Honda Needs To Use NSX Tech To Make A Honda Odyssey Type R

Most GenXers know the 1986 film The Highlander. In the movie, centuries-old immortals battle each other to the death by beheading. Upon denogginization, the immortal unlucky enough to lose his head experiences “The Quickening” as lightning bolts and hair-metal band pyro effects signal the immense transfer of power from the defeated immortal to the victor, who carries on the legacy of these legendary warriors. Oh, and there was an over-the-top Queen soundtrack as well.

There is no such drama (or Queen soundtrack) when enthusiast car legends pass away. Honda’s NSX moved on to the great Valhalla of iconic performance cars a few years ago, and no Quickening fireworks have appeared to herald The Next Great Honda. However, I do see a car in the lineup worthy of the glory, a true legend ready to inherit the power. Indeed, even its name evokes one of literature’s oldest and greatest heroes. I speak, of course, of the Odyssey minivan.

That’s a legend, you say? What about a Civic, or that new Prelude? Well, if that’s what you’re thinking, I can assume that you aren’t married and don’t have kids.

You’re Not Worthy … Are You?

Just like in The Highlander, sometimes those who inherit the legacy of a name or mystical power are undeserving of it. Other times, one who appears to be an unworthy recipient may surprise you. It’s happened before; Chrysler is a good example.

When the famous new-for-1968 Bullitt/General Lee Dodge Charger passed on in 1971, the next-generation car did a fair job in the face of the approaching Malaise at wearing the crown.

Sadly, the 1975 Charger was not mentored by Sean Connery in the ways of the immortals [Ed note: it’s another Highlander reference, you’re just going to have to watch it. It’s on Tubi! – Pete].  No, this Charger was just a rebadged Chrysler Cordoba twin.

Nobody would have expected the next Quickening to produce anything but another embarrassment when the Charger lightning bolts struck the meek little Dodge Omni 024 and put a 2.2 liter four under the hood. They were wrong: a hero was among us. With decent performance for the era, reasonable handling, and good looks the hotrod economy coupe that sprung to life did the Charger name proud; the Shelby Turbo version might not have beat a 426 Hemi in a straight line but could drive circles around that big old fuselage-bodied Charger great granddaddy.

Back to Honda, and the second incarnation of the NSX. The new model certainly lived up to the promise of the first. The original 1991 car was a technical tour de force and could match or beat more expensive rivals with its mere six cylinders, all while remaining perfectly daily-able – a feat no other supercar could claim. The 2017 NSX followed suit with a comfortable interior and an advanced hybrid drivetrain that complemented its twin-turbo V6 with three electric motors.

Sadly, it wasn’t the relative bargain that the first car was at the beginning of its life, and sales of the second-gen NSX were rather poor at only 2,908 cars during its brief four-year run. Like the original NSX after its price escalated through the 1990s, the 21st-century version was living in a rarified market where emotional aspects likely weighed heavily in buying decisions; the cache of an Italian or German badge will trounce the Honda’s mechanical brilliance for most buyers. After all, these are cars that many buyers want, but none need.

But what if, upon its death, the Honda NSX’s quickening transferred its high-tech lightning bolts and performance pyrotechnics to a vehicle many car buyers do actually need? What might that be? Here enters the Odyssey.

May The Best Van Win

There are more choices out there today for minivans than you might think for what is becoming such a niche category. Yes, I know some readers will tell me they’ve gotten 400,000 miles out of a Pacifica or a Hyundai, but realistically, if you want me to recommend something that can be driven into the ground and thrown away when your kids turn 22 then you have only the Toyota and Honda to consider. For a buying-because-you-have-to product, why not just do it once and be done with it?

For years, many manufacturers have been trying to make their minivans seem more like SUVs to attract buyers; Kia refuses to even call their Carnival a minivan, instead referring to it as an “MPV” like WuTang referenced in C.R.E.A.M. Nobody seems to try and make this type of family machine more fun or cool by improving its road-going prowess.

Matt recently wrote up a road trip he did in the latest Odyssey, and before I even read through it I knew he’d find the Honda to be essentially the driver’s choice of minivans. If you take one around the block and aren’t immediately sold by its unbeatable performance (for a non-EV van) and unmatched handling, that’s a good thing since you can then save money by looking at less expensive, not-as-well-built and flashier choices.

The Odyssey also dispenses with some of the more lavish features of its competitors like built-in vacuum cleaners; this minivan’s mission is clear. Surprisingly it doesn’t even offer two things that would seem to be mandatory options for a family people carrier: an all-wheel-drive or a hybrid version. Like Rocky’s coach said in the ads from the eighties, Honda likes to keep it simple, and it works.

What if it worked even better?

How About 100 Horsepower Per Passenger?

