Honda Freed is a 4-seater MPV now!

This is an 'official' JPEG image in my inbox from Honda Malaysia.
Strange how all of a sudden it becomes a 4-seater PREMIUM minivan.

In which case, it makes better sense to just get that Perodua Alza since it seats five, unless you're a diehard for Toyota Aphard-esque powered sliding doors!

Honda Freed: "you'll know it when we tell you" MPV is now available in Malaysia

Indonesian-made 7-seater compact MPV from Honda is now available as a PREMIUM segment people mover for 'only' RM112,980 on-the-road.

Interested in an Asean MPV that's way smaller than say, the Toyota Innova in all departments? Then head on over to your favorite Honda dealer and make 'em smile!

Honda Freed to be an ambitious RM118,000 compact 1.5L MPV in Malaysia?

Right this moment, the online automotive news scene is abuzz with Honda Malaysia's latest ambitious Indonesian project worth RM115,000 to RM118,000 a piece. Well, certainly the media has 'just' known about it "as and when they were told so" - the time is ripe since we're already into month of March and soon into Q2 2010.

When this piece of expensive utter rubbish gets on the road, I shall enjoy seeing what press release that specific 'Head' of PR/Marketing will issue, following how good acceptance (blah! blah! blah!) this will be.. since the launch was such a well-kept secret allegedly by Honda Malaysia.

Anyone wants a fancy - but taller, Merc A-Class-like stationwagon - Perodua Alza-esque MPV at almost twice the price? I certainly don't see the point since the Alza EZi drives almost like a Toyota Vios.

Related post:
Honda Malaysia's new Freed to be nudging slightly under RM120k?

Honda Malaysia's new Freed MPV to be launched soon....pricing expected to be nudging slightly under RM120k!

Although a certain top official from Honda Malaysia was so evasive and tight-lipped about their new Freed mini/compact MPV when enquired upon recently, their dealers' sales representatives are currently busy undergoing product raining at their Melaka plant office.

Details are still sketchy about the actual date of launch (expected sometime April 2010), but prices are expected to be steep with the higher grade to be tagged closed to RM120,000! Imagine a Honda City SW (that's stationwagon in plain speak) with a third row of seats thrown in. Heck, it even carries over the ubiquitous, mass-produced 1.5 i-VTEC lump found in the Jazz/City duo. Sourced from Indonesia - with AFTA/CEPT and whatever tariff breaks bullshit factored in - and yet this one is expected to hover dangerously close to an imported Mitsubishi Lancer 2.0GTS Ralliart (fully CBU from Japan, 2.0L class)!

Suddenly makes the national mini-MPV Perodua Alza 1.5 so much more an excellent buy...no?

Which would you rather drive on the Federal Highway in Kuala Lumpur at 6pm on weekdays?

Hmmm...another Toyota Prius (3rd gen) versus Honda Civic Hybrid IMA shootout?

Look closer...the Civic unit above is a plain vanilla Civic 1.8 i-VTEC, a perennial top seller in its segment for these couple of years in Malaysia. The comparo is unintentional but makes for delectable food-for-thought that for RM115k versus RM175k (no prize for guessing which is which), many of us 'smart' consumers and motorists alike would be better off saving the RM60,000. More than enough for petrol costs for over say, the 5 - 7 years of motoring/hire-purchasing? I think someone has this base covered with the Civic hybrid versus Civic 1.8 sometime back and he's with a popular online news portal now. Anyway, keep your little calculator stashed away, you can never compute the RM60,000 in savings unless you drive the Prius to Mars and back over 10 years.

I would have totally agreed to the above had it not for the massively unpredictable (or is it unpredictably massive?) traffic jams on our Federal Highway during rush hours. Or after a traffic accident on either side of the highway capable of causing both sides to just choked up! Ironically, sometimes for no noticeable reason at all.

Looking at the rather feminine Prius outlook (especially in pearl white, as above), I was totally taken a back when I found it cool to be caught in traffic jams. Yes totally cool...figuratively and literally. The DC motorised airconditioner compressor totally rocks with its whisper cooling, even when the combustion engine is not running.

