Coming sometimes this month is the long awaited Honda Freed refresh with a rear aircon unit. This one is confirmed as dealers are already accepting order for it. The next one is the Brio MPV, it will be available sometimes next year with design taking original form other than elongated Brio like the sedan version where it’s just a longer wheelbase Brio with a trunk.

… And just like that, after 2 years… I’m back

Seperti semua foto prototipe Honda Amerika, Honda CR-V ini jelas akan menerima sedikit perubahan minor ketika sampai di tangan para dealer. Salah satu fitur yang pasti hilang adalah lampu depan berkelir hitam, body kit yang lebih sederhana dan kaca spion yang lebih besar, sesuai dengan foto spyshot yang sudah beredar di Internet. Selain perubahan minor tersebut, sebagian besar bentuk Honda CR-V akan tetap sama.

Sesuai dengan kredo hijau Honda, untuk meningkatkan efisiensi konsumsi bahan bakar, Honda CR-V akan menggunakan mesin yang lebih efisien dipadukan dengan bobot total yang dikurangi dari CR-V generasi ke-3 (sekarang). Perubahan interior dan fitur ruang kargo yang lebih lapang dengan lantai rendah akan membuat CR-V generasi ke-4, CR-V terbaik yang pernah Honda buat.

Sumber:
Hondanews.com: 2012 CR-V prototype unveiled

Driving the Freed is very nice, but emphasis on the word nice. It’s not great, the seat could use more bolster, the steer only tilts not telescopic and the driver seat only has reclining and sliding adjustment, no seat height adjustment. At first I thought it’s going to be hell for me to find perfect seat position… In fact, I was ready to visit my masseur on monthly basis… But I was wrong dead period. The seat is already raised and the steering wheel already extended nicely towards the driver. During my time driving, I can slide my seat back and forth without compromising too much of my comfort, especially during all seat occupied scenario and some tall guy seats behind me (the driver). So yeah, love the seat even though I can’t tell for every person out thfere since the seat perfect for me but maybe not for the fickle who wanted to get a low driving position.

The Freed has a commanding view of the road thanks to its raised seat position, as such, view of the road is great and the slanted angle front windshield makes turning view less obstructed than a car with high angle a-pillar *cough*SX-4*cough*. 3258 Kilometers later, my love for the driving position is reminded over and over again every time I drive this car. The a-pillar angle is very slanted thus view angle through the a-pillar is satisfying as the port windshield is large enough while the thickness of the frame is acceptable. Rear view is acceptable as the rear window frame is quite thick, but changing lane is still good since you can take a look through the rear passenger window which is quite big.

Driving the car, I don’t feel that the Freed is big and lumbering, in fact I found it a little bit nimble, too nimble even. The steering ratio is a bit low making the steer a tad light, so any movement is translated in gusto to wheel movement, making the car easy to maneuver in tight spot and making less than buff driver able to steer the car effortlessly.

Power came from a revised 1.5L i-VTEC engine from the famous L-series that powers the millions of Honda Jazz/Fit around the world (2 millions since last counted by Honda in 2007) which now powers the second generation Jazz/Fit and the new City. The car has a high strung characteristic as it achieves its maximum power of 118ps at 6600 RPM, something that is not liked for the majority of family hauler buyers. In my daily drives, I indeed need to wind the engine up to about 4000 RPM to get significant push when trying to overtake on highway or city driving. But this is the characteristic of the engine; Honda engines needs to be pushed to its limit because it can, and because it likes it (naughty wink). Coupled that with eager to downshift automatic gearbox, I generally do not have any problem with how the engine delivers it powers.

One thing to note about the gearbox is that although it has 5 gears, when the gear downshifts it only selects one gear down from the highest selected gear. So when you’re on the 5^th gear and hit the pedal, you’ll get 4^th gear and slight hum from the engine, quite annoying on high speed. If you still want to force the gearbox to shift two gears down, you need to press on the gas pedal for about 3 seconds or so. You will feel the gearbox selects lower gear by the higher RPMs and then it will selects yet a lower gear when you wait enough. So for whatever reason you need to go fast and furious, you want to press the D3 button (at whatever speed) and hit the gas from there to downshift. Still, Honda designs this car for efficiency so driving fast and furious is out of the question.