Plenty of other illustrators and websites have shown renderings of what a Honda “Type R” Odyssey might look like. It goes without saying that a few more horsepower and cool wheels wouldn’t hurt this minivan, but I’d like to take it even further. Naturally, we could do almost anything here in the fantasy world, but I want to imagine this “Type R” being at least partially feasible and work within the established limitations.

Like essentially all Odyssey models before, the architecture of the current version doesn’t really allow for things like a driveshaft to the rear wheels or battery space for electric options, so to add these things we’ll have to make some compromises.

Let’s take a look at the layout of the second-generation NSX again. There’s the ICE motor at the back (well, middle) with an integral electric motor in the transaxle for the rear wheels. Up front are two more electric motors, with separate battery packs and control units.

Now, in your mind, flip this whole business 180 degrees and you’ll see the plan for the Odyssey Type R. We want to turn the V6 sideways and the extreme 70-degree V block of the sports car won’t happen within the space we have available, but twin turbos certainly will. The NSX’s front electric motors can move to the rear of the van, and guess what: no driveshaft needed. When people asked for a “hybrid all-wheel-drive” Odyssey, this is absolutely not what they had in mind. Also, with a 478 horsepower gas engine, 47 electric horsepower up front and those two 41 horsepower motors on each rear wheel, we’ll have a 607 horsepower minivan to terrorize Costco parking lots with.

Sometimes we have to make concessions with performance cars, and the Odyssey is no exception. If you’re an Odyssey owner you’ll see on my schematic above that the batteries (the IPU, or Intelligent Power Unit) and control box (the PDU, or Power Drive Unit) are located in an area you might be stashing stuff in now. Honda was possibly the first minivan to offer the “pit” just inside the tailgate; a deep well with the main purpose of allowing the third row of seats to tumble in and create a flat floor.

It’s a trick feature many others have picked up on. In old movies “the pit” was usually where they would throw sacrifices, but here I think we’re going to need to sacrifice the actual pit itself to the cause by filling it with the batteries and control units. To me, it’s not make-it-or-break-it for the van; you could fold the backrests down or remove the seat entirely. You’d still have a third row. It wouldn’t be a minivan if it didn’t, would it?

Styling modifications are very NSX-like with the front grille, headlights, and lower side trim. There are cooling intakes for the rear motors and brakes, and I’ve flared the rear fenders ever so slightly, but it would still require extenders for the sliding door mechanisms to clear them. The subtle rear roof wing might even be functional, and the black-painted roof to hide the glass sunroof.

Here’s an animation to show the changes, and how I’m slamming this thing within an inch of its life. The front fascia, fenders, and rear quarter are new or modified; the hood is the same except for the vents but likely it would be a new lighter weight fiberglass or carbon fiber piece anyway:

How fast would this thing be? Well, the stock van like Matt drove with 280 horsepower from its 3.5-liter VTEC motor managed to get to sixty in 6.4 seconds (if you trust Car and Driver’s testing), so with something like twice that amount of power God only knows what sort of antics the Type-R Odyssey would be capable of (not to mention the instant torque of the electric motors). For the record, most 0 to 60 calculators I’ve used say just under four seconds.

I’m sure the resulting low-production-run Odyssey R would cost a pretty penny, but what’s not to love? It would almost certainly retail for less than the latest McLaren P-Whatever that nobody outside of a Cars and Coffee will give a shit about anyway. What would compete with this thing until the TRD Sienna would appear to make a pale attempt?

Hold Onto Your Sippy Cups

A supercar has to have only two seats? Who made that rule? Why do we think that way? My kid sometimes talks about how a “fixed mindset” is a bad thing (but I don’t think he was referring to seven-passenger vehicles lapping the ‘Ring). Besides, why should all of this advanced NSX Hybrid SH-AWD technology be reserved for a car that hardly anyone bought, and those that did buy likely just keep in a Carcoon hoping and praying that it will appreciate?

People dream about driving cross country in a two-seat sports machine with a supermodel partner by their side with The Perfectly Curated Playlist, but it’s probably not going to happen. You’re far more likely to make that trip with six people in a minivan and two nieces under age ten asking you to hit REPEAT on the CD player so they can hear 4 Non Blondes screaming HEY YAY YAY YAY one more time for three days straight. I did that twice a decade or so ago in a second-generation Odyssey, and by the end of the trip I absolutely didn’t want kids (it happened anyway) but I almost went out and bought a Honda minivan despite my then-childless state. These things are that good: is it any wonder this is the only minivan out there with a racing team?

The Next Greatest Honda is a title that needs to be placed on a deserving subject, and no other Honda product is more worthy of the Performance Quickening than the Odyssey. There can be only one …

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