Furthermore, if you have tried a DC inverter airconditioner at home you'd realised that there's no off-cycle to the cooling. Say, even if you set at 26 deg Celcius, the air vents will still blow cool air on a cold morning albeit at a lower 'concentration'. No more sticky, stale (occasionally moldy/smelly) or that transient warmer air blowing when the regular crank-belt-driven A/C compressor of an automobile (or regular home alternating current A/C compressor) cuts off. Lovely.

The 3rd gen Prius is mighty impressive at start up. After the Ni-Mh battery pack has warmed up, the vehicle is totally silent as you reverse out of your car porch. Zero emissions for the part of (cold-start) driving that's most polluting. Of course, the Civic Hybrid (2nd gen) has a part-time electric A/C compressor that works in stationary condition - at traffic lights - but once you get moving again, the engine has to restart. That's what termed as soft-hybrid i.e. with a small electric motor. Not for the latest Prius when you do say 10 km/h - and most of the period in a bumper-to-bumper crawl - dependent on load and state of battery charge of course. It's a great feeling to see the onboard computer reading 0l/100km/h of fuel consumption in a traffic snarl!



For those interested (who's not these days?) in fuel efficiency facts, the Prius' on-board computer displayed an average figure of 5.6l/100km. With some hard driving, mostly calm cruising, the tripmeter was reading 514.7km + another 136km to go before empty. Isn't this so darn cool too?

Now you can't chill out so much in a regular Civic 1.8, can you? :)

2009 Honda City: A Vios' owner perspective

By: Kyle Quek




WOW! That was my first reaction when I saw the 3rd generation Honda City. Styling wise, it was a no-brainer ace. A total departure from the previous model. Clearly, I was impressed, at least on the way the car looked. What about the drive, I wondered? On paper, the specs looked really good: i-VTEC, paddle shifters and a 5 speed auto transmission in a B-segment car. And at under RM90K, surely such a package is value- for-money. After all, its nearest competitor, the Toyota Vios (even in 'S' trim) is unable to meet it spec-for-spec.

Well, jumping into the driver’s seat, the cabin looks nice enough. The silver-colored trim on the center console was a bit cheesy for my taste. But what the heck, it’s supposed to be sportier so I guess it may be appropriate in that sense. Seats are firm, the meter panels are well positioned and prominent: no letdown here.

My disappointment came as soon as I stepped on the gas pedal. Somehow, the City lacks the initial pick-up pace which I am used to in my Vios. A few more stab on the accelerator confirmed that for me. Moving along, the driving experience reminds me much of my Toyota: gear changes are smooth and cabin noise levels also somewhat similar. The other difference I noted was that the suspension was sending most of the unevenness on the road back into the car: I can feel almost everything, a stone, a dent on the tarmac. Maybe this is because it has stiffer damping compared to the Vios. In contrast, my Vios consistently returns a very comfy ride especially when it was new (I have mine for over 2 years now), with minimal bumps and vibrations from the road.

Despite this, the new City still gives an overall impression of a pleasant drive. It has clever packaging and will surely deliver satisfaction to the owner. Undeniably, choosing and buying a car will depend on the buyer’s preference, and that will boil down to each and every model/make different strengths and weaknesses.

A weekend in the City!

There’s a lot you can tell by a name. Honda named their B-segment budget sedan City, much like the urban township which many examples will find home to. Interestingly, this sub-compact, which started life as an ASEAN only model, is also more apt for intra-city/suburb drives than for true inter-state jaunts. Hence its all-telling and meaningful nomenclature?

Into its 3^rd generation (as a sedan, the first one was a JDM mini hatch) the City has indeed matured and grown up. External sheet metals are tauter now, with more angular lines and sharper contours. The arrow-form shape is tensibly palpable as visualised from the shot shown above. Neat, smart looking and to a certain extent being copied by Kia's upcoming Cerato Forte.

Step into the new City's cabin, the dashboard, door trim and especially, Honda’s ‘universal’ dish wok steering wheel greets you, conveying a more serious demeanour, more like a junior Civic than an entry-level sedan. The last one was more MPV-ish in nature.

