The new new new new Mobilio is here. We need to discuss Honda Indonesia naming strategy one of these days, for every refresh, touch up, new addition of something they add new. With that said, welcoming Mobilio refresh 2017, arguably the biggest refresh after last year’s dashboard change.
The Mobilio Refresh seems like it’s following a mid-cycle route, being launched late 2013 in Indonesia. Meaning that a full model change will come around 2019. Like any mid-cycle refresh, the Mobilio features the biggest change ever, most notably on its front end.
For summary of changes:
- Angular front end with revised headlight and hood.
- New interior color.
- New seat design.
- New exterior colors.
- New multimedia system.
- Available VSA option
The biggest change definitely is in the front end, featuring new headlight and new bumper that gives the car Honda corporate “solid wing face”. The construction is fairly simple, big halogen lights will not get any point whatsoever, but the inclusion of DRL led light warrants extra point. So much so that Honda even eliminate the projector headlight option on the RS variant. I haven’t check it for myself, but the curved led light (Honda term “guide light”) supposed to be a DRL, which means it’s active all the time. This is huge as it is more of a safety feature than lighting function. It is a function that indicates that a car is active to notify other driver from the opposite side of the road. It’s fairly minor, but a good addition and also enhances the overall look of the car.
The money shot right here, damn gorgeous angle
The interior colors receives lighter tone which Honda says it’s Ivory… To my opposition, it looks like grey in the promo materials. Definitely A HUGE improvement as lighter color gives more impression of a bigger space. The seat also got improvement with thicker cushion and movable headrest, seems taken from the BR-V. The second row seat now features ISO fix anchors and the middle seat even got an adjustable headrest (not available on the BR-V even). Also, unique to the RS variant is orange stitching for that extra spiciness.
Bring in the light!
The exterior colors got updated with a strange combination. The new purple, called Marine Purple is available for both standard and RS variant of the car, however the RS variant got a special color, Phoenix Orang Pearl Two Tone, which is standard glittery orange but with a black roof. Now here’s the strange combination part, the RS variant has always comes with a flushed roof rack, but if Honda Indonesia configurator is correct, only the orange two tone RS variant got the roof rack… Which is odd.
From the entertainment system part, Honda upgraded the AV system with a 6.2″ touch screen for the standard variant and gives 6 speaker system and even bigger AV system touchscreen at a whopping 6.8″ to the RS variant. Honda could’ve just lifted the BR-V AV system with Nanoe air purifier, but they didn’t, so there’s your main difference AV wise.
Finally, the RS CVT variant receives Honda stability assist and hill start assist which is quite a huge addition in terms of safety.
I’d probably do a driving impression sometimes this quarter. It intrigues me since Honda apparently (for real) will not bring in Freed replacement to Indonesia per recent interview with Mr. Jonfis Fandi. Stating that the Mobilio and BR-V already occupied the 7 seater segment and bringing another will split the market. So my 7 year old Freed will need to be replaced by either the Mobilio or the BR-V when push comes to shove. I’m still leaning towards the BR-V, since it has higher head clearance on the third row, but let’s see, I’m not in a hurry to replace my precious Freed.