2006 Honda Odyssey Touring

2006 Honda Odyssey Touring - Still with us? The exception is Honda, where Touring means Odyssey with whipped cream, a cherry, and nuts. The model line tops here, complete with power liftgate, power-adjustable pedals, auto on/off headlights, and seven-speaker stereo with subwoofer. The big change for 2007: Now the tilt column telescopes, too.

While other minivan makers try for pretty — think Toyota Sienna — or pleasant — as in Dodge Caravan — this Honda has a heavyset look about it, wide and slab-sided and unapologetic for offering space in Costco quantities. The grille thrusts forward, a strong chrome statement. Each front corner houses a pair of searchlights, and the wheels shoulder their way out to the edges of the box. Another hefty chrome gesture finishes the space between the taillights.

“Touring,” the car-world adjective, brings with it a vague performance implication. This Honda is similarly vague on the topic. Touring and EX-L models get the i-VTEC V-6. There’s no power advantage, but the torque peaks at 4500 rpm, 500 earlier than engines in lesser Odysseys, and it boosts mileage by shutting down three cylinders during cruise and coast. The result is 20 mpg city and 28 highway versus 19 and 25.

What the Touring brings, really, is a Ritz-Carlton level of comfort and convenience inside. The instruments are wonderfully legible, the many switches inevitable with power doors are exactly where you want them to be, the seat levers and releases work intuitively, the second row tilts and slides in one motion to ease boarding of the third row. Honda, of course, pioneered the fold-into-the-floor third row, and no one else has yet done it better.