shifter press d for drive press s for sport shift and you also have manual shifting paddles. When in reverse you'll see this backup camera across the entire lineup of odysseys that's because there is no offering of a 360 degree camera system even on this top elite but at least you do get three different views and parking sensors. Press the p there for park you also have an electronic parking brake and you have a brake hold feature. Also in this region of course we've got several controls including our climate setup three zone automatic climate is standard equipment you have good physical controls there for all of your main functions including your fan speed and zones plus you can adjust the rear climate from the front of the cabin. Underneath of that you'll find buttons for your heated seats that's standard equipment on every odyssey your ventilated seats though those are standard only on the elite trim and then above that we have a physical control for the audio system. So we've got an 11 speaker sound system on this version that is up from the standard seven speakers on the other trim levels and we'll I had to give it a second there to let the beat drop overall sound quality of the system is totally fine there are some rivals though that have branded sound systems those sound a little bit better overall on the top trims. Okay and let's dig in with the main infotainment system so this was one of the big areas where honda made some adjustments last year with the refresh just to kind of modernize the technology a little bit they upsized the screen now to nine inches that's standard on every single version as you can see it's got that typical honda link software so you have some built-in applications through there you also have wireless android auto and apple car play which are very important to people upper trims come with built-in navigation here's what that's going to look like takes a little second there to load up so there's that and then of course you have some minivan specific features so as you kind of swipe through the apps you can see that we've got things like the cabin talk system which is an intercom bringing your voice from the front to the back and vice versa we also have the cabin watch camera that's on both the touring and the elite trim so you can monitor what your kiddos are doing in those back rows up top we have an auto dimming mirror with home link remotes that is standard equipment also standard is this regular size sunroof just be aware there is no availability of a panoramic setup now arguably way more important than the outside the front of the cabin is this rear area so let's talk about this and what you're going to find back here first and foremost a power door is standard equipment on every version of the odyssey so that's nice you won't have to worry about your kids ramming it into a car park next to you and let's also discuss overall space so space is going to be very good on this model 41 inches of legroom 40 inches of headroom those are good numbers for the segment and of course we brought along the official car confections ruler the reason we brought that along is so we can get a realistic knee room figure for you this seat is adjusted to drew who is five foot eight i'm five foot nine and look at that we are sitting at nine inches of knee room that is very good certainly a spacious rear seat also my feet can slide up underneath of the seat and let's talk about the seats these can slide forward and backward a good distance they can also recline a good distance and as you can see we have armrest on both sides so you're really comfortable back here now all odysseys will have this middle seat as well so that means that overall seating capacity is eight passenger whereas some of the competition might have a captain's chair setup this is all going to have this middle seat that being said you can't actually fully remove this middle seat and you know still have the full captain's chair arrangement it just gives you that extra flexibility and then if you do remove that middle seat you can also slide these seats side to side in addition to be able to go forward and back it's called their magic slide system so that's pretty cool as far as other features here in the center we have two cup holders down below we have two usb c ports but we're not done yet we have quite a lot of storage pockets which i think would be quite important for buyers as well as those vents and then up here in the ceiling we have a rear seat entertainment system and one of the nice things about the odyssey is that they're including this rear seat entertainment system standard on the touring and elite grade so you know that's pretty nice that's not just on this top end example now as far as how you adjust the climate that's done over here on the right side so put your favorite and most responsible kid on the right side of the odyssey and then as far as the door trim is concerned we do have rear window sunshades those are also standard on every single model and a lot of door storage as well and let's check out the third row as well so in order to get back here they have made it really easy all you have to do is grab that right there that is going to tilt the seat back a little bit as well as allow it to slide out of the way do also keep in mind you have the magic slide ability so if you don't have that middle seat installed you can just slide the seat side to side without having to remove a child seat now let's discuss the overall third row itself i did fail to mention you can fold this down as well and that will give you three additional cup holders a storage cubby as well as a nice padded armrest in the second row and sitting back here oh my goodness this is a fantastic third row experience in this odyssey you're sitting at 38 inches of headroom 38 inches of leg room as well so those are really impressive numbers for a minivan it's one of the very best third rows that you can get there are three seats back here and as you can see i