First, sorry to hear about your accident, I hope everyone got out of it and is doing well.
Moving onto your question:

2014 is the first year after the refresh of the 4th Gen, so yes there are some body style differences, different hood, front grill, foglights, headlamps have black housing, LED tail lamps, new wheels and color matching and rounded side view mirrors. Interior wise, biggest changes are as you state: Push button start, dual green audio/navi and the marketing gimmick of the decade, the vacuum in the trunk for TE (at least to me it is...). Another big plus the 2014 has is that Honda made some updates to the chassis and strengthened it to do better in a small overlap accident, and overall chassis rigidity has been improved. [it should be noted that 2011 - 2013 still did better than any competitors, there are some threads on this].
The biggest negative of the 2014 in my opinion (and many share this opinion) is the Navi lockout when the van is in motion. So if you have a passenger they cannot input an address or POI in the navi while the van is in motion. Next, I personally don't like that they did away with the little tray under the audio commands that the 2011-2013 have, they also moved the USB from the glove box to center stack just below the audio controls. I liked it in the glove box so that my iPod could be out of the way. 2014 also only has 1x 12V outlet in the center stack, previous years have 2x 12v outlets.

We have a 2011 TE, the only thing I wish we could have from the 2014 is the proximity key / push button start and the improved chassis. Other than that, interior wise, I prefer the knob audio/navi controls because I think they are faster and cleaner [plus I have problems with finger prints on stuff so the touch screen would drive me nuts] but adding to that the navi lockout when van is in motion really kills the deal for me. Exterior improvements, the new blue color looks great, I saw one at the dealer the other day. We live in Florida, our van is white and honestly, I don't find the white looks that much better with the new design so that's just personal taste.

Comparing 3rd and 4th gen. Well biggest complains that I remember reading about is styling
Other than that, some miss the 2nd row captain chairs. Also if I remember right the 3rd gen had adjustable pedals, 4th Gen does not. Also, I think some have said 4th gen has less room for the driver (I'm not too tall so I'm ok, I just find the dead pedal to be way too big though).
We test drove a 2010 before buying our 2011 (both vans were new) and I thought the 2010 touring we drove was much louder than the 2011 we bought. However, be careful and drive the van you are going to purchase at highway speeds because 2011 - 2013 have a wind noise issue (ours did, we had the TSB fix and it was resolved). Now I read that some 2014 have whistling noises that seem to be coming from the windshield seals at the top or bottom of the windshield.

Make sure you comb through the ody you are about to purchase. They seem to be putting them together in a bit too much of a hurry. Some in the past I know had paint issues, others have had door jam issues where water would get past the rubber seals. With ours I'm noticing now that on the tailgate some rust seems to be showing through the pain. It looks like yellow/orange dots in some areas showing through the white paint.

Anyways, I'm sure I'm forgetting something but someone here will most certainly fill in what I've missed.

 

white color is prone to show oxidation, use a clay bar to remove it then seal it with some good wax.

 

Thanks for the info! That is really helpful. I told my wife about the Nav lockout and she responded "you shouldn't be messing with that while you are driving anyway". I think it is a pain because we often do long road trips and I will use that to find the next gas or mcdonalds for the kids while we are driving. In West Texas there is no risk of hitting anything except maybe a tumbleweed.

 

You can still do that I believe. If you are driving you can still say, "find nearest fast food" or "find nearest gas station" I think. Others will correct me if I'm wrong. This is my 4th Honda with Navi and the first with the lockout so I could be confusing things. On the upside, you no longer have to actually press "OK" to get the map to display.

 

On the upside, you no longer have to actually press "OK" to get the map to display.

OMG! Is this only on the 2014? This might seal the deal for me. I know it sounds petty but I HATE that and it reminded me every time I started the van!

