Honda Odyssey: Which Should You Buy, 2022 or 2023?
Most significant changes: The Odyssey’s base LX trim is dropped for 2023, making the new entry trim level the more expensive EX. Meanwhile, a new mid-level Sport trim — basically a second-tier EX-L with a black appearance package and interior — has been added to the lineup. The 2023 Odyssey, like other 2023 Honda vehicles, also now comes with two years of free scheduled maintenance.
Pricing: The least expensive 2023 Odyssey now is the EX, which starts at $38,785 (all prices include destination); that’s $4,450 more than the discontinued, outgoing base LX and $1,050 more than the 2022 EX. The other three surviving trim levels are up $850 each at this point, including an across-the-board $150 price increase since the 2023 went on sale.
On sale: Now
Which should you buy, 2022 or 2023? A cheaper 2022 if you can find one — and that’s the only choice if you want an LX budget trim. The 2023 model otherwise carries over, though with a new complimentary maintenance plan and a new trim level with black wheels.
Honda’s Odyssey family hauler rolls into 2023 largely unchanged from 2022, but with a shuffled lineup. Honda still offers the minivan in five flavors, but out of the lineup is model-year 2022’s cheapest trim level, and added in the middle is a sportier, blacked-out Sport trim level. The result is a significant bump in the Odyssey’s cost of entry, though it’s softened a little by two years of free scheduled maintenance, a new program being added broadly for 2023 Honda vehicles.
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The Odyssey carries forward from the freshening it got for the 2021 model year and remains a capable minivan noted for ample people space for up to eight and thoughtful, family-friendly features. Those features include lots of cabin storage (a big floor console bin, cubbies throughout and 17 cup and bottle holders); Magic Slide second-row seats that move forward, back and sideways independently; great child-seat accommodation; and an available CabinWatch child-viewing camera system. The age of this generation, which dates to 2018, shows little in tech versus rivals, and the Odyssey does not offer hybrid or all-wheel-drive versions, unlike the competing Toyota Sienna and Chrysler Pacifica minivans. Power for all Odysseys continues to be from a 280-horsepower, V-6 engine mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission.
Channel Your Inner Rebel With Blacked-Out Sport
If you’re shopping for a minivan, you’ve likely made peace with image issues, or you’d be shopping for a mid-size three-row SUV that seems more adventurous (while offering less practical space on a similar platform). But if you’re on the fence, the 2023 Odyssey has an “edgier” new Sport trim level. Sliding in between the EX-L and Touring trims, the Sport is a darker vision of the minivan with 19-inch black wheels, darkened taillights and a gloss-black finish for the grille, window pillars, door mirrors, and headlight, foglight and taillight trim. The dark look continues inside with black leather on the steering wheel and front- and second-row seats, along with black pillars and headliner. The leather is accented with red stitching, and adding a menacing glow at night is red accent lighting for the dashboard, front footwells and front door handles and pockets.
It might not make the family minivan seem aggressive, but it is in line with Sport appearance models for other Hondas as well as with the current general popularity of black wheels and trim to spice up mainstream vehicles. The Odyssey Sport layers these details over the features of the second-tier EX-L trim level, including leather seating, a moonroof, a power tailgate and a power-adjustable front passenger seat.
New ‘Service Pass’ for Free Maintenance
For 2023, the Odyssey includes two years of free maintenance with a plan called Honda Service Pass, a program that is being extended broadly to 2023 Honda vehicles. The plan offers buyers free scheduled maintenance for the first two years or 24,000 miles, whichever you hit first, and is transferable to the second owner. You must take the vehicle to a participating Honda dealer for the covered services, which include oil and filter changes, tire rotations, and multi-point inspections.
The free service plan matches the two years of free scheduled maintenance that archrival Toyota offers for all its vehicles, and it is in addition to Honda’s three-year/36,000-mile new-car warranty that includes roadside assistance. Such free services help buyers eliminate rising prices as a reason to skip or delay scheduled maintenance and help automakers and dealers engage new owners in an ongoing relationship.
Pricing Breakdown
Here are the latest starting prices for the five trim levels of the 2023 Odyssey with the change from the most recent model-year 2022 prices in parentheses. The now-discontinued 2022 LX started at $34,335. Destination costs $1,295, a $120 increase from the 2022 model year.
- EX: $38,785 (up $1,050)
- EX-L: $41,855 (up $850)
- Sport: $42,655 (new)
- Touring: $45,895 (up $850)
- Elite: $50,915 (up $850)
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