2018 Odyssey Elite – Magic Slide 2nd Row
This may be the lamest, most nerdy post ever but there is no shame in my minivan game!
Searching for a vehicle that can manage kids and carseats and cargo is STRESSFUL! One of the hardest things for me to find online was an example of vehicles with carseats. Because lets be real, test loading and packing 3 or more vehicles on a dealer lot with car seats is ideal but not a reality.
Today I’m showing our 2018 Odyssey Elite with four convertible carseats installed. We do extended rear facing for our girls, and today I took two extra friends to preschool. All. The. Carseats. Equals a demo video and some photos!
We absolutely love the ’18 Oddy. This is coming from someone who swore UP AND DOWN that I would never drive a minivan! The 2018 Odyssey is NOT your mother’s minivan.
My mom drove one of these bad boys, the ole Chevy Lumina! 😆My husband and I love our Oddy so much we actually fight over who gets to drive. Here’s my video demo-ing the magic slide 2nd row seats with four convertible carseats installed, two of them being rear facing.
I took some stills to better show the space and flexibility with four carseats, utilizing the Magic Slide 2nd Row. If you have 3 or more kids, I’m sorry but this van is for you. The second row is a game changer!
When we searched we bounced between the Oddy, ths Toyota Highlander and the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. We did almost purchase a Pacifica, but with doing extended rear facing the sliding second row was a more usable feature to us as opposed to the tilting captains chairs and Stow-and-Go the Pacifica had to offer.
If you have any questions or would like me to demo any other Odyssey features, let me know in the comments and I’d be glad to help!
xoxo
Amy
6 Comments
Angela
Hi Amy-Love your blog! Question about the Honda Odessey for you. My husband and I are trying to decide between the 2018 Odessey and the Honda Pilot, which I think you mentioned you also owned. We have a one year old and plan to have another in the near future, (no more than two kids planned) and would like to do extended rear facing car seats. We would occasionally like to bring along another adult or two in the vehicle. Do you recommend one over the over from an extended rear facing car-seat perspective? If I had two kids in the middle row in car seats, is it easier to get adults into the back seat in the Odessey vs the Pilot? Just want something that will be functional for the car seat years while still being able to take aunties or grandparents with us on short journeys.
Thanks for your insights! –Angela
Amy Eilers
Hey Angela! Thanks for stopping by! We do own both an 18 Odyssey and 18 Pilot. I would hands down recommend the Odyssey for a family vehicle. Considering you are planning to have more than one child, extended rearface them (which, kudos to you!!! I love hearing when people choose to do this! ), and plan to have additional adult passengers at times. We often have family from out of town visit and it is SO NICE to have the Odyssey with the magic slide second row seats for these occasions. We get compliments constantly on this feature for it’s flexibility and ease of use. Everyone loves it! We often have two adult passengers in the third row with our forward facing daughter with no issues. The pilot would be really tight for these instances, not going to lie. And if you had extended rear facers in your second row, they’d either have to climb under those seats to get to the “middle aisle” or climb up and through your tailgate to get to the third row. Neither of which would be ideal. If you are still in doubt, take a carseat to the dealer and install it rearfacing in the second row of each vehicle and try it out. This is what we did. I think you’ll have your answer then for sure. Hope this helps!!
Angela
Hi Amy-Thanks for the quick respose. I really appreciate your feedback. I grew up in mini-vans and was hoping for the Honda Pilot to work out just to have something different and the all wheel drive would be nice but not essential for us, but like you said the Odessey would probably be the most practical for our purposes. I did see that the Pilot can come with a bench or captain’s chairs for the second row. If you had the bench option in the Piilot with 2 car seats in the second row, would you be able to access the back easily or is it the same as with the captain’s chairs? We looked at the dealership once and are going to go back in the near future for a second look. Probably will go with the Odessey, but for future knowledge, how do you guys like your Honda Pilot? Maybe when the kids are out of car seats we can make a trade! Thanks so much for the info. Angela
Amy Eilers
I believe the Pilot’s bench is 60/40, so depending if your carseats are slim enough you could put two kids on the 60 side ( http://thecarseatlady.com/vehicles/suv/honda-pilot/ ) and use the 40 side to access the third row more easily! It’s definitely goals for me to drive the Pilot or something similar again. Just more likely when our kids can all buckle themselves! Ha!
Angela
We are probably going to purchase the Odessey as it is more practical. Just have to wait until the kids are bigger for something sportier.
Angela
Thanks Amy!