Honda Odyssey Vs. Toyota Sienna: Top Trims Compared

Battered old minivans are often a sad sight, torn to pieces by growing families over the years, and essentially nothing more than panel vans with two more rows of seats, and an abundance of glass instead of solid sides. The minivan market is totally different in 2024 though, thankfully, as both the 2025 Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey seem keen to prove. Here, in this comparison of the Toyota Sienna vs Honda Odyssey, we compare only the flagship trims, which are respectively dubbed Platinum and Elite.

CarBuzz has sourced all information from publicly available archives from each of the manufacturers. This comparison takes into account manufacturer-supplied specifications as well as test drive experience, where available.

What’s The Point Of A Fully Loaded Minivan?

The purpose of a minivan is easily understood – they are designed for cramming families, along with all of their belongings, into one vehicle, without forcing them to feel cramped. In short, a minivan must maximize the space available, while offering a minimum of seven seats, although usually eight. A fully loaded minivan takes the recipe further still, by adding all the amenities one would usually associate with a premium or luxury car.

Before now, minivans were often built to a cost, with little in the way of luxury creeping inside. However, brands such as Honda and Toyota now offer highly equipped minivan models, brimming with impressive tech, smart audio systems, and a near-endless list of creature comforts to keep the whole family happy.

Toyota Vs. Honda: Who Makes The Best High-Spec Minivan?

Determining which is best – the 2025 Honda Odyssey Elite or the 2025 Toyota Sienna Platinum – requires us to consider a variety of metrics. Both are impressively equipped, remarkably spacious, and surprisingly capable minivans, but both excel in different areas.

To begin with, let’s take a look at the proportions of both models:

Honda’s Odyssey manages to boast an extra 1.5 inches in length and an extra 1.1 inches in height, while still coming in considerably lighter – by 135 lbs. That lightness will be due to many factors, namely the interior layout, but also the powertrains supplied. While the Sienna is shorter overall, it boasts a longer wheelbase, by 2.4 inches. This longer wheelbase should mean a more spacious cabin, as wheel wells usually encroach upon interior space. The Honda and Toyota both come in at 78.5 inches wide, so it would be a fair assumption at this stage that shoulder room on three rows would be quite similar.

Design: Toyota Opts For A More Aggressive Approach

Honda’s Redesign Puts Function Ahead Of Form

The 2025 Honda Odyssey has recently been redesigned, and it now boasts a fresh grille in addition to new front and rear bumpers, plus stylish new 18- and 19-inch alloy wheels – the larger of which are standard equipment on the flagship Elite trim. The 2025 Odyssey does not pretend to be anything it isn’t, so instead of boasting sporty aggressive looks, a friendly fascia is chosen, while the rest of the car does very little to stand out from the crowd. That’s no bad thing; the Odyssey sports a grown-up and functional aesthetic.

Sporty Looks Come As Standard With The Toyota Sienna

Minivans are typically thought of as being dull cars, and that’s because they are built to be practical, rather than fun or engaging. However, Toyota has done what it can to inject some personality into its latest Sienna minivan, by providing it with a more energetic design than models such as the Honda.

A wide grille dominates the front fascia, while slim Bi-LED projector headlights provide an angular and aggressive aesthetic to the Sienna. It’s clearly a more dynamic looking vehicle, and arguably more premium-looking too, thanks to details like the machined-finish 20-inch alloy wheels, and chrome accents – details which are exclusive to the Platinum model.

Performance: Power Or Efficiency? Pick Your Priorities

In many ways, the Honda Odyssey Elite and Toyota Sienna Platinum are both remarkably similar, which makes sense, as both cars are destined for very similar audiences, and both are produced by Japanese automakers on a global scale. However, there are key differences, and under the hood is where arguably the biggest disparities between these two minivans lurk. The Toyota Sienna vs. Honda Odyssey specs can be seen below.

*Best city/highway/combined ratings in the range

Honda Prioritizes Power Over Efficiency

If you subscribe to the age-old ‘there’s no replacement for displacement’ theory, then the Honda with its 3.5-liter V6 engine would be the obvious choice. The Honda doesn’t just boast a larger displacement either, but with 280 horsepower at its disposal, and 262 lb-ft of torque, it’s notably more powerful than the Sienna. Towing capacity sits at 3,500 lbs for both of these minivans, so in terms of performance and capability, the Honda looks to be the better choice.

All 2025 Odysseys feature a proven 280-hp (SAE net @ 6,000 rpm) V6 engine and a smooth-shifting 10-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters.