It’s inevitable that the City draw many parallels with the Toyota Vios since both are undeniably competitors in the same segment and in the same price range (within that few thousand ringgit plus or minuses, depending on trim level). Honda’s local chapter has denied that their new offspring is meant to compete head-on with the Vios, not at least in the numbers game. After all, they are not interested in delivering beyond some two thousand units per month from their Melaka Pegoh's assembly plant. As such, waiting period for the 1.5S is averaging about two months while the higher spec 1.5E’s incubation for interested buyers has dragged on to about 4 months. Meanwhile, over at the other camp, the Vios is being Frankenstein-ed with TRD decals, fancy paints plus ‘sport’ accessories. At Toyota showrooms level, there are enticing overtrade, down payment rebates, low interest rates, discounted standard bodykit and the list goes on. Very telling on who is after sales volume in numbers. So, it is a foregone conclusion which model will be the bestseller come end-2009 when the all revealing total sales figures are tallied and released by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA).

By now, if you have not fallen asleep with the cold facts above, I supposed most will naturally ask: “So, which is the better car?” While I can’t really tell you with definitive authority – this isn’t a shootout or a comparo at any rate – I can say there is a lot to like about the new City. It’s rather complete for a car that’s sub-RM90k. There are paddle shifters, new 5A/T, decent audio system that interfaces with your i-Pod/MP3 music player and that improved 1.5 i-VTEC with nice on-paper figures. However, it’s more like “Win Some, Lose Some” scenario here.

Things that I missed (my family had an i-DSI City from ’03) in the new City are the deeper/taller boot (Honda claims this new one is bigger though at 506 litres), versatile ULTRA seat and double-tiered gloveboxes. The other missing items are proper metal sheet or plastic cladding covering - in the engine bay - at the fenders section bilaterally and the useful green tinted band in the upper section of the front windscreen.

While the seats are supportive enough, I couldn’t ignore the fact that thigh support are shorter aft (versus 2nd gen), for both front seats. Could this be a case of flattering mimicry? If you happen to delve into things a little deeper, you may have noticed that seat trim pattern and overall dark, sombre interior tone also mirrors the Vios somewhat, more so the last 2^nd generation model. In the E-grade City, the rear reclinable seat is a nice touch, while the centre foldable armrest with cup holders adds a premium comfort touch for the rear passengers. Interior headroom and overall feeling of space is however a tad more claustrophobic now – with the lower roof, lower seating overall and darker shaded interior.

Driving impression of the new City conveys an overall tighter, solid feel with more positive handling - contributed by the weightier rack, firmer ride and tauter body control. Great if you’re single (or dating) and loving it. Less appropriate if you’re more into wafting comfort and have a young family to pamper. It isn’t exactly Type-R grade stiffness but let's just say this all-new City can be caught by rough tarmac surfaces and sharp ridges at low speed. At other times, it can be as plaint as a cat falling on to a soft pillow.

Going on to highway, I mostly tried my best to keep the 4-pot ticking below 4000rpm. Above this, the i-VTEC powerplant (?intake manifold) bellows an incessant hollow drumming. Sadly atypical of Honda’s previous VTEC motors singing smoothness. In all fairness, the new City does 140km/h with the engine ticking circa 3000rpm. That’s two overdrive gears within the 5A/T working for you I guess. Disappointingly, the high rev ‘protest’ notes were perhaps even a decibel or two higher than my last 8-valve twin spark i-DSI drone at high speed. Once again, this reminded me much of the ‘T’ make’s character, a trait which the latest Vios has toned down quite significantly.

Before returning the tester, the odometer was reading some 410km to the tankful of 42 litres (minus the reserve volume) of benzene laden fuel. While it’s not fair to comment on fuel consumption since more than half the time the car was being pushed quite hard (I didn’t pay attention to the on-board computer figure, my apologies), I reckon that this new City will never be as frugal as the last i-DSI. At best, it will barely match the fuel efficiency of the last VTEC City. Pity it doesn’t have the CVT option like the JDM Honda Fit. This will improve century sprint timings, climbing gradient smoothness as well as improve mileage to the tankful.

