| 2011 Honda Odyssey vs 2011 Toyota Sienna | June 25, 2010 | AUTORIVALS.NET |
| Share |
|
|
|
| Honda has answered Toyota's stylishly redesigned Sienna with a stylish minivan of their own, the 2011 Honda Odyssey. You could even say they've gone one step further in enticing minivan buyers by giving the Odyssey some visual flair. It's odd that the Odyssey is the first to preview Honda's new direction in design but it's nice to see some originality in an unoriginal segment. The Odyssey and Sienna remain the two powerhouses among minivans featuring loads of technology, thoughtful engineering, and intriguing designs. | ||
| 2011 Honda Odyssey | vs | 2011 Toyota Sienna |
 |
 |
|
| Up front, there's not much going on with the Odyssey. The front end wears a sleeker front end compared to the previous gen with wider headlights connected to the grille similar to the new Honda Accord Crosstour. The Sienna wears its headlights in the same fashion with visual connection to the upper grille but with a little more sculpture giving the Sienna a more interesting looking front end. The Odyssey's headlights are noticeably smaller than the previous generation and seem better fitting for Honda's other models such as the Accord or Civic rather than the Odyssey. It does however bring the Odyssey more in line with Honda's emerging corporate face. The Sienna has less resemblance to other Toyota models wearing a unique face that's arguably better than other Toyota's such as the Venza. The grille is sharp and eye-catching and there's a good amount of curves creating distinctive surfaces. Toyota has even included an SE trim with sportiness in mind (as oxymoronic as that sounds when talking about minivans). The SE version sports a more aggressive front end, side skirts, smoked taillights, and 19-inch wheels. | ||
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
| The Sienna manages to look more muscular with a slightly bulging front bumper and streamlined headlights compared to the Odyssey's neutral front end design. The Odyssey's "lightning bolt" beltline will get the most attention. Love it or hate it, it does manage to give the Odyssey some flair and sparks a controversy in an otherwise uneventful segment. The jagged beltline side does manage to break up the monotony of the typical minivan shape. Other notable design elements include the connected door handles which some may take some getting used to but is attractive nonetheless. 18-inch wheels find themselves on the Odyssey while the Sienna has available 19-inch wheels. Both seem unnecessarily large for minivans but style often times trumps common sense. | ||
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
| The Sienna's rear design has a more modern look to it with LED taillights that extend well into the rear quarter panel. Like the front end, there's more sculpture and definition than in the Odyssey. The Odyssey's rear design now connects both taillights with lights across the middle similar to the recently restyled Accord sedan. The taillights are connected to the sliding door groove which is still clearly visible like the last generation. The Odyssey is one of the last remaining minivans to employ this design rather than integrating it in-between the rear window and rear quarter panel like on the Sienna. It would actually be rather impossible now due to the lightning-bolt side. | ||
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
| The Odyssey's dashboard design
looks substantially better than the previous generation with a
more modernized look. It has a more technological feel to it
compared to the Sienna's dashboard. The paddle-shaped wood trim
and unsymmetrical gauge cluster of the Sienna give it a
contemporary look that seems tailored to trendy families. The Odyssey goes toe-to-toe with the Sienna in terms of interior features. 16" LCD screen? Check. Voice-activated navigation? Check. 15 cup holders? Check. There's a number of features that vary depending on trim but both the Odyssey and Sienna offer some features that the other one doesn't. The Odyssey focuses on practicality as much as technology with a removable center console, media tray, and a cool box (a.k.a. a tiny mini-refrigerator) in the center stack. The Odyssey squeezes in 12 speakers compared to the Sienna's 10 but the Sienna's got a .2" larger screen in the rear (16.2 vs. 16.4). The Sienna features are numerous such as a dual moonroof, auto-high beam headlights, and a panoramic rearview camera with a 180-degree view. Among the long list of safety features include a new "Safety Connect" system (similar to GM's OnStar) which features automatic collision notification, stolen vehicle location, emergency assistance, and roadside assistance (and like OnStar, it's only free for one year). |
||
 |
 |
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RECAP | RECAP | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
PROS +More interesting side +Sleeker design +Technological interior feel CONS -Uninteresting front and rear |
PROS +More interesting front +More muscular +Contemporary interior CONS -Uninteresting side |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Video Source: Inside Line via YouTube |
| Video Source: Cars.com via YouTube |
|
|