brought along the ruler back here as well i have three and a half inches of knee room and that's what this seat slid all the way back and its tracks my feet can slide up underneath of the seat and the thigh support is also quite fantastic here in the odyssey now what about the features that you'll well we have vents located right over here on this side two more cup holders a usb port as well as audio controls additionally we have third row window sunshades which are also standard equipment so this is going to be a fantastic third row i could just see you road tripping for hours and hours on end so i'm going to say this is absolutely fit for a king walking up to the tailgate a power one is standard equipment if you want the hands-free function you do have to spring for this elite model now what about cargo space this is a minivan of course minivans have a ton of room they're very practical vehicles and behind the third row of seats you're sitting at 33 cubic feet behind the second row 88 cubic feet and as a maximum 145 cubic feet now i think that goes without saying that that is larger than other hondas that you could be looking at such as the pilot for instance those are really impressive numbers in terms of cargo capacity and if you're cross-shopping it with other minivans like the toyota sienna or pacifica for instance we'd encourage you to go to carconfections.com slash vehicle rankings now the reason you do that is because we've looked at all the minivans for sale right now and ranked them in individual categories that certainly matter a lot to certain buyers things like cargo capacity third row features luxury features in the front of the cabin powertrain experience value all of that is detailed for you so if you want to make an informed buying decision definitely go to carconfections.com slash vehicle rankings to do that now with the third row up you have this huge pit down here and that's going to allow for a ton of space now in order to fold the third row they have made that super easy you just grab this little strap and that's going to allow this seat to kind of just fall into this pit and create a completely flat loading floor that's going to give you a ton of room in order to fold the second row of seats you do have to go up there and fold them down manually or you can just completely remove them as well and now that we've got those seats folded down let's get our cargo length width and height figures it's a car confections review after all as far as cargo length is concerned we have about 91 inches behind drew's 5.8 driving position from behind the second row of seats about 63 inches of length and then from behind the third row just kind of fold this back up here which i can demonstrate that is pretty easy as well you can expect 24 inches overall opening is 49 inches wide and then cargo height i will get it at you know the deepest point that this vehicle can be and that is 50 inches of cargo height so that really is absolutely incredible for this odyssey model the load-in is also super low to the ground unlike most suvs only about 25 inches as your load-in height over here on the side you have some extra storage cubbies just be aware no vacuum cleaner or refrigerator anything fancy like that in the odyssey and you do have a spare tire it's just integrated underneath of the second row well guys here we are behind the wheel of the 2026 honda odyssey in this test drive we're going to be discussing quite a lot as you can see right now we'll also be getting things like our sound level reading but first we need to start with a hard acceleration all right so there's an acceleration up to 60 miles an hour going up a hill with our honda odyssey so when it comes to this vehicle like we talked about with the spec dump honda's always kept it very simple so you just get the one power train choice across the entire lineup it's a 3.5 liter v6 you have 280 horsepower and 262 pound feet of torque those are healthy power figures for sure and get this vehicle up to speed just fine and of course you have the refinement of the v6 which i think a lot of people appreciate some in the segment have moved away from that the big rival of course is the toyota sienna that is a hybrid exclusive model so while having a hybrid of course has advantages itself it does also mean that that's the slower product compared to this for sure it's also the louder and less refined option compared to this yeah i have to say i really appreciate just the naturally aspirated v6 the simple refined nature of it it really just blends into the background it gives you a nice and luxurious feel now as far as the transmission is concerned we've got a 10 speed automatic transmission it's a nice and smooth transmission even though you have lots of gears it really doesn't seem like it gets confused so when you put your foot down obviously it can switch between the gears pretty quickly to get you in the power band now as far as how power is routed to the ground it is just via the front wheels this is a front wheel drive exclusive model unlike the competition which does offer all-wheel drive these odyssey continues to not offer all-wheel drive so for those of you that might be a pretty big deal and may push you to may buy something like a honda pilot instead which of course does have all-wheel drive and as far as the fuel economy 19 28 22 is what you are sitting at which is pretty good fuel economy nearly 30 mpg for the highway rating for v6 i think is pretty solid and of course like we already kind of mentioned earlier but i do want to explicitly say that there's not a hybrid offering of course the sienna has that standard and the kia carnival as well as pacifica both offer hybrid powertrains this model has an auto start stop system as well it is nice and smooth but you can turn it off if you don't want it on and we need to talk about ride quality as well because with this odyssey that of course is a focus and just like every previous model here that we have sampled of the