 

Here is a thread to go through differences between 2012/13 and 2014. I know it may be long, but worth reading:

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/54-2011-odyssey/158246-2014-odyssey-details-vtec-net.html

Other things to keep on mind if you are jumping from a 3rd gen, just in case. There are so many rants here in the forums:

- The 4th Gen "Touring/Touring Elite" TPMS does not have individual tire PSI readouts, just the basic TPMS low tire pressure dashboard light
- It's wider, it does not fit in some garages according to some members
- It does not drive like the 3rd generation sports Odyssey (although handling/dynamics is actually improved, including braking)
- 2nd row inner seat armrests missing and the fact that they can no longer slide together


- Oh, and people are also missing the PAX tire system, what is Honda thinking? (just kidding :stupid

And whatever you buy, test drive it, also test drive it... and ask your wife to test drive it. It sounds funny, but no returns are available once you sign the dotted line

 

I've owned a 2011 EX-L and now own a 2014 TE. I liked how my 2011 drove, but I love how my 2014 drives, it is definitely better. Not fitting in some garages? wow, someone must have a very small not a standard size garage. I've driven a 3rd gen Odyssey and to me it does not drive better at all than the 4th. gen. I would love to have second seat inner arm rests but it is not possible with the current design and the fact that all three seats are separated is a big plus for us (3 kids). I also love all the other bells and whistles that come with the TE except the vacuum cleaner (who needs that in the car?) I love the bigger mirrors with the euro glass on 2014 but wish they would fold to protect them from being hit while parked. Love the tap turn signal option and the keyless start with proximity sensors. I would really like to have an active cruise but that would probably bump the price by another 2 grand.

What I really miss is the small phone compartment under the climate control and the retractable cup holder currently occupied by a DVD player which by the way does not play Bluray discs!?!? I also don't like that on 2014 steering wheel does not lower as much as it did on my 2011 and an MFD that looks smaller and not as user friendly as 2011 was. USB's new location. Not a fan of round fog lights either and the fact that there is only two parking sensors on the front bumper.

Despite all of my personal dislikes I still think that 2014 is a better van than my 2011 was and MUCH better than any of the competition IMHO.

 

The 2014 models also have the improved frontal crash ratings with the beefed up front cage. To me, that alone was worth the cost of buying a 2014 over a used 2013/2012.

 

Hello, I moved from the 2007 Touring to the 2012 TE. The previous posts were spot on in regards to the differences! I test drove several 2014 Tourings and TE's before going with the 2012 with 15K miles and 12K less price.

On the 2012 TE, I don't think you can play the Bluetooth source through the rear speakers; could be wrong but could find that option. It's almost like you have to copy mp3 to the harddrive and play from there.

Definitley less driver room but still comfortable.

Handling is surprisingly nice. I have the OE Michelins "T" rated tires on it still compared to the 2007 Touring, I was running "V" or "W" rated stuff and with the Touring's bigger swaybars, it was predictably tight in the curves. The 2012 handles nicely. Can't wait to add lowering-springs, 20" rims and some stiff rubber and see what this 2012 can do.

One thing I like about the 2014 Touring (not available on the TE) is the passenger-side-mirror camera that displays on NAV screen when activating the right turn-signal. It gives a perfect view of the blind spot. Why it's not available on the 2014 TE is a MYSTERY to me.

Funny, you guys on here know more about the differences than those dealer sales folks. You think if you sold cars, you take the time to be able to explain to customers the features and benefits of your products..wishful thinking I guess.

If anybody knows how to get the Bluetooth source to play throught the rear channel, let me know.

 

Thanks everyone for the responses.

So today we managed to get a sitter for the kids and spent about 4 hours looking at vans. We first went to the Toyota dealer to check out the Sienna. We had narrowed our requirements down to leather, nav, res, and memory seats. All of the options we really think we used all the time on our 2008 touring. (I am super tall and my wife is super short we swap cars often because of car seats and who has what child so we love the memory seats). We looked at an XLE (didn't have memory seats) and a Limited. The problem was the limited was almost 47k MSRP. All the limiteds they had (must have been 6 or 7) had the premium package which was over 4k. The package includes stuff we don't need like reclining middle row seats (like a la-z-boy) and wide screen entertainment etc... We asked if you could get a limited without the premium package and they told us that the vans without the premium package don't have the memory seats. So we would have to buy seats with foot rests to get memory and those seats will have car seats latched to them permanently. Crazy. Plus being 6'3" the front seat has to be all the way up and the back seat is useless when reclined so it is the most ridiculous option I have seen. I am not a foreign dignitary so I don't need those seats on my van. Plus the tracks for the seats are huge gaps in the floor. I can see fruit snacks, goldfish, cheeze-its and all sorts of good stuff being crunched in those tracks. And they were greased which makes it even more lovely. We didn't even drive the van it just seemed like it wasn't a good fit. In fact our salesman used to work at the local Honda dealer and told us that he would recommend we get another Odyssey (he owns one and recommends it over the Sienna). He said he would call if he can figure out a way for us to get memory seats without the reclining feature etc...

