I recently drove Honda’s Odyssey people mover in the high grade VTi-L model – the Odyssey has been around in much the same guise for some time but and it has a real following with families – superbly equipped with a full leather interior and comfort niceties like seven seats with two captain’s chairs in the second row and one touch sliding power doors each side which give it a lot of class – so easy for the kids to get in and out and for older people for that matter you can see why it’s a family favourite.

Nice touches like tri-zone climate control with third row floor vents, high grade LED headlights and cornering lights that are a great safety bonus and comfort items like heated power front seats, a power sunroof and a multi-view camera system. And equipped in this latest series with Honda’s Sensing – a full suite of drive-assist technologies including autonomous emergency braking and lane keep assist. The Honda Odyssey is powered by a 2.4-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine driving through a continuously variable automatic – not my favourite automatic but it really benefits from manual paddle shifters that add a lot of appeal in driving. Performance with seven-up is not startling, the four-cylinder lacks some torque, but I had seven heavy adults on board rather than a team of kids – comfort a standout –the long wheelbase gives it good legroom in all but the third row. At $47,590 the Honda Odyssey VTi-L is as well-equipped as some prestige cars costing a lot more. I’m David Berthon

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