REACHING NEW HEIGHTS

Having reviewed Honda's all-new BR-V back in Bangkok a few months ago, now its time to check the marque's latest sensation locally as we take it for a drive up north to the touristic island of Penang.

words by Keegan Dorai
photography by Honda Media & Keegan Dorai

don’t really know but maybe I was daft or either too young that time. I remembered that very day when my uncle, a Toyota employee back then — bringing a blue Toyota Avanza first time to home. It was in 2003, and all the hype about the marque’s smallest MPV was so high that it even beat a Dutch coffee shop filled with customers hallucinating on purple haze.

It was extremely successful. The showrooms were packed to the brim, and test drives were operating way busier than a hospital’s emergency department. Yes, the Avanza was the light that gotten Toyota a very, and I mean a very grand head start for post Y2K. It quickly gave Toyota the title for being Malaysia’s best non-national car maker on the sales chart. And that trend did continue on for quite a while.

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But as I’ve mentioned about me being daft, this is where it comes into picture. I wowed at the design (yes, bloody hell I regretted for saying that) and I loved how spacious it is on the inside. It did put a smile on my face as we embarked on a few long journeys as I enjoyed the third row accommodation the most. Nonetheless, that was the silly 11-year old me, and probably that’s forgivable. I hope so.

However, I don’t actually hate it with a passion cause it served a very important purpose. It appealed to so many people for a reason, and the Avanza was a mini MPV that befitted our consumer scenario that time. It was the era when Malaysia was still an emerging economy, and not many of us knew how terrible it was sitting in a van underpinned by a ladder-on-frame platform that judders practically over anything. And oh, it springs even more than Bounce the game for no obvious reasons while on the move.

The seats were no different from a church pew. The dashboard was so minimalistic and straightforward that it even got a Swedish furniture designer a little bit frustrated. But god I do miss the good old days when it was used to ferry both me and my family to Port Dickson countless of times. Quite a doddle to be honest.

Moving on, the hype soon went off the radar, unsurprisingly. Now that Malaysia has emerged in latter years, people began to ponder over the grey-importers with their fancy Toyota Wish’s, Estimas or even the Honda Stream. Pretty brilliant in packaging and fantastic in value but you do need to go for a year’s course of Japanese language learning cause everything programmed in that media interface is in moonspeak.

So, Honda has decided to bring back that once-glorious days for their own good with something rather exceptional, crisp and modern, too. And to avoid from being called a product from yesteryears, they need to get things pretty straight without being wishy-washy in between. What the boffins at Honda did was relatively simple; they took the chassis from their smallest saloon to date, the Brio Amaze — stretch the platform a little longer, topped it off with a stylish looking bodyshell, fitted in seven seats and called it the BR-V.

Though it uses the same side profile found in the less-attractive Mobilio — the BR-V is finished in a crossover-slash-wagon like silhouette front and back. Yes, it might share lots of bits and pieces from similar models, but being a Honda developed at present time with all sorts of tech wizardries thrown in, all they need to do is patch things up to create something new in earnest.

This is why modern-day Hondas are so well-rounded. Impressive isn’t it? The Brio, Amaze and Mobilio have been loitering around neighbouring markets for quite a while so I am guessing Honda has a guru with a crystal ball forecast in head office to tell them about the future.

At first impression, the BR-V is quite a looker to be honest. Yes it could do with a little more girth on the sides but no serious faux pass. Despite possessing a long rear overhang, the proportions are well balanced. It’s a unique blend of two bodystyles combined — half SUV and MPV. Due to this, Honda would like you to call its BR-V a crossover.

The cabin is a nice place to be in as well. Sporting swathes of legroom and headroom, the BR-V is also another offspring from the marque’s ‘Man Maximum, Machine Minimum’ philosophy. So does it work? Well it sure do. Settling someone close to six-foot tall back at the third row area is relatively easy. To better that, Honda has even slotted a set of powerful roof-mounted blowers to eradicate all excess heat in exchange for some breezy air to please the simpletons seated behind.

Bootspace is respectable even though with all seats in use. I can fit in two cabin-sized luggage bags in with ease with another available small space remaining for a handy backpack. Unless if you’re Kim Kardashian where travelling light amounts to six massive bags and a dog, and you need a tipper lorry just to haul all of that.

And with seven seats, the BR-V could use some steam to haul everyone at one go. This time, Honda has fitted in a 1.5-litre motor which produces 120bhp and 145Nm. Sounds a bit miniscule to most but remember that it leads the pack by having the most power output. Paired to a CVT transmission, it drives extremely well in town. Plucky, nimble and simply content. Prod the accelerator a little and it will response. Even in the slightest of all manner.

Out on the open roads heading towards Penang, this is where the BR-V both excelled… and bungled a little, unfortunately. Good thing is it felt like a hyperactive pug when I swapped the sensible D-mode to S with the gearstick, but it emitted a little too much whine along the process. Honda has even mentioned that they will be tweaking the BR-V's refinement for our local market my dissipating excessive road and wind noise from entering into the cabin, and this time, it's evident that it feels more quieter than its Thai-marketed cousin.

At the wheel, it steers well and the BR-V feels balanced in corners. Body roll is imminent, but controllable at your expense, all thanks to its responsive steering feedback, which is evident during our short stint with other rivals near the twisty back roads around the Teluk Bahang dam. The suspension has to be one of the best in its class, too. Feeling more carlike than its crude, abysmally-terrible in ride quality rival which uses a pre-historic suspension setup. No need to mention any names here.

While the convoy is on the way back to our hotel along Gurney, we guessed that its time for us to spend some time in traffic during rush hour. The snarl was like any typical Penang rush hour traffic, but given that the BR-V’s seats were designed to offer ample support, I did feel comfortable waiting nonetheless. The banging sound system is an added plus as well to aid all means of boredom as we watched the traffic inch at a snail’s pace.

Yes, the BR-V is such an astonishing ‘crossover’ in many aspects, and I am quite surprised at myself for saying that. I find it quite hard to fault it as a whole, all because it’s packaged so well that it could well even create a new niche in a segment that has long faded away. And with added toys such as LED DRL’s, stylish alloys and a flexible interior that is topped-off with a chunky motor, this thing will fly off the shelves when it reaches our shores. Best thing is, it doesn’t look like a bread van at all.

I like its honesty, and that’s the biggest appeal thus far. It did rekindled some memories from the years where I was young and my uncle’s Avanza was around to get me from A to B. Only this time, I am driving something peerlessly better. This could well possibly be a next big thing for Honda, and not another nondescript waste of creation that will get all consumers laughing at it.

Now if I could only return to my 11-year old self and wished that one of my family members would drive back one and feel chuffed and all excited when we embark on road-trips on something this tremendous. I bet you and your children would, and if you’re reading this and you’re in the market for one — I promise you this; the BR-V will fit the bill squarely. Time for me to find Doc Brown and go back in time with one and revel those great days again.

Honda BR-V 1.5-litre CVT
Engine inline-4, 1498cc, petrol
Power 120bhp at 6600rpm
Torque 145Nm at 4600rpm
Transmission CVT
Weight 1190kg
Power-to-weight N/A
Price RM85,800 (E Variant)
          RM92,800 (V Variant)
evo rating: ★★★★

'It’s a unique blend of two bodystyles combined — half SUV and MPV'

'Paired to a CVT transmission, it drives extremely well in town'