Then we went to the Honda dealer. First I would like to say we had the most useless car salesperson I have ever met. They had been selling cars for 3 months and when I had a question would give me an empty description that really didn't even address the question. I don't mind if they get back to me but to just ignore or blow off my questions like they aren't important is ridiculous. I understand the idea of a no pressure sale but you should still be somewhat informed on the product you are selling above and beyond descriptions like "It drives nice". We were fortunate to be able to drive a pre-owned 2012 touring and a 2014 touring. The 2012 we drove first and it rattled and creaked and was pretty abused. I am not sure if that van had major issues and that is why it was traded in but it was pretty bad. My 2008 before it was wrecked seemed like a Lexus compared to that van. I was highly disappointed.

The 2014 was amazing! I am sold. I wish I wasn't because I would like to save some money but I really liked that van. It did have the "OK" on the nav system so am I missing something or do you need the Touring Elite to get rid of that? I think the wheels look awful on the 2014. I was also surprised by how much I like the right lane camera. That was really cool. I think in my eyes the 2014 has enough extra goodies on it to justify buying a new van. The push button start, right camera, dual screens, etc... were all better to me and made it look more comparable to the competition.

Anyway on the 2012 I am concerned by how bad that van was. Are a lot of 4th gen owners seeing their vans start to rattle and creak like that or is that a problem van? Our 2008 was pretty quiet and after we had the buffeting side window problem fixed was really quiet. When we heard a rattle we knew it was some random toy that got lodged somewhere not the van itself. The 2012 was crazy noisy and just felt floppy.

I would rank the vans like this:
2014 touring - 2008 touring - 2013 Town and Country (our rental) - 2012 touring (yes it was that bad).

 

If you are looking at Touring, have you considered the Elite? For me, the 3K difference is worth it for the much better audio, HIDs, Dual input RES, blind spot monitoring on both sides (but you lose the video on the passenger side), and the HondaVac.

I actually like the wheels


Now ow you have me wondering about the nag screen on the navi. Does anyone else with a TE not have to press "OK"?

 

I read in the manual last night that you are right it will go to the map by default. Not sure why on the test drive it didn't do it. Maybe it was in a different mode?

The reason we aren't considering the Elite is it is just a lot of money to me. I am still in denial we'll be spending 40k on a car. I got my '08 used with about 40k miles and it was like brand new because it was a courtesy shuttle and had no damage at all to the interior. We paid I think 25k for that one. I have never paid more than 30k for a car and I am already stressing about the 40k even though I can afford it. I am just cheap by nature. If we wouldn't have gotten the touring on the last model we could have probably lived with an EX-L with the RES. I just HAVE to have the memory seats. I am 6'4" and my wife is just over 5 foot and we swap cars all the time depending who has what kids because of the car seats. I have a 2005 Tacoma Double Cab and it fits 2 kids ok but if I have more than one I will usually take the van. The memory seats make life so nice. So our requirements are RES and memory seats. The Touring is the cheapest van on the market with those options and still is reliable. (Except for maybe the Quest. To me it looks hideous and I don't even think about it when I shop. Plus in my eyes the Quest doesn't hold its value.)

Oh, OK. My van has the light gray interior and the carpet looks pretty much the same as the 3 up there, including the 3rd picture (2014 EX-L smoky topaz metallic and truffle).

