It’s official, Honda just refreshed its famous lean 7 seater MPV, the Stream.

Notable improvement (for all models) are:

1. Refreshed front and rear bumpers.
2. Retuned suspension settings.
3. New “smoked” rearlights.
4. The addition of the RST trim.

The RST trim is quite a turnaround, and can be called the biggest twist in the story. Honda already gives the RSZ trim for Stream which is the highest trim level, but here it is, RST… Is it a downscale of RSZ? Or an even upscaled RSZ? Not quite!

The RST is actually the “performance” variant of the RSZ. Sporting bigger 17″ rims, it has reduced weight thanks to the removal of the third row seat… Yes, they remove the seat. Instead of putting a turbo engine which enthusiasts has hoped from the obvious T… They just remove the seats! Making Stream RST a wagon or some sort. Oh, and they retune the suspension for sportier driving.

The engine still comes in two flavors, the 1.8L i-VTEC @ 140ps and 2.0L i-VTEC @ 150ps… So, calling the RST a “sporty” wagon should be unjustified.

Pictures will follow… A lot of crap going on right now…

Source:

Official Japanese Honda Stream refreshed

Soon, Honda of Japan will unveil its latest model refresh for the venerable Stream. The main Honda Stream website has a clickable picture of the refreshed car. Small, and only shows ¾ side view of the car, but it’s already enough to discern the changes Honda engineers made to the car, at least externally.

As you can see, below is the existing Honda Stream RSZ trim, and further below is the refreshed version.

The old Stream RSZ

Hot wheels! Literally

What can I say really, the “corporate face of Honda” steadily creeps in to every new cars. The “double bumper” style which originates on the FCX hydrogen powered car was first applied on the JDM Odyssey. Then it was applied to Honda rising star, the Insight. Finally, it found its way to the refreshed Stream. Kind of hate the look, as it doesn’t look symmetrical and personally, it distracts the aggressive line set by the previous model.

On a side note… Side note, the side, got it? <tried to hard> Side skirts are new, more aggressive styling and do justice to the aggressive looking Stream. The side panel blinkers also moved from the usual front side panels to side view mirrors.

The rear lights of RSZ received a black-white treatment, replacing the usual red-yellow setup. Very seldom car makers do this, the only car I know having this black-white light setup is Mitsubishi Grandis. Personally I found this setup, making the car very aggressive looking, because most ricers tint their rear lights to make it look cool (albeit stupid). Although it cannot be seen from the angle above, most likely the reverse and side blinkers are transparent with the bulb emitting the necessary colors, and just the housing which is tinted black.

Rims wise, the refreshed RSZ sports a luscious set of part-polished 5 star rims. If the photographer is not putting too much emphasis on the rim lighting, it seems that the car is using part-polished rims; meaning that the outward facing sides are polished from the factory, making the car bling from the get go.

Witty comments:

One thing is clear, Honda Stream is a design success, why? Because Honda didn’t do much in term of design changes. A revised bumper and rims are given for any refreshed car from Japan, but aside from that, the Stream receives little change from the original second generation model. Compared to the completely remodeled head light, rear lights and bumper on the first generation Stream refresh, this generation of Stream is a design go.

So there you have it, the refreshed Stream and all of its glory. Stay tune for a complete write up once the car is officially released by Honda… Soon.

Source:

Honda Stream official site (click on the big “new stream” sign)