The color is such that you can’t break your tongue and keep your eyes fixed: Vivid Blue Pearl is a bright blue pearl! Outside, the Honda is good, although the high glazing line and massive bumpers make the silhouette a bit heavy. Perhaps this is a deliberate expression of a sporting nature, emphasized in a press release. We'll see…
The front panel in the luster of polished plastic and the radiance of aluminum is like a multi-story music center! Air duct deflectors resemble the intricate crate of numerous speakers. But the “wrong” chair is soft, but not very comfortable: it holds the lower back, and the shoulder blades hang in the air. Okay, I’ll stick out my chest and will consider it prevention from stoop. The landing is vertical - “commanding”, but the steering column is tilted, like in cars - there is no hint at the Renault Scenic bus steering wheel. There is no cumbersome feeling, only on the right a little more spacious than usual. Although you are involuntarily careful when driving through narrow places.
It's great that I got exactly the “Honda” that they will start selling in Russia for $ 28, 900 - with a two-liter power unit, in the Comfort configuration. The equipment is rich: xenon headlights, alloy wheels, climate and cruise controls, a stabilization system, a radio with steering wheel controls, six airbags (including a “double” frontal 133 l for the middle and right-hand passenger) and much more.
The salon is really huge: in each row there are three completely full-fledged chairs with individual adjustments. The width of the doors is 147 cm! The most interesting thing is that the external dimensions of the “Honda FR-V” practically repeat the five-seat “Scenic” and less than the “Ford-C-max”! The rear passengers have a good quarter meter and ten centimeters above their knees in front of their knees - can they carry basketball players? But according to the number of different hiding places and boxes - very modest, no more than in the average passenger car. The trunk is capacious, under its floor - "dokatka" on … a poorly painted disc! Some kind of nonsense, it can’t be! No, imagine - the front side of the disk is painted over, and the back is only slightly splattered. Maybe out of savings?
… Which day I’m going, but I’m not getting used to the gear lever, which I move with one movement of the brush! It seems to be located at hand, and unusual in moderation, and six programs are no longer news … But everything “in one bottle” is completely confusing. Each switching is forced to do consciously - with feeling, with sense, with arrangement. You don’t have to think about the sports pace of driving, God forbid, miss the gear. Yes, and a two-liter engine in 150 hp in fact, it pleased only with low noise and high efficiency: 8.1 l / 100 km for high-speed autobahns, busy cities and alpine serpentines - an excellent result for a “long-legged” car with an equipped weight of over one and a half tons.
As for the dynamics … You can’t check passport seconds and kilometers without equipment, and elasticity is more important for driving convenience. There is practically no reserve under the pedal in the VI gear - any overtaking or lifting is forced to take the lever, and if you switch, it is better to go straight to IV. In terms of traction capabilities, the first five gears roughly correspond to the usual five-speed gearbox, and the sixth seems to be economical. On the other hand, in the VI gear at 120 km / h the motor does not keep at all small 2800 rpm, but in the V it does rise to 3500, but there is no expected jerk, given the peak of the moment at 4000. Most likely, tuning to strict environmental requirements.
Well - I didn’t refuel in advance and now I’m crawling to the nearest column at an economical turtle pace. At first, the calm pointer of the fuel gauge, as soon as the light comes on, falls down like a knocked down one. Twenty to thirty kilometers - and already at zero!
I was very pleased with the convenient pulling handle of the parking brake, until … jammed in the elongated position. In a foreign country, without any instrument on board! Half an hour of hassle and picking with a penknife solved the problem, but the more I did not touch this poker.
… Italian drivers are still crazy! I roll myself down a winding mountain path at an average pace, rejoice in the excellent stability and obedience of the Honda. Thanks to the wide rut, it really holds perfectly in the corners. And suddenly, on a short “straight”, I was overtaken by a roar of a huge four-axle concrete mixer that arose in the mirrors! By the way, mirrors are shamelessly lying, especially the inside - the people in it look like egg heads. Ok people, but it’s impossible to identify an approaching car! Think it doesn’t matter? Don’t tell me - you can understand the annoyance of the Porsche driver, who I perceive as a tall low-speed minibus, slowly giving way.
So, on the odometer added 3, 000 km. Previously, I had a chance to ride the FIAT-Multipla (ZR, 1999, No. 12; 2004, No. 8) - the first car with the passenger formula 3 + 3. It is not selling well. The new “Honda FR-V” is more traditional in appearance, but inside is no less original than the “Italian”. Maybe such a combination will bring her a happier market fate?..
Honda FR-V
The car debuted in the summer of 2004. At the end of the year, sales began in Europe, in the summer of 2005 - in Russia.
A six-seater minivan with two rows of three seats each uses elements from the CR-V off-road platform.
Engines: gasoline 1.7–2.0 liters (125–150 hp), 2.2-liter turbodiesel (140 hp).
Transmissions: 5- or 6-speed manual, 4- or 5-speed “automatic machines”. Front-wheel drive
Options: Sport-Compact, Comfort, Executive.
Prices in Europe: EUR 20, 830–26, 330
Test car: 2.0 L, 150 HP, 6-speed manual gearbox, Comfort equipment, $ 28, 900 (in Russia).
SUMMARY
Honda FR-V is not an athlete, but a spacious and practical family “liner” for distant voyages.