odyssey this thing rides like an absolute dream there really are very few vehicles on the market regardless of how much money you're willing to spend that have great ride quality as good as this i mean this thing really just soaks up any road imperfections that you may find the seats are incredibly comfortable it truly is one of those cars i can just see you uh cruising down you know on family vacation 10 12 13 hour road trips no problems whatsoever and you're going to arrive very comfortable now i certainly wouldn't consider any minivan to be a sporty offering but i think if there was one the odyssey is the closest to it combined with the powertrain and also you have pretty decent handling characteristics not a tremendous amount of body roll and most importantly i think the steering has a good feel to it compared to many of the other vans just makes this vehicle feel a little smaller than it actually is of course it's quite significant in terms of the length even a little longer than the honda pilot so it is a big vehicle but it doesn't feel like it's difficult to maneuver and we're speeding up to 50 miles an hour so we can get a sound level reading in this honda odyssey let's go ahead and see how quiet it is i'll put it on fan speed one the rear climate is off 56.5 decibels is our finalized reading for the odyssey we don't sit here and guess we can compare to all of its rivals at carconfections.com sound level readings and this vehicle doesn't have a ton of rivals but it's going to play some very much on par with most of the other options that you would find out there the kia carnival is the reigning champion when it comes to overall quietness in the cabin so that's just something to keep in mind if you want the quietest place the carnival might be your better choice but this is still going to be quiet enough for most families and let's do our slam dunk in airball our favorite and least favorite element about the odyssey drew kick us off with the slam dunk we're gonna say the slam dunk is the family friendly features i think the odyssey really focuses in quite nicely on the things that matter the most to families particularly when it comes to just overall practicality and comfort that i think is the primary thing that any good minivan should be focused on and they certainly do that just with uh you know a little less focus on the frills yeah now that is going to be today's airball as well so you know we heard we talked about it throughout the video there are definitely features missing on this fully loaded elite odyssey no 360 camera no panoramic moonroof no all-wheel drive available no hybrid system so you know yes there's not a ton of frills some of the other competition the sienna it's going to have vacuum cleaners and refrigerators and stuff all the fancy things are not really available on the odyssey so if you just want you know comfortable family hauler that will appeal to you if you want all the fancy stuff it's probably not your best choice now one of the only things that did change for 2026 was the price it has risen about 750 on most of the examples this year so not a huge price increase 42,795 is our base price you have all the other term levels which you can see on the screen right now ending at this elite we have the 2026 odyssey elite right now 51,695 is our price plus the optional paint and destination of 1495 we're sitting at 53,645 bucks today the final assembly point for this model is lincoln alabama now if you're looking to buy a honda odyssey or any new vehicle we'd encourage you to go to carconfections.com slash new car quotes the reason you do that is because we have a tool on our website that'll get you the best price it's also going to give you access to invoice pricing information which is a great tool to use while negotiating if you'd like to take advantage of all that as well as things like our monthly payment tool you can find a link in our video description as well as a pinned comment down below but let's talk about resale value and reliability because that's of course very important other than just the original msrp first up let's talk about resale value as an economics graduate myself we took the time to develop what we think is a good estimate for this honda odyssey's potential resale value we estimate that after five years and 60,000 miles it'll be worth 64.79 percent of original msrp and after 10 years and 120,000 miles 34.34 percent those are incredibly good resale value percentages it's actually the very best in the five-year 60,000 metric across any vehicle brand that we look at now we've also done the same for reliability by designing the combined reliability index this takes into account several reliability studies from trustworthy sources and combines them in a way that gives you the most holistic picture as you would expect honda is rated well above the overall industry average against all other vehicle makes now if you'd like to learn more about our resale values our reliability data or our methodology be sure to go to carconfections.com slash resell and carconfections.com slash buying a new vehicle is a very big decision so you want to make sure you're making a smart purchase especially if you're cross-shopping between different vehicle brands now when it comes to your warranty you have a three-year 36,000 mile basic warranty a five-year 60,000 mile power train warranty and complimentary maintenance is one year and 12,000 miles and guys that wraps up our in-depth review of the 2026 honda odyssey elite if you enjoyed watching this video or found it helpful when you're purchasing decisions which we hope you did we'd really appreciate it if you hit that subscribe button down below by subscribing you're going to be a part of our car confections family we have a lot of fun on this channel and i promise you won't want to miss out we'll catch you next time as we sample more of the latest automotive delicacies and if you're already part of our family thank you so much for your continued support