Odyssey's fuel efficiency a pleasant surprise

Indeed, with its standard V6 mated to a five-speed automatic transmission, the 2006 Odyssey is rated at 20 miles a gallon in city driving and 28 mpg on the highway, the Environmental Protection Agency statistics show.

On a record pace for sales this year, the Odyssey, with generous interior room and storage space as well as a host of amenities, is a pleasant surprise for American families concerned about gasoline prices and fuel consumption.

It's not a bargain-priced minivan, though.

The base 2006 Odyssey LX has a starting manufacturer's suggested retail price, including destination charge, of $25,895. This compares with the 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan, which starts at $23,745, and the 2006 Toyota Sienna, which starts at $24,190 for a seven-passenger CE model.

Indeed, the top-of-the-line Odyssey Touring with leather seats, navigation system and rear-seat entertainment system is priced in the luxury-car range at more than $39,000.

This is higher than the 2006 Chrysler Town & Country Limited minivan, which for years had been the highest-priced minivan with lots of luxury and comfort features.

The 2006 Town & Country Limited now carries a starting MSRP, including destination charge, of $36,465.

The Odyssey wasn't the fuel-economy leader in minivans until the 2005 model year, after the vehicle was extensively revamped.

Besides improved comfort and convenience features and a novel interior-quieting technology, the Odyssey added variable cylinder management to its 240-horsepower, 3.5-liter V6. This allows the engine to automatically deactivate three of the six engine cylinders when the van is cruising, such as when it's on a flat stretch of highway.

In essence, at times like this, the Odyssey can run on just three cylinders, reducing its use of unleaded regular gasoline vis-a-vis the traditional full V6 mode.

Drivers aren't likely to notice when the change occurs.

In fact, in the test Odyssey, the only indication I had of the three-cylinder mode was when the bright green letters "eco" popped up in the instrument panel. There was no sensation of lost power and no shuddering or hesitancy as the V6 disengaged and re-engaged the cylinders.

At other times, the peak torque of 240 foot-pounds at 4,500 rpm in the test Odyssey Touring model was enough to get this heavy -- more than 4,300-pound -- van feeling like it was sprinting forward to merge with traffic or get around other vehicles.

The Odyssey's performance numbers are commendable.

In comparison, the 3.3-liter V6 in Toyota's Sienna generates 215 horsepower and 222 foot-pounds of torque at 3,600 rpm. The top-level, 3.8-liter V6 in the Dodge Grand Caravan produces 205 horsepower and 240 foot-pounds of torque at 4,000 rpm.

By the way, the government's second-best fuel economy rating for a minivan goes to the 2006 Dodge Caravan, which is listed at 20/26 mpg.

But the Caravan, which is a short-wheelbase version of the more popular Dodge Grand Caravan, is a smaller, more lightweight van with a less powerful, four-cylinder engine than the Odyssey.

Every 2006 Odyssey comes standard with a full complement of safety features, including curtain airbags for all three rows of passengers, front-seat side airbags, antilock brakes, stability control and traction control.

This leads to more accolades for this van. The Odyssey is a Best Pick of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in frontal crash testing and earns the top, five-star rating in both frontal and side crash tests by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Odyssey's rollover rating is four out of five stars.

But unlike the Toyota Sienna, the Odyssey does not offer all-wheel drive.

The Odyssey's outer styling is rather plain and blockish. I saw several drivers in cars darting to get around the test Odyssey because they evidently didn't want to get stuck behind this van and not be able to see around it.

But for people inside, the ride in this front-wheel-drive, nearly 17-foot-long van is comfortable.

There's a good amount of cushioning over bumps, and the power rack-and-pinion steering has a mainstream feel so the van doesn't make abrupt, scary movements.

It's easy to get into and out of the Odyssey, thanks to a low floor height. But riders sit up some from the pavement for a better view over cars ahead.

Early Odyssey buyers may recall that Honda was the first to pioneer third-row seats that flip and fold down easily into a cavity in the floor at the back of the vehicle.

The Odyssey also has power roll-down windows in its sliding side doors, which are unusual in this segment. These windows provide plentiful fresh air to riders in the back -- be they youngsters or the family dog.

The Odyssey also was the first minivan in this country with a nifty, fold-away center console tray between the front seats.

This is a high-tech minivan. The optional navigation system has a large, 8-inch display screen that sits high on the dashboard for convenient viewing.

There's voice recognition software, so a driver can give some verbal commands to find and set locations.

The Odyssey's interior quiet can be akin to that in a luxury car, thanks to noise-cancellation technology that's included in some uplevel models. Basically, "anti-noise" that balances out engine noise is broadcast through the Odyssey's audio system speakers, thus canceling out incoming engine noise. No other minivan has this.

I just wish Honda could engineer its sliding side doors as well.

In the test Odyssey, they annoyed me with their slow open-and-close motions, and when I tried to help them along by manually yanking on the door handles, they resisted my efforts.

There were four safety recalls of the redesigned 2005 Odyssey, which is an unusually high number for a Honda in one year. They included 203 Hondas, including some Odysseys, that were recalled for a steering column that could have been improperly assembled, resulting in a loss of driver control.

Another 85,154 Odysseys were recalled, the NHTSA said, because front airbags sensors could have been improperly sealed, allowing water to impair their operation.<