So much for our local motoring ‘enthusiasts’ preferring a more spirited feeling or sporty drive, which is afforded by a regular torque converter, according to Honda Malaysia. Maybe, just maybe…these guys should just get a Toyota Vios J manual. It’s light and spirited working the stick shift, rowing thru all 5 forward ratios. In fact, it was lovely to sprint about in one, the last time tested in 2008 as part of the NST-CBT COTY review. And oh! Just in case if that isn’t sporty enough there’s always localised (more affordable?) TRD goodies, to be made available soon, last I heard.

Related posts:

All-new Honda City launched in Malaysia

Driven: Honda Jazz 1.5V Modulo

2009 Honda City launched in Malaysia

Click on all images to enlarge

Honda Malaysia has announced the price of its 3rd generation, all-new City. Available in two grades, the basic 1.5S goes for RM84,980 while the higher-spec 1.5E can be yours for RM89,980 (on-the-road prices with insurance).

Chief differences on the 'E' grade City are paddle shifters, on-steering remote audio controls, fog lamps, split-foldable rear seats with centre armrest plus adjustable headrests and upsized 16" alloy wheels, among other things. Both are however, only available with 5-speed automatic (5A/T) transmission paired to Honda's 1.5L i-VTEC (12ops/145Nm) engine.



The all-new City is more grown-up and mature looking, which is a natural progression of things, as each successor model adds on more bulk and extra dimensions. However, upon closer scrutiny, the 3rd gen City actually has a rather long snout and lengthy frontal overhang (much protuding front bumper), quite atypical for a compact Honda sedan. Remember that "Machine minimum, man maximum" saying? Not a "Terminator" flick movie script or catch phrase but something of Honda's successful formula in car design - and clever packaging - for decades.



Well, maybe Honda engineers were much bent on avoiding a repeat of the stunted profile that resulted much split public opinions over the 2nd gen City (pre-facelift model). For the negative record, it was much criticised to be looking much like a laundry steam-iron, a loaf of bread or even a toad! For historical record - make no mistake - the 2nd generation City 1.5 i-DSI when launched in 2003, created ripples in the local automotive industry. It ruffled up the non-national segment (also a leading national car manufacturer along the way) when it was announced by then Honda Malaysia's MD/CEO, Seiji Kuraishi to be RM78,888 OTR. Many Honda dealers gave a standing ovation, delightfully taken in by surprise. As such, this all-new City will no doubt be a very important product for Honda Malaysia, as affirmed by the current Managing Director and CEO of Honda Malaysia, Atsushi Fujimoto. It is expected to carry on the volume baton worth some 40% of total sales of Honda passenger cars officially sold locally. Honda Malaysia is aiming to deliver 1500 units monthly of the all-new City starting January 2009, out of a total manufacturing capacity of an estimated 35,000 units annually, from its Melaka's Pegoh assembly plant.



Pop the new City's hood and you could actually see the latest i-VTEC (L15) motor 'hanging' loose (as contrasted with the new Jazz) in the centre of the engine bay, sitting just fore of the front axle. There are ample empty spaces both anterior and posterior of the tranverse engine block, more so aft of it extending until the radiator and that 'Optimus Prime' grille. Somewhat wasted space for a B-segment sub-compact. Or was it because of the A-pillar not as forward biased as the new Jazz (and the previous Jazz/City)? Afterall, the 3rd gen City has a completely different bodyshell than its hatchback 'cousin'. Or perhaps some way of conforming to new pedestrian safety standards?



Admittedly, the all-new City is sleek, youthful and sporty ("arrowshot form" in Honda speak) on the outside. Interior wise, it even succeed in elevating its cabin ambience to something more seriously executive than the Jazz, except for maybe the A/C controls or section of the dashboard.







The common-parts bin steering (Civic, Stream, Jazz et al) still looks and feels great after 3 years of debuting in the 8th gen Civic. Interior space is very commendable for a B-segment sedan. Boot volume while class leading at 506 litres, has more wheel humps intrusion now, though still a capacious rump. Speedometer fonts and dials is typical Honda-legible while taking the latest Stream/Accord cues. Engine coolant temperature gauge is still deliberately omitted, not unlike the last City but there is a multifunction info display now, set within the speedometer. First in class for a Japanese 'budget' sedan is the tilt-and-telescopic adjustable steering wheel. Nice and practical additions indeed.




