Yes as I have mention in the previous post, the Honda Freed has just been launch today at Hilton Hotel Kuala Lumpur and the price is quite reasonable for a “Premium MPV” as being mentioned by Honda Malaysia. With a price tag of RM 112,980.00 can Honda Freed pose a challenge to the more establish players in Malaysia namely the Grand Livina which is in the same segment to the Honda Freed. I have managed to do an initial driving test with the Honda Freed and read on to the rest of the story after the jump.
As you already know the Honda Freed is powered by a 1.5Litre SOHC i-Vtec engines which we can find in the Honda City and Honda Jazz that we have here in Malaysia. The drive train also remains the same with a 5 speed Auto being soldiered on to haul the car around any destination of your wish. The kerb weight of the car is 1355kg and as I have expected, the power to weight ratio would be a problem to the car. The engine produce 118ps at 6600RPM which is 2ps lower compared to the one produce in the Honda City and Honda Jazz. The reduction in the horsepower is due to the calibration on the engine management to have a better lower end torque which is essential for this type of car. Even though the engine has been retuned, from my initial driving impression, the car feels a bit sluggish to haul the masses even though the engine manages to burst a 146Nm of torque at 4800RPM. At the particular time of the initial driving impression, the car was hauling 3 persons on board including me as the driver and the engine response is quite sluggish even when you floor the pedal. It may be due to the car was not run in properly yet as the odometer is only showing a mileage of 150km but with a proper run in, the engine might response better but not too great to an extend giving a better driveability in term of hauling the masses in the car. It is quite evident even in a standstill to get the car moving to the speed that you wanted; it took a little while to achieve the desired speed. I know this is an MPV, a people mover, and please don’t get me wrong, but I have driven Grand Livina even with the 1.6Litre engine, it does give quite a shove around let alone the 1.8Litre model. With this characteristic, the fuel consumption might be on a little on the high side as compared to other Honda stable with the same engine capacity. Luckily the Honda Freed is equipped with a 42 Litre fuel tank to enable you to have a long balik kampong journey.
If you are in a hurry in the Honda Freed and you floor the pedal to the metal, the sound emit from the engine bay is quite evident as compared to other models in Honda stable here in Malaysia. I’m not so sure if it is a result of cost cutting or the lack of ticker sound shield padding, but I think Honda Malaysia should have pay attention if they really want to price this MPV as a “Premium MPV” as they have mention. Luckily the wind noise and tyre noise is quite minimal when travelling with this MPV. If the noise emitting from the engine bay is annoying to you, luckily there is a 2-DIN Alpine head unit that can entertained you along your journey. With a capability of tuning a radio, playing a CD and MP3 files, the head unit also accepts connection from USB device to blast the 4 factory fitted speaker. The sound from the head unit is quite descent with the bass that is not hard and a treble sound that is not too pitchy. To me if Honda Malaysia can add in a tweeter to the whole set up of the sound stage, I personally think the sound would be great as the MPV is quite spacious to give the right ambience to the sound stage.
Speaking of spacious, the Honda Freed was design with 4 individual “Captain” seats, 2 in the front row and 2 in the second row. The second row seat is capable of sliding fore and aft which is very good in adjusting the space as this enable the 2nd row and the 3rd row passenger to compromise each other legroom to make the whole long drive a smile to the face. To access to the 3rd row, Honda has manage to produce a novel idea of having a walkthrough cabin as I am 180cm tall, the tall roof of the Honda Freed is a welcome a I don’t need to bow to much while walking to move to the 3rd row of the seat. Speaking of 3rd seat, the seat can accommodate 3 persons on the bench; with the most spacious setup will be