The minivan market was expanding in Europe, and Honda introduced the Shuttle in 1995, which was improved three years later.
Honda was not very good with the minivans, and it learned how to build them the hard way. After launching the Accord-based Shuttle in 1995, it started to gather customers' complaints and wrote them down. Later on, it fixed most of those issues, even though there were not too many things to do. Customer satisfaction was already high.
The front part of the car received a new treatment for the lower bumper, where a wider, single-piece grille was installed. Honda tried to make a better connection with the Accord's look and installed a chromed rim on the upper grille, from the hood. In the rear, there was a new set of taillights, which included bigger reversing lights. It looked like the drivers had problems while backing up due to lack of visibility.
Inside, Honda made room for up to seven people. They did that by raising the seats' height and thus allowed better legroom for all seven. The last row was better suited for kids, but even shorter adults could stay there or handle the situation for a short trip. With its instrument cluster inspired by the Accord, Honda offered the right information for the driver. The only thing that changed inside was the material's quality, which was improved.
Under the hood, Honda installed a 2.3-liter engine for all the markets and dropped the previously used 2.2-liter unit. For selected markets, the 3.0-liter V6 was kept. Both versions were fitted as standard to a 5-speed manual, while a 4-speed automatic was on the options list. Also, for selected markets, Honda offered the Shuttle with an all-wheel-drive system.