On the other hand, two things that I missed very much in the new City are the split-level, dual glove-boxes and get this: Honda's wonderful ULTRA-seat. I spoke to the Chief Engineer for the all-new City, Takeshi Nakamura and he mentioned that for the overall sleekness and space of boot(?) of the successor, it has been omitted. When I pressed on whether it can be re-introduced in say, the City facelift model after 2-3 years, Honda Malaysia's MD & CEO, Fujimoto-san chipped in to say there are no plans to swap the split-folding back rest (1.5E) with full ULTRA seat capability. I was impressed with their candid replies, pleasantly obliging, especially coming from the head honcho himself, unlike a particular prestige German car manufacturer which has dumb 'protocols', dementious-like persona and snooty attitudes. And I happen to be still driving around in one of their "famed" automobile.




Back to the new City, I feel that the repositioning of the fuel tank to the front (under the front seats) resulting in a usable capacious void under the rear seats aren't well utilised anymore, unlike the last City and the latest Jazz. Pity. Or course there are nice trays and compartments under these seats in the 1.5E model but upon closer inspection of the base 1.5S variant, the rear bench is actually still being supported by tubular frames that are permanently fixed to the floor by fastened slot-in sockets. Remember the ULTRA seats being junked for the 2nd generation City VTEC after its first facelift exercise? Honda Malaysia was quick to reinstate this feature for the VTEC during the subsequent 2nd or 3rd facelift exercise, after consumers of even the VTEC variant wouldn't mind having these useful feature, which will fold out or assemble upright, out of sight, not affecting its interior aesthetics.



During the press conference, many members of the media were quick to ask about the new 5 A/T box in place of the smooth, efficient and refined CVT. Towards this, Nakamura-san (pictured above, seated far right) was equally quick to justify that 5A/T is better suited to the taste and driving habits of fellow Malaysians preferring a "more balanced" performance. While I couldn't really catch what that meant exactly, I guessed Honda Malaysia probably wanted to a better balance between performance, durability and cost, both of manufacturing and maintenance (warranty).

Afterall, it's an open secret among City owners/Honda SCs that the 'old' CVT 'box had some juddering/vibration issues circa 70k - 80k kms of service life, more so with the 2003 batches. Not a big problem as some used car dealer would have you believe e.g. needing RM20k to replace the whole 'gearbox'. Just a starter set (clutch mechanism of some sort) replacement (for less than RM2k) but nevertheless still some monetary cost incurred and possibly, more so, the cost of reliability reputation somewhat dented. I happen to know because I am responsible for the maintenance aspect of my wife's other city runabout, a 2003/04 City i-DSI.

In a larger overview, I reckon that RM2k is worth it over the 5 years of ownership, with excellent fuel efficiency, space, versatility, practicality and flexibity of carting and hauling stuffs that even my last 7th gen Accord 2.0 VTi (or even my current Teutonic executive) can only dream of! Bring back those City moments-defining ULTRA-seats Honda Malaysia!!!





Additional premium features in the new City 1.5E- pictorial highlights:










For more details on the colour schemes, detailed specifications, brochure literature and videos...
go here: www.excitementinthecity.com.my :)

All-New Honda City coming (very) soon...

One of the most exciting (and significant for most car buyers) automotive launch, just before the year winds up, must be Honda Malaysia's upcoming all-new City. A full model change that has taken place earlier in Thailand and Singapore, the question mark still remains over how much it will cost to park this 3rd generation sub-compact in your porch or parking bay in 2009...

Watch this blog for the details before the week is over!




In the meantime you may want to read these:
2009 Honda City scooped!
Showdown: 2009 Honda City vs Toyota Vios facelift
Driven: Honda Jazz 1.5V Modulo

For more info:
http://www.excitementinthecity.com.my/

Coming Up: Honda Jazz vs Mitsubishi Colt (Turbo) Ralliart?

"What?" Another mismatched madness you may say. Well, truth be told...the 2005 Colt Ralliart you see above was priced (at least in Wald form via USF-Hicom) at almost the same level as the new Honda Jazz 1.5 V-Grade with Modulo kit.

I reckon it makes an interesting comparo, no? Psst! Let's just not call it a shootout...