Talking about efficiency, the Freed has plenty of it. The significant contributor for Freed’s efficiency is definitely its 5 speed automatic gearbox. The fifth gear on the car allows for a second overdrive gear which allows the wheels spun much faster than the engine, increasing its efficiency… It’s funny when people still thinks that overdrive is some kind of a term to make the car goes faster.

How efficient the car can go? Driving alone I once hit 21.9 Kilometers per liter or 51.5 MPG (US) on highway at average speed of 60 Kilometers per hour… Well, I might violate the minimum speed which is 70 KpH, and I employ slight hypermiling techniques (tip toeing and coasting, a/c on though) but I get 21.9 KpL, so shove it government, you and your crazy tax for hybrids. Still, it’’s a bit cheating, and generally I get about 15-16 KpL or 35 MPG (US) on the highway with speeds ranging from 90 KpH to 100 KpH, with about 4 adults cut that by half a Kilometer per Liter.  Still a respectable number.

On inner city traffic… Well, it’s a different story… My trips around the city involves mad traffic, and when I say mad, I mean 50% of the time I’m on the road, the car doesn’t move and average speed is about 20 KpH. So at best, I can only managed 8.5 KpL or 19.9 MPG (US) for inner city driving. I can push it up a notch or two to 8.7 KpL or 9.0 KpL by turning off the A/C, but in this weather… You’ll smell funny before you hit 9.0 KpL. Off course there’s the occasional sane traffic where I can get up to 11-12 KpL average, but it’s few and far between the crazy traffic, and that number was achieved averaging the time I got stuck in crazy traffic, could get better but it’s not the norm.

—-

Coming up next, comfort and utility write up

It’s a no brainer really when I put Honda Freed on top of my shop list. Whenever my family has a gathering, wherever that is will be an instant Honda dealer lot as all Honda all shape and model year parked in front. My previous Suzuki SX-4 is just me overcompensates my inability to purchase Honda CR-V, a fluke although I don’t have any complaint from owning the car. So anyway, I did my homework and researched the entire family hauler in Indonesia and short list either Honda Freed or Nissan Grand Livina as a final purchase. I finally chose Honda Freed for roomy cabin, captain seat, okay leg rooms, the whole shebang of i-VTEC, 5 speed auto, awesome dash and definitely for that fancy automatic sliding door.

My first impression is already covered in my many odd reviews of the car, this post supposed to cover my experience with the car on many driving scenarios. So there will be some repetition but it will also be backed up by some clarifications. So buckle up your seatbelts and prepare some snacks, because this will be long… In fact so long I decided to split the post into several bite sizes…

I actually wanted to do a write up with a catchy title like “a journey of 10000 Kilometers starts with a single step” telling my experience with the car across service schedules and trips. However, since my work is basically within walking distance, it’s over half a year now and I barely crack 5000 Kilometers with the car… Thank God though since fuel price is over US$1 per liter now, and I could use some savings… So 3258 Kilometers has passed, is the Freed lived up to my expectations? I can only start it with the word “preeminent” (come on, don’t be lazy, bing/google it… hint for google search, type define:preeminent).

Menurut situs Honda-Indonesia.com, Honda Freed, City dan Jazz yang termasuk dalam program penarikan ini tidak semua yang terjual di Indonesia, hanya 30.252 unit saja dengan waktu produksi tertentu. Berikut adalah daftar rangka mobil yang terkena program ini:

Tanda “~” menandakan “sampai dengan”.