Toyota’s Sienna Is By Far The More Economical Choice

While the Toyota does lack in both power and displacement, kicking out 245 horses from a 2.5-liter inline-four hybrid powertrain, it excels in arguably more relevant ways. Most importantly, the Sienna Platinum returns 36 mpg on average, or 35 mpg when specified as an all-wheel-drive model. That’s up to 14 mpg on average better than the Honda Odyssey, which in turn is only available as a front-wheel-drive minivan. The combination of a four-cylinder engine and CVT in the Sienna isn’t as pleasurable or refined as the Odyssey’s smooth V6 and conventional automatic, though.

Interior And Tech: Little To Separate These Premium Minivans

Anything you would expect to find in a flagship BMW or Audi, you’d also find it wrapped up inside these remarkable Japanese minivans. Gone are the days in which a minivan just had to boast seven seats and a hoard of cupholders in order to be successful. Both the Honda and Toyota here pack a plethora of premium amenities as standard, when specified at the highest trim levels.

Digital driver’s clusters, smart infotainment screens, wireless music connectivity and a hoard of smart safety features are standard here. It’s not just tech either, as both the Honda Odyssey Elite and Toyota Sienna Platinum boast heated and ventilated leather seating, in addition to powered moonroofs, and multi-zone climate control. The only feature that separates these two models is a rear-seat entertainment sytem, which is standard for the Odyssey, but a cost-extra option for the Toyota.

There’s Room Inside For Everything And Everyone

Picking between the Toyota Sienna vs. Honda Odyssey in terms of interior space is a nigh-on impossible task. Looking through the dimensions below reveals why – where one beats the other in terms of head or legroom, it’s almost a given that the other provides more shoulder or hip room, and then the tables are turned again when you measure up one of the other rows.

The Sienna does sport more headroom in the first and second rows, although the Honda provides a touch more headroom on the third row. The exact opposite is true for legroom, with the Odyssey proving more spacious across the first two rows, while the Sienna offers just over half an inch more for third-row occupants.

In terms of cargo space, another key consideration for a minivan, the Honda wins by a more comfortable margin. It has up to 38.6/91/155.8 cubic feet behind its third/second/third rows. The Sienna’s figures are 33.5/75.2/101 cubic feet behind its first/second/third rows.

• 2025 Toyota Sienna Platinum AWD

  Front Seat Headroom

  40.1 in

  Front Seat Shoulder Room

  62.4 in

  Front Seat Hip Room

  59.6 in

  Front Seat Leg Room

  40.3 in

  Rear Seat Headroom

  39.9 in

  Rear Seat Shoulder Room

  62.7 in

  Rear Seat Hip Room

  66.2 in

  Rear Seat Leg Room

  39.9 in

  Third Row Headroom

  37.4 in

  Third Row Shoulder Room

  58.5 in

  Third Row Hip Room

  48.8 in

  Third Row Leg Room

  38.7 in

  Expand

• 2025 Honda Odyssey Elite

  Front Seat Headroom

  38.7 in

  Front Seat Shoulder Room

  63.1 in

  Front Seat Hip Room

  58.6 in

  Front Seat Leg Room

  40.9 in

  Rear Seat Headroom

  39.2 in

  Rear Seat Shoulder Room

  61.6 in

  Rear Seat Hip Room

  64.8 in

  Rear Seat Leg Room

  40.9 in

  Third Row Headroom

  38.3 in

  Third Row Shoulder Room

  60 in

  Third Row Hip Room

  48.4 in

  Third Row Leg Room

  38.1 in

  Expand

Pricing: One Offers A Huge Saving Over The Other

So far, these two high-end minivans have been remarkably well-matched throughout this comparison. The Toyota is more economical and boasts a sharper design, whereas the Honda provides more power, more cargo space, and rear-seat entertainment as standard.

However, the pricing of these two models is anything but similar – the 2025 Honda Odyssey Elite is available for just $50,880, which is around 10% cheaper than the 2025 Toyota Sienna Platinum’s $56,145 starting price. That’s a considerable saving, although the Sienna does try hard to justify the extra expense, by offering shoppers the choice of front or all-wheel drive, in addition to packing a hybrid powertrain, which has the ability to save owners a small fortune in gas costs. As a straight comparison though, in terms of price, the Odyssey wins hands down, coming in $5,265 cheaper than its Toyota rival.

* Excludes options, destination, and any rebates

Summary: It All Comes Down To The Details

So, should you get the Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna? Truth be told, both of these fully loaded models make for extraordinarily competent minivans. Neither of them are tight on space or shy on options, which is the key brief for a high-spec minivan, and the differences don’t really appear until you dive a little deeper.

Deciding which would suit you best all depends upon how you plan on using your minivan. Those who pile on the miles will no doubt find it easier to justify the higher asking price of the hybrid Sienna, although, if local school trips are all you take on, the Odyssey looks to be a smart buy with an initial saving of over $5,000 on the table. It’s a similar story comparing space and tech, too, with each model one-upping the other on different metrics – neither is better than the other, they’re just different, and not by much either.

Sources:
Toyota
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Honda