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Honda's JDM Odyssey – not to be confused with the U.S.-market people mover that shares the same name – has been hailed as one of the best handling minivans in Japan. For 2009, Honda has taken everything good about the outgoing third-generation model and made it better, beginning with a sleeker exterior that pulls a few cues from the Honda FCX Clarity. Underneath the new, slightly stretched sheet metal lies a reworked chassis sporting double wishbones at all four corners, optional all-wheel-drive and a 2.4-liter four-cylinder i-VTEC powerplant putting out 171 hp in standard guise and 203 hp in the range-topping Absolute model. The interior is adorned with all the techy tidbits that made previous generations a hit with family-toting geeks, including a sci-fi inspired dash and a new multi-positioned camera system that allows drivers to get a bird's eye view of the vehicle. Similar to the Fit sold in the States, the seating can be arranged in a multitude of ways, including folding flat to create something resembling a bed. We'd like to scam one out of Honda during our next trip to Japan so we can post on the move and don't have to worry about heading back to our hotel – which is traditionally only slightly smaller than the new Odyssey.
posted : 10/17/2008 @5:38:57 PM
tags :
honda , jdm , jdm honda odyssey , jdm odyssey , jdmhondaodyssey , jdmodyssey , new odyssey , newodyssey , odyssey
As many of you doubtless know, the Japanese Honda Odyssey isn't the same thing we get here in the States. While we get the more jumbo-rific family escape pod with sliders and the whole shebang, the JDM Odyssey is a sleeker-looking MPV with four traditionally-hinged doors anf four-cylinder power. And now it's time for a new one. Honda's just put up a special site to welcome the upcoming 4th-gen JDM Odyssey, whose styling further evolves the shape that's by now a common site in Japan, while the front end is likely to showcase Honda's current family design theme (think Clarity, Insight, etc.). You can check out the teaser site by clicking here, and keep in mind that Honda's reportedly thinking about sending over some of its JDM machinery. In lieu of, say, an Accord wagon, this (or the more compact Stream) might work for a lot of people -- especially those of us who view the typical U.S.-style minivan as Superman does kryptonite.
posted : 10/2/2008 @3:22:26 PM
tags :
airbag , airbags , honda i-srs , honda isrs , honda life , honda odyssey , hondai-srs , hondaisrs , hondalife , hondaodyssey , i-srs , isrs , japan , japanese market , japanesemarket , jdm , multiview camera , multiviewcamera , odyssey , rear view camera , rearviewcamera , safety , tech
What other automaker would spend the time and expense of developing a new airbag just because, you know, airbags could be better? The same one who developed a new rail car for the same reason. The Japanese automaker has developed a new airbag it claims will give drivers better protection in accidents. The shaped bag uses a spiral seam to induce more even inflation, which provides a larger surface area and creates uniform pressure around the bag more quickly than in a conventional airbag system. Thus, the driver is cushioned sooner. The i-SRS system also uses a gas release valve that helps control airbag deployment and pressure, and holds the gas inside the bag until a preset time. The technology is already slated to appear on the Honda Life in Japan this November. Outside the vehicle, Honda will be adding a new multi-view camera to the upcoming JDM Odyssey, much like Nissan's Around View Monitor. Four wide-angle CCD cameras will be placed in the front, back, and on the side mirrors. Each view can be seen individually or combined for a computer generated aerial shot of the car's movements. Because they're wide angle, Honda has also incorporated a view with the front camera that extends the driver's line of sight in low-visibility intersections, such as when exiting a parking garage (see right pic). It sounds similar to the front-mounted camera system on the Rolls-Royce Phantom. Unfortunately there's no word on when either technology will come to the U.S.
posted : 9/26/2008 @7:30:48 AM
tags :
alliston ontario , allistonontario , honda odyssey , honda pilot , honda production , honda ridgeline , hondaodyssey , hondapilot , hondaproduction , hondaridgeline , lincoln alabama , lincolnalabama
Honda has got to be happy that it has a hot selling compact car to take some of the pain out of the slowing minivan and SUV markets. Hurt by the sky-high price of gasoline, both the Odyssey and Pilot, both recently redesigned, are sitting on dealers lots longer than Honda would like. In order to match production with consumer demand, Honda will close its plant in Lincoln, Alabama for two days next month and cut second shift production at the plant every Friday in August through October. Displaced workers can choose to take either unpaid time off or use paid vacation leave. Some of that unused capacity will be taken up by the Ridgeline, which will now be assembled at the Lincoln plant instead of in Ontario where it is currently being built.
The Civic, on the other hand, will see its production boosted at the East Liberty, Ohio plant and in Alliston, Ontario, where capacity will be available due to the Ridgeline's departure. Score another point for Honda's modular manufacturing techniques.
posted : 8/7/2008 @5:04:35 PM
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