City (3,360 unit)
Produksi Okt 2008 – Jan 2010
MRHGM2***8P920003 ~ 920212
MRHGM2***9P920123 ~ 921323
MRHGM2***AP020001 ~ 020120

Jazz
(16,300 unit)
Produksi Jun 2008 – Mar 2010
MHRGE8***8J900003 ~ 903906
MHRGE8***9J900001 ~ 903341
MHRGE8***AJ000001 ~ 000540
MHRGE8***AJ900001 ~ 900198

Freed
(10,592 unit)
Produksi May 2009 – Feb 2010
MHRGB3***9J000006 ~ 007186
MHRGB3***AJ000001 ~ 001229

Silahkan cek masing – masing STNK dan melihat nomor rangka/NIK/VIN, apakah mobil Anda termasuk dalam daftar yang masuk dalam program penggantian komponen Freed, Jazz dan City.

Sebagai contoh, Freed saya memiliki nomor rangka MHRGB3***AJ102*** (dibeli pada bulan November 2011), karena Freed dengan nomor rangka AJ000001 sampai dengan 001229, maka mobil saya tidak masuk dalam program penggantian komponen ini karena sudah lewat dari AJ001229.

Untuk lebih jelasnya dapat langsung menuju pranala/link sumber yang tersedia dibawah ini.

Sumber:

Informasi resmi program penggantian komponen Honda-Indonesia.com

Denied luxury: The canceled mule of the FR Luxury Sedan

Rumors from inside automotive industry said that the V8 rear wheel luxury sedan which was destined to go to Acura division was a great car one that should put Honda luxury division on par with tier 1 luxury marque. While the super car lives on as a special fielded race car on Japan’s most prestigious racing event, the Super GT and won it. So as you can read, it’s very unfortunate for Honda to cancels both of these cars altogether.

Denied performance: Reportedly, this car doesn’t even consider GT-R and LF-A as competition

But this morning, birds are chirping beautifully on my front porch, the wind blows softly and the sun rose with a hint of blue and orange altogether. While I browsed Autoblog and Temple of VTEC the next minute, I was shocked out of my pants that Takanobu Ito in a way hints a little hope of a super car comeback after Honda discontinued the NSX. Apparently, Takanobu Ito was interviewed in Japan and some reporters asked if Honda would make a road going version of the super car that won the Super GT.

Ito’s answer for the question was “I have something in mind”. Now for those who don’t know Takanobu Ito, this guy is all straight as an arrow kind of leader. He always answers question in a definite way, yes or no and that’s that. For Ito to answer “having something in mind” well, it’s still ambiguous but having something is better than nothing right?

Such a tease: “I have something in mind”

Okay, so the news came from a French auto news site, which might make some little mistranslation (from Japanese to French to English). However, according to Temple of VTEC news section;Yahoo Japan and Asahi Shimbun also confirms and clearly stated that Takanobu Ito greenlight the project once again. Asahi Shimbun which post the news in English also mentions that Ito hints at making two sports car, the affordable and high performance… *faints*…

…

…

…

For those who don’t know, this is actually earth shattering news. Honda currently has no true performance sports car in its lineup, well, sure there’s the Civic Type R, but it’s more of a pedestrian car with souped up engine. Honda Prelude ends its production in 2001, Honda NSX ended in 2005, Honda Integra ended in 2007 and finally Honda S2000 ended in 2009. What came from the demise of those cars? Hybrids and lots of it. Civic Hybrid, Insight 2.0, CR-Z, and Fit Hybrid, not to mention Freed Hybrid and next generation Accord with Honda next generation hybrid system.

The shift from hardcore to green for some was considered too rough as there are no transition product in between. It’s quite understandable actually, as technology to produce performance with fuel economy wasn’t available yet. The  2010 CR-Z was Honda answer to this and although the blend of performance and fuel economy is good enough, as usual,  some consumers demand more… Well, to be fair… This particular consumer is too accustomed to huge ass performance gas guzzler 2 door sports car that’s bigger than a Honda Fit. Still, the CR-Z receives acclaims and accolades in a place where sensibility is praised.

But remember folks, Honda has set its sight straight in the green line and we’re not talking about money. Ever since the green revolution in the late 00′ Honda has been making fuel sipper as priority. So when you think about Takanobu Ito statement, don’t forget to add the green juice. Honda has fielded NSX with KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System, a form of hardcore hybrid system for racing) as a test bed for SuperGT 2012 rule change that mandates smaller engine and a hybrid system. It’s unclear whether this will be applied to Honda super car but you can be sure Honda will put every single piece of technology in its super car.

