- There are some cars out there that are just,
well they are just a little bit hideous, okay?
When SUVs and CUVs came onto the market everybody
wanted one, but once you actually looked at them,
they looked a little bit like a bean sprout
driving down the road,
until a couple of European Auto manufacturers
decided to make some performance versions
and then all of a sudden they were cool, alright?
But back then, there was another car company
that was already making cool SUVs, CUVs
but they weren't either of those things, they were minivans.
I'm Alex, @alex.f1 on Instagram.
In today's episode of behind the wheel,
we're taking a look at Andrew's 2006 Honda Odyssey Absolute
rear hand, right hand drive.
(hiphop music)
So Andrew's Honda Odyssey Absolute
is lowered on BC racing Coil overs with Swift Springs,
hard race, front and rear upper control arms
square set up the wet sports TC 105 NS 18 by
nine and a half with a 35 offset wrapped around
and 245/40ZR18 continental extreme context, DWS06.
We're looking at a fire back axle back exhaust.
Authentic mugen grill and Medula rear spoiler
with a three inch air intake.
Probably the first thing and the most unique thing
about this is that it's a right hand drive,
Honda Odyssey Absolute.
So these came from overseas.
Not only that, but it's wedssports TC105x.
And it's got probably one of my favorite tires ever.
It's got the extreme contact continental's okay.
There's nothing wrong that you can do with this setup.
And the fact that it's on a right hand drive minivan.
I mean it just (beep).
I don't know what you want me to tell you, it's so cool.
And the best thing about this,
it got feel like iconic Honda Civic style,
front generation headlights, bumper styling.
It just looks so cool.
And it's got the right windshield,
just like the civic generation of the same period,
that paired with this lovely front bumper.
And he pretty much got a bang on minivan
that looks like from the front.
It could probably be a coupe car.
Well, look at that you don't need this.
The coolest thing about this, is the fact
that it is just that it's like a minivan.
It's got the 2.4 litre it's got the Vtech,
which means it can go super it's really slow.
Let's just go for a drive.
That's not where we are.
That's not where we are at all.
I think the neatest thing about this is just,
well first off, it's obviously right hand drive
and we've already driven
a couple right hand drive vehicles in the series already.
So you're like Alex,
what's the difference between this right hand drive vehicle
and most of your hand drive vehicle?
Okay let me share that with you.
First off, this is a newer right hand drive vehicle.
This is a 2006 Honda Odyssey Absolute.
This isn't a 1991 or 1993, where for the most part,
all cars from that era, especially the JDM import cars,
they all kind of looked the same,
especially on the interior.
I've not been in a JDM car of the early 2000
or mid 2005 era.
That's been right-hand drive.
And so I'm sure technology is pretty similar
to the Honda Odyssey here in the States,
but to see it, that looks so new is kind of weird.
This is my garage door opener and it's shaking.
And I'm sorry, one of the coolest
things about Andrew's Honda Odyssey Absolute is the fact
that it is so different.
I mean, it is a minivan, it fits seven people.
There's seven people that could be in this car right now.
And it's interesting and it's neat, is it fast?
(car engine roaring)
No, it's not even remotely fast.
I couldn't even think about being fast
if I wanted to be fast.
And it tells me I'm going, whatever
the speed limit kilometers an hour is.
But we're not really going that fast.
Okay so here's the trick.
If you own a right hand drive vehicle,
you want to use the left stock.
Don't use the left stock, use the right stock.
That's where it gets awfully confusing
for people like you and people like me.
One thing I will say about the car
when it comes down to probably one of the more difficult
things that you're going to have to deal
with is just quite simply the fact that,
there is little to absolutely no aftermarket support
for this vehicle, for this right hand drive van,
it just doesn't exist.
And if it does exist, it's really hard
to get a hold of the parts are difficult to
source any sort of repair liability.
Things are going to be tough to, to hang on to.
And it's just over on that,
an easy platform to be a part of and to modify.
If you can deal with that, you should be good to go.
A lot of people say, well you know,
there's gotta be you as variants of the same parts
and there might be.
But unfortunately, the way that the world works
with these International car manufacturers,
they do make different parts for different countries,
depending on the emissions and the safety regulations
and all that sort of stuff.
So it's not as cross as you think
it's not as cross platform, as one would believe.
But i can say about it is that it does a great job
at keeping the ride comfortable,
but it's still sporty on the outside.
It still looks super aggressive on the outside.
It definitely is something that you don't normally see
rolling down the road.
And for that, you can't help,
but give it a couple of bonus points
because everyone's so used to at least up here.
That's a nice Turkey, happy Thanksgiving.