Here is another one, same van:

2014 New Honda Odyssey 5dr EX-L at Honda Cars of Rock Hill, SC, IID 10925254

Thanks I am going to have to check it out closer. At least it give me another option. I thought the third photo up above was the truffle but I think my computer is playing color tricks on me. They don't look that different to me on photos online but when I saw them in person I definitely like the Truffle more. Maybe it is because we used to have a Pilot with the gray interior and I guess it doesn't seem special anymore because I had it so long. I also had an Accord with a tan leather interior so maybe that is why we want the truffle because it is different.

I believe they did some suspension tweaking and I am sure that the new ACE body structure may have a lot to do with it too. All I can say for sure is that it rides more solid than my 2011 did.

The 2014 rode really nice! I really loved the ride and the handling. It was definitely the most rigid feeling van I have driven. I would say the 2008 we had felt more firm than the 2012 I drove but the 2014 had the sporty steering feeling almost as much as the '08 but the ride wasn't as harsh and I feel that is because the chassis felt so firm. I used to own a 05 mustang GT and it had a super stiff chassis and it really helps with the driving dynamics quite a bit even if the suspension is soft.

 

Navigation should be the same for all trims that have it. Perhaps the confirmation screen goes away on its own after sometime w/o pressing OK

 

Yep, after about 5 secs or so. As far as the trim, it is either EX-L or TE, everything else doesn't make sense. at least to me.

 

Ours doesn't really rattle or anything yet. We have 32000 miles or so, but it's always garage kept. I'm not sure if it being in the sun more often would loosen up some of the fittings.

It could very well be that unit that had assembly issues. Cabin noise seems to vary quite a lot from one unit to another.

Quick question OdysseyTE; do think your new van drives better because it is a trim upgrade, meaning bigger wheels rims, and smaller series tires? Or do you think something changed through the years to account for the difference?

 

I believe they did some suspension tweaking and I am sure that the new ACE body structure may have a lot to do with it too. All I can say for sure is that it rides more solid than my 2011 did.

 

Thanks I will have to look again. The 2012 gray interior was definitely lighter carpet than the 2014 truffle interior which I don't see that grey in the images above. Plus I don't think the first image is a 2014 because the taillights are different than the second photo. We prefer the truffle over the gray interior. I haven't seen the tan interior yet but I would guess it is too light for us. We want the darkest interior we can get.

 

The 2012 gray interior was definitely lighter carpet than the 2014 truffle interior which I don't see that grey in the images above.

Oh, OK. My van has the light gray interior and the carpet looks pretty much the same as the 3 up there, including the 3rd picture (2014 EX-L smoky topaz metallic and truffle).

Here is another one, same van:

2014 New Honda Odyssey 5dr EX-L at Honda Cars of Rock Hill, SC, IID 10925254

 

It's a shame they don't offer more colors with the Beige interior. I really like the beige we have, it would have been nice if that Obsidian Blue came with Beige. I too am not a fan of the gray interior.
Try and see the pricing though, because I too agree that if you're going to go for a Touring, you might as well go for an Elite. Especially since you want the RES, and the RES + audio is much nicer in my opinion in the Touring Elite. Also, does the Touring have speakers in the 3rd row? I forgot which system you need to get that feature. Also, again I really like the rear theater mode, we use it every trip we take, actually whenever there's a movie on the RES, we switch it to theater mode. We don't want to put headphones on the kids and without it, most of the sound comes from the speaker on the dash right above the navi display.
The HIDs to me also hold a lot of value to me. I didn't drive a 4gen Ody with regular halogen bulbs, so I can't compare the two. But I drove the wife's accord at night (prior to having the odyssey which we traded it for) and I really missed having HID beams.

Anyways, if you settle for the EX-L trim, then ya 7k or whatever the gap to a TE is a bit steep, but if you are strongly considering a Touring, I personally would recommend the TE.
In our case as well the van was the most we had paid for a car, but we want to keep it for years (7-10 if possible) and I figured that the extra features would get used plenty (HIDs mostly, but I'm surprised how much I enjoy the rear theater mode and also the Blind Spot Sensors, which to me were useless feature I didn't want prior to buying the van).