Front engine – KERS NSX test car: notice the exhaust tip on the side skirt?

Whatever it is Honda… We are awaiting with arms wide open, but until this car shows up in the real world, I’m putting a question mark on the title. We’ve been burned before Ito-san, and I won’t let my heart be broken the fourth time.

Source:

Temple of VTEC: Ito san changing his tune about NSX/HSV

Yahoo Japan: NSX development to resume (Japanese)

Asahi Shimbun: Honda to develop high performance sports car

SuperGT: 2012 KERS rule

Lack of update is given since I’m in the final stretch of my masters degree thesis and in the work I got 2 more bosses ordering me around. I will try to update this blog but don’t count on it since it’s more of a hobby than anything (see any ads here?) and real life comes first.

So I will post in Bahasa, things that of interest to the locals and in English if it interest the international community.

Between the long updates, please Bing/Google for CR-Z reviews, rumors about the car having 1.6L Turbo engine. CR-V and Civic 2011 model change that will be coming this year and finally Honda super car return.

Until then, live life to the max.

Berikut adalah spesifikasi resmi yang dilansir oleh Honda:

• Panjang 3610mm, Lebar 1680mm, Tinggi 1475 mm.
• Konsumsi bensin 5L/100 Km atau 1L/19,98 Km *estimasi Honda.
• Harga di Thailand 400 ribu Baht atau Rp 119 Juta.

Berikut informasi yang masih bersifat rumor atau tebakan semata mengenai Brio:

• Menggunakan mesin 1200 cc.
• Tersedia dengan pilihan transmisi otomatis (berdasarkan foto interior Brio resmi).

Meskipun baru resmi diumumkan untuk dijual di Thailand dan India saja, CEO Honda yaitu Takanobu Ito dalam pidatonya menyatakan bahwa Brio juga akan tersedia negara di Asia lainnya mengingat pengalaman Honda berbisnis motor di negara tersebut… Mengingat Indonesia adalah salah satu negara konsumen motor terbesar Honda, perlukah kita beroptimis ria menunggu hadirnya Brio?

Dimensi Honda Brio tidaklah terlalu kecil mengingat panjang kakaknya yaitu Honda Jazz adalah 3900 mm dengan lebar 1695 mm. Alhasil, mobil ini sudah cukup untuk mengakomodasi keluarga muda.

Satu hal yang perlu diingat adalah, Brio masih dalam tahap prototipe, sehingga produk akhir biasanya lebih sederhana dibandingkan dengan yang tertampil disini. Bemper depan, side skirt dan bemper belakang sudah pasti akan terlihat lebih sederhana, begitu juga dengan lampu dan pegangan pintu berbalut krom yang nantinya akan terlihat lebih sederhana. Meskipun begitu, sudah bisa dipastikan inilah Brio, sebuah mobil terjangkau persembahan Honda.

Sumber:

Situs resmi World.Honda.com: Peluncuran Brio di Thailand

Ketika diluncurkan pada acara Thailand International Motor Expo, mobil kecil Honda akan mengusung dua varian yaitu varian Thailand yang mendukung standar konsumsi bahan bakar dan polusi di Thailand serta varian India yang diciptakan khusus untuk kebutuhan negara yang sedang berkembang. Cukup aman untuk memprediksi bahwa varian Thailand akan hadir dalam bentuk dan harga yang lebih premium dibandingkan versi India.

Selama ini Honda sudah menunjukkan prototipe mobil kecil yang akan diluncurkan di Thailand ini. Sayangnya, prototipe ini hanyalah sebuah studi ke arah mobil kecil yang sebenarnya, sehingga apa yang Anda lihat hingga kini bukanlah mobil kecil Honda yang akan dijual di Thailand dan India. Namun pada tanggal 30 November mendatang, Honda akan menunjukan prototipe mobil kecilnya yang sudah siap diproduksi.

Sumber:

Honda meluncurkan mobil kecil di acara TIME 2010