You can't fault it for being different.
And it definitely breaks necks
for those that know what they're looking at
or at least have like basic grasp on what the JDM culture is
and what it's about, what things look like.
Because this accomplishes
that they are near almost perfectly.
It's such a cool vehicle to be driving around
the amount of space that you have
and the fact that you can fit seven people in here.
And it doesn't sound terrible.
(car engine roaring)
You're definitely not getting it like for speed
or anything like that.
So you gotta be okay with that.
You see it, put my finger on the left stock.
Not doing it, It's not today.
All right, we're going this way with the right turn stock.
Stock, stock, stock.
The coolest thing about this, though, in all honesty,
the real coolest thing is that a lot of people,
when they see minivans,
especially right hand drive minivans
or minivans in general that are modified.
They're like, why?
Like, why would you do that?
That doesn't make any sense, like go buy.
You could've got a chaser.
You could have went and got like an Evo3
or something like that.
You could have got literally anything else but a minivan.
This has a cool history.
Minivans as an aftermarket vehicle,
have a massive history and especially minivans overseas in
Japan and things like that have a massive community
where people, that is what they specialize in.
They modify minivans, they modify Honda Odyssey Absolute.
They modify these platforms specifically because they can.
Up here and especially in North America, for some reason,
we pick and choose our particular favorites,
but we haven't really gone through that much,
except earlier in like the seventies and eighties,
when the minivan craze actually hit the States for at least
a decade or two, and it was super hot.
You'd see a ton of minivans that were modified,
slammed on the ground.
Super wide, had a 350 right in the dead center.
And it was a super big blast.
And people would talk about how they had the shifter
literally like attached right over here
on top of the motor practically.
And that was a good time.
But for some reason between the nineties
and early two thousands, a lot of that went away.
It got towards where everybody wanted to just run.
It almost got more narrow- minded
with what vehicles you could modify.
And so to see an imported Honda Odyssey Absolute
riding around in Wisconsin, where the winters are cold
and the cheese is okay and the burgers are lackluster,
but we throw a lot of butter on them,
which makes them even better.
You know what I'm saying?
It is cool to see ,it's a breath of fresh air.
It's something different that not a lot of people are used
to and in the car community, what I will say is the fact
that when it comes down to having something different,
having something unique,
that's what the car community is all about.
That's the point of having things that are different and
Andrew's Odyssey Absolute does that.
Not only that it's super clean, it fits seven people.
It rides fantastic.
It's like the ultimate daily that I know he probably doesn't
plan on daily, mostly because the moment something breaks,
it's going to be like three weeks to source the part.
And then another two and a half weeks to source the people
that can actually put the part in.
And then you got to figure out
if that's the right part or is it USA part or not USA part.
What I can say though, on top of everything,
no matter happens here.
I'm going to the back walking behind that trash can.
You better believe it.
One thing I will say about it though, on top of all else,
if you have taken nothing else from this,
the Honda Odyssey is still trying to figure out where the
hell I am on the Nav screen.
It just keeps turning endlessly in a sea of abyss.
It's trying its best, but it's kind of sad.
That is such an awkward looking button.
This is a minivan that has an absolute body kit, okay.
This is a minivan that has dual exhaust.
It's a minivan that fits seven people.
That's right hand drive,
that has little rain, splash guards for you.
And that's on WedsSport wheels.
It's on extreme Continentals.
It's got a mugen front bumper.
Front bumper mesh piece, but besides the point
it is by all definitions, a super cool,
super sleek, super sleeper.
That's actually a sleeper cause it's extremely slow.
Minivan, what else could you want in a car
that you're trying to daily drive,
besides the fact that you can't get an FM stereo
to save your life because the frequency
doesn't work the same as it does in Japan?
Or what about the fact
that I can't read a single thing on there?
It doesn't matter because you can throw a CD in there.
You can listen to some red bone
and you'll be happily on your way.
When it comes down to actually owning one of these
cars, it's a little bit of a toughie.
The parts are hard to source.
It's difficult to keep alive,
but it is cool to look at.
And for that very reason I give Andrew's car a 24 out of 30.
The best thing about it is the fact
that it is so neat and probably the toughest thing
about it is that it is so very neat.
I just wonder like how long something
like this will stay alive.
I mean, in all honesty, it is super cool.
It's a little too toned,
but the headlights are super awesome.
It's got the wheels, it's got the suspension,
fitment industries that kind.
But I mean, when it comes down to a JDM minivan of all cars,
the support is going to be the biggest difficulty.
Once things start to break,
it's going to be extremely difficult
to get all that shit.
I mean when you really think
about the difficulty of getting.