 

Now you have me intrigued by this theater mode thing. I was envisioning the 12 speaker being an extra speaker in the center of the dash and maybe some other midrange/tweets where the original speakers are located. If this adds a 3rd row speaker set then I might be interested. We never get to listen to music in our car because our youngest is 2 and won't put on headphones. So now I am wondering how the theater mode is different than what we had on our 2008. The other issue with the 2008 we had is the sub overpowered the 3rd row passengers and we had to turn the speakers way up so they could hear the movie over the sub. Does the Elite solve that?

 

Yep, the TE has a third row speakers

 

Ya, I know the TE does, but I don't know if the Touring has them

About rear theater mode, what it does is that it shuts off the front speakers (I'm not sure about the ones in the front and passenger door, but definitely shuts off the 2 small ones on the dash by the A pillars and the center one right above the navi display) then it turns on the 2 small speakers on the ceiling next to the RES directing sound towards the 2nd row passengers.

The way you activate this mode is a bit stupid, you have to go in sound settings and shift the fade all the way to the back and then it enters this 'theater mode'. I wish there was a button to toggle it back and forth more easily. Because after the movie if you switch to CD, Radio, etc for music you are still in this mode till you shift the music back towards the front. You have to make sure you shift it all the way to the back to enter this mode though, if you are just 1 click away from all the way to the rear the front speakers will be really low but the ones on the ceiling won't be enabled.
As far as bass overpowering, I can't compare with a 2008, but it's perfectly fine in our 2011 TE. The only thing I struggle with sometimes is movies have some quite parts, so they ask me to turn it up some so they can hear voices, then BAM action kicks in and we have to turn it back down. But honestly I have the same thing going on with the stereo at home.

 

Thanks everyone! I am picking up my Silver/Truffle 2014 Touring Elite today. I first shopped at our local no hassle dealer but they are asking almost 4k more for the TE than the Touring. They have a much bigger discount on the touring than the TE. I think 1k off of MSRP on the TE and 2.5k off of the Touring. When I tried Costco it said no dealers are honoring the Costco price in my area. I then had the idea to try a zip code 60 miles away on the Costco website and a dealer contacted me with a deal about 2k lower than the price that the local no hassle dealer wanted for a TE. And about 900 cheaper than that dealer for the Touring. I then emailed that info to another dealer closer to me and they were able to give me another 500 less than that deal on the TE so I am about 500 under invoice now for the TE. They had no Tourings so I am going to pick up the TE. I was quoted all the fees/TTL so I know what I am getting into. Also they throw in a Lifetime warranty. I don't know how good that is but the price is right so if it ever pays out that is just a bonus.

Thanks again for your help!

 

wow congratz, I'm sure you'll enjoy the extra features of the TE!

 

Nice! TE is the way to go, you won't be sorry!

 

I had to drive home and run a couple errands in the new van tonight. We had a good couple hours to get acquainted. I love the sound system. I am jealous as this is my wife's car. I also live the taillights and I can't believe how bright the headlights are.

All the the blinking stuff will take some getting used to like the LDW and blind spot stuff.

 

We are thrilled with our van. We used the vacuum in the parking lot of a fast food place just for fun at lunch because we could. It is funny you mention the shortage of TE in Cali. We had the opposite. There are way more TEs available here than tourings. That is why we got one it was way easier to negotiate because more dealers had them.

 

How do I know I have a 2013 Touring Elite instead of a Touring. I bought one and it does not the blind side warning so I think it is not an Elite.

 

Elite is the only trim level with a vacuum.

 

Touring Elite has the ultra-wide screen RES. If your Odyssey has the standard size screen, you have a Touring. Additionally, TEs are the only trim that have HID lights.

 

I've got a 2013 Ody TE I just bought about a two weeks ago and am currently riding in on way to Mount Rushmore. I get bluetooth audio only up front as well, none of the rear speakers do a thing UNLESS(!) I close the RES screen. Then everything joins in. It makes sense I guess as the kids don't want to hear my music while playing games and watching movies.

 

Jeff. I bet the Rear Power button is pressed/green. Turn that off and you should hear audio in the rear.