Auto review: America's bestselling minivan, the Honda Odyssey, retains its charms for 2021

At a time when your family’s safety is paramount, the 2021 Honda Odyssey makes for soothing relief.

How else to describe a family-friendly vehicle that was the first minivan to earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s highest accolade, the 2020 "Top Safety Pick+" rating?

OK, that might not sound exciting to you. But to a harried parent, one less thing to worry about is always a good thing. And the Honda Odyssey provides that in spades.

For 2021, America’s most popular minivan gets a mild freshening with more powerful LED lighting framing a restyled grille and front fascia, and black trim under the rear window. The rest of the vehicle’s look remains unchanged, with an undulating beltline and flowing lines on the side the vehicle, capped by a partially blacked out D-pillar. What has changed is Honda Sensing, Honda's suite of driver-assistance safety systems; it’s now standard equipment on all models, and includes collision mitigation braking with pedestrian detection; forward collision warning; road departure mitigation with lane departure warning; and adds lane keeping assist and adaptive cruise control.

Sold in ascending LX, EX, EX-L, Touring and Elite trim, the Odyssey’s practicality remains intact, thanks to 155.7 cubic feet of cargo space and the flexibility to carry people or cargo or both. And it comes with the sort of options that make life easier, such as wireless charging, heated/ventilated seats, power sliding doors, and an integrated vacuum cleaner. All the better to clean up wayward Cheerios or pet hair.

As before, the center row bucket seats fold as well as slide side-to-side, making third-row entry easy. And the third row folds flat into the floor, allowing for an admirable amount of cargo space. When the seats aren't folded, you’ll find the existing cargo area is massive, with a low lift over that’s far easier to access than any SUV. And Honda has added grocery bag hooks on the back of the third-row seats for 2021.

Thoughtfully, all three rows have USB ports, map pockets, smartphone slots, cup holders, and air conditioning vents and storage nooks. The top-of-the-line Elite test vehicle had a ceiling-mounted DVD screen and wireless headphones, a boon for a bit of peace and quiet on family trips. In addition, a new rear seat reminder system alerts the driver to check the rear seating area when leaving the vehicle.

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An eight-inch touch screen on the instrument panel houses the infotainment functions, with Honda’s cluttered, overdesigned user interface sadly remaining unchanged. The Odyssey Elite’s sole option was SiriusXM satellite radio, whose pathetically abysmal sound quality makes it a dubious investment at best.

Regardless of your music preferences or which model you choose, all Odysseys come with a 280-horsepower 3.5-liter V-6 and a 10-speed automatic transmission that is up to the task of muscling this minivan down the road, although the transmission is geared for fuel economy, delaying before downshifting to deliver more power when needed. Braking is excellent, though, and steering is somewhat lightweight and devoid of road feel.

The Odyssey remains a very competitive minivan, but it faces competition from the newly refreshed Chrysler Pacifica and all-new Toyota Sienna, while an all-new Kia Sedona is coming for 2022. It remains to be seen whether any of these competitors is tough enough to steal sales away from America’s bestselling minivan, a title it retains for a reason.