When we first see that faint blue line on a stick, we know life is going to change. Many of these changes regard practical things like clearing out the spare room to become a nursery, surviving maternity leave on one pay and upgrading to a *ahem* family vehicle. Or in our case, downgrading, as we went from a luxurious single person car to a cheaper, smaller buzz box thanks to the joys of living on one income 🙂
Therefore, you can imagine our excitement then when Honda loaned us a lovely, roomy, brand sparkling new Honda Odyssey to test drive. And test drive it we did, picking up extended family and heading off into the wilderness for a family picnic, well not wilderness exactly, more the outskirts of the Perth metropolitan area but you get the idea. So here is our list (as compiled by Dad 101 and myself as we both took turns driving) of eight reasons why the Odyssey makes for a great family car…
1. The Honda Odyssey is a seven seater with three rows of seats and has obviously been designed with leg room in mind as there is plenty of it, whichever row you are sitting in. If only they could work out a way to offer cabin service down the back, LOL.
2. The seating arrangements are really flexible with the third row seats folding up or away very easily. I imagine this would be a real bonus if you have school aged children and are regularly chauffeuring them and their friends between social engagements.
3. Despite it’s spacious interior, you don’t feel like you are driving a family wagon at all. I personally prefer not to drive big cars but the Odyssey may have converted me as it was so easy to handle.
4. The Odyssey’s clever design has resulted in great visibility for the driver.
5. Honda has included all manner of creature comforts – cup holders front and back, arm rests and air conditioning vents for the front, middle and rear rows which can be controlled from the front. It even has a power point (auxiliary jack) for a portable DVD player on long family car trips.
6. Dad 101 noted was how easily accessible everything was from the driver’s seat. The steering wheel includes controls for the CD player/radio and cruise control and everything else is within easy reach.
7. More important boys male observations from Dad 101: the Odyssey is responsive and powerful and yet maintains great fuel consumption and the cruise control is the most accurate he has ever seen. Also, despite all of that power, it is really quiet to drive and I didn’t have to shout back to Aunty A sitting in the rear row once!
8. Honda has made safety a priority with front, side and full-length curtain airbags (fortunately we didn’t need to test those) and a host of other world class safety features which you can read more about here.
Now it is your turn to “Fit your perfect family day into the Honda Odyssey”
Honda is giving you the opportunity to win $500 and the loan of a new Honda Odyssey for a day. To enter;
- Leave a comment below describing how you would fit your perfect family day into the Honda Odyssey.
The most creative (yet practical!) response across all 8 blogs will win the car for 24 hrs as well as $500 to spoil the family. - Entries close 30th May, 2010.
- The winner will be chosen by Nuffnang and Honda and announced on the Nuffnang blog shortly after the closing date.
- Only one prize will be awarded to one reader across the eight blogs involved in the Honda campaign.
- Competition open to Australian residents only.
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
It's a sad, sad day here in California. :)
Glad you got to enjoy the car, though. Looks like great fun.
-Francesca
If we had an Odyssey for a day, we would use it to pick up my elderly mother-in-law (who we now can't fit in our standard station wagon, if all five of us are in it) and take her out to visit her 95-year-old sister in the outskirts of the city. We'd take both the old ladies out for a lovely Devonshire tea in the Dandenong Ranges, and return them home in comfort and style.
Then we'd drive to Geelong in the dusk, watching the sun set as we listen to soothing music, and eat fish & chips on the waterfront, watching the lights twinkling over the water. We'd continue on down the Great Ocean Road to Anglesea, staying the night at a friend's house, before returning the next morning to visit the Queen Vic market and put the car through its grocery-toting paces.
We'd really love this opportunity!
But I will very much enjoy reading the comments here about perfect days out. Sometimes an imaginary outing is a very nice mini-break after a busy day :)
Be nice to wake up and know that we will all fit in the car for a family outting with all of us. Might even pick up the mother in law on the way.
We would pick up Nanny and head out to Maleny for a family brunch picnic.
Then we would cruise back don to the suburbs and stop by all our friends and families house to show off the Odyssey.
If it was a week day we'd have to cruise by the school to show it off.
Then we would cruise to the Drive In and take out the booster seats so we could fold the seats up and lay in the back and watch the movie with the kids.
Booster seats back in and we'd cruise on home through the city so we could again show the car off :)
Good on you Honda for providing those who cant afford the chance to drive such a great car.
Georgina
I want bub and us to see the beautiful side of the world or somewhere closer beside the hospital where he had been hospitalizing after birth for a month. I want bub to be able to feel the joyness of living with us.
Now we're moving into that school phase where we need the flexibility to take an extra child, take our aging parents/grandparents places without having to do 'laps'.
We have often discussed the possibility of taking a long overdue trip to Cooma with my grandmother - who is heading up her 80's and no longer drives long distance. Cooma is her birthplace and she often tells us stories of her childhood to adulthood in Cooma - educated at the convent WWII time, her Dad the local butcher and a rich family history behind them, stemming from her ancestors being pioneers in the Monaro district.
I would love to go with her and my family to see with my own eyes and through hers where she grew up, her experience, her life before I was born - and allow her to bring her current life to her past.
This is something that just isn't possible in our current car/situation.
I have always dreamt of what I could do if I had a car to drive around, even if it is for a day. I would firstly gather my girlfriends and I up early in the morning to enjoy the early morning breeze by the beach at a flash beach-side cafe. Sipping English tea, savouring delicious pancakes and sharing a good deal of laughter. We would then go for a random car ride around out of Perth. Being geologists mean we love the outdoors and wherever that bears an interesting rock outcrop will do it for us. Maybe we'd drive for a couple hours out of Perth to a nice beach with an interesting rock cliff face. We would climb through large rock boulders, take photographs, study the geology before retiring to the sandy shore, basking in the golden sunshine.
With a rumbling stomach, we would later drive down to the best part of the city to enjoy some exotic Asian cuisine before embarking on a wild shopping spree. Once our legs are sore from the long day of shopping, we'd make our way to Kingspark to sit on the lush green lawn to watch the beautiful sunset of Perth city, grabbing some hot chocolate along the way. We'd say our goodbyes but to meet later again in the late evening, dressed in our sassiest best, all once again nicely loaded into the 'family' car. Perhaps this time we would have to designate a male friend to become our driver for the night. And before we hop off the car, we would go for a nice spin around the city to watch and humour ourselves with the sight of rowdy drunks before we enjoy the long night ahead of us.
Nothing is sweeter than freedom and fun with your best ones (especially with a flashy Odyssey) :D