Why Didn't Honda Give the 2018 Odyssey All-Wheel Drive?
When Honda unveiled the new Odyssey minivan, it highlighted its boosted engine output, added gears, enhanced interior functionality, and the ability to spy on your entire family via its unique in-car surveillance system. One thing that wasn’t mentioned, however, was all-wheel drive.
Despite Toyota’s Sienna offering optional AWD and Chrysler admitting that it’s considering a future incarnation of the Pacifica platform with all-wheel drive, Honda decided to keep the Odyssey a purely two-wheel affair. That’s an odd choice considering sport utility traits are currently en vogue and it rides on the same platform as the AWD Ridgeline, MDX, and Pilot. So why didn’t the engineers at Honda just toss on a transfer case and call it a day?
Because that would spoil everything that made the Odyssey a great minivan.
“We looked at it, and one of the things we know is in order to put in all-wheel drive, we’re going to have to raise the vehicle and we’re going to compromise the interior,” John Mendel, executive vice president of Honda, told Automotive News. “We really don’t want to do that.”
Honda claims it was fixated on establishing a versatile and functional interior — and that adding AWD would have stymied its efforts. After all, the cabin space is where minivans typically shine the brightest and Honda’s “Magic Slide” second-row seats are something company seems particularly proud of. They might not have been possible with a prop shaft running down the vehicle’s center.
There is also a highly dedicated consumer group that prefers the flexibility and low load heights. Raising the Odyssey would only serve to alienate them and sabotage its role as a family-hauler. Besides, ground-clearance and AWD-obsessed families aren’t going to want a lifted minivan anyway.
“For that customer we have the Pilot,” Mendel said.
[Image: Honda]
Consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulations. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, he has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed about the automotive sector by national broadcasts, participated in a few amateur rallying events, and driven more rental cars than anyone ever should. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and learned to drive by twelve. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer and motorcycles.
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I think Honda's doing their customers a favor by not trying to push that half-assed "real time" AWD on them. That, or they simply have more respect for the intelligence of their minivan buyers than their CUV buyers.
In the 21st century, for non off-road vehicles AWD is best accomplished with electric motors in the rear rather than a driveshaft. The "D" models of the Tesla model S, with all-wheel drive are heavier and faster but get more miles on the same charge because of efficiency in putting power down and picking it up again. Even on an otherwise non-electric vehicle, the AWD version of the Toyota Rav-4 brings power to the rear wheels with an electric motor. This preserves space in the compact vehicle and maximizes fuel economy.