Refreshed CR-V Roars… With More Horsepower Off Course

It’s official, refreshed Honda CR-V sports new looks and meaner engine while… Get this… Improving mileage! Now that’s the Honda I love!

The most significant change off course, is straight visual, as Honda revised the front and rear bumper of the car. The changes are subtle, but you can really see a refreshed smile and more of an upscale look from the car than before. The bumper mesh has adopt hexagonal mesh, and gone are the two “bulge” that sandwich the license plate on the front. The rear end also made fresh with less pronounced bumper bulges. All in all, externally, the car receives a very good subtle change. Why mess with success some say, and CR-V is a hit all over the world. Inside, there’s not much to talk about, still looks like the ongoing non refreshed CR-V.

Image courtesy of Temple of VTEC, check the link below for bigger image.

European refreshed CR-V

The engine… Ah… The engine… The engine receives not only a bump in horsepower but also a bump in mileage. Previously, CR-V official EPA mileage bows down at 20 MPG City and 27 MPG Highway, now the number goes up 1 MPG across the board to 21/28 MPG, while… Get this… Producing more power. The outgoing engine produces 166 Bhp, now the engine produces 180 Bhp… WOWZA! In ASEAN the CR-V already uses 180PS engine, but remember, PS is 10% higher than HP. Therefore, accounting to PS power rating, the refreshed US bound CR-V produces somewhere between 182 PS.

The rest of the world including Japan will receive the styling upgrade in a not so distant future… In fact, Honda official Japan website has stated 17 of September as the official unveiling date of the car. Give or take a couple of months, we will have the refreshed CR-V in ASEAN.

I cometh late, but everyone still waits

Source:

Honda of Japan CR-V site

Honda of UK CR-V site

Temple of VTEC: Refreshed CR-V article

Honda Freed Real Life Fuel Consumption

Here it is folks, real life consumption of Honda Freed ASEAN edition. One local Indonesian automotive magazine has extensively tested the car fuel consumption on highway and inner city driving. The result is mind boggling, but… Well, here it is…

The magazine test result nets 1 liter for 10-12 Km of inner city driving and 1 liter for 15 Km of highway driving. The fuel used is not mentioned, but safe to assume they use RON 91 92 (thanks Frozen_Heart) grade fuel, as previous road tests are done using RON 91 92. So the million dollar question is… Is it good enough? And the answer is a simple yes.

Mind you that the car is as aerodynamic as brick with slanted front window. No matter how hard Honda engineers try to make the car efficient with the standard 5 gear autobox, the car physiques is it drawback in term of fuel consumption. 1 liter for 10-12 Km of inner city driving is very very very respectable number… Hell, my automatic SX4 hatch barely manages 1:10 on perfect day. But the 1:15 for highway driving? Meh… This is where Freed users pays for its awesome interior space.

The Freed is taller and heavier than the Fit/City while still using the same engine (and detuned). Honda never stated its coefficient drag number for Freed, but let’s say that it’s not very good… And this goes to tall haulers like Elysion, Alphard and Elgrand for which Freed emulates. Wind resistance doesn’t take its toll on slow moving cars, it is when the car goes up to speed that you will feel the resistance. As such, Freed highway mileage suffers by a bit… Just a bit because most 1.5L haulers manages 1:16 at the minimum. To take into retrospect, my SX4 hatch manages 1:16 of highway cruise. This shows that the inclusion of 5 gear autobox on the Freed is a must, if not for the 5th overdrive, the car might be sluggish on slower speed (*cough*like my SX4*cough*).

All in all, the Freed is truly a must have. Tall cabin = very good shoulder and head room, something that few of its competitors manage to give but with a compromise. Although for its roominess Freed users must pay with slightly off highway cruise fuel consumption of its peers, the car still scores very well. Sure there’s that no rear aircon thing, but just turn the AC fan to 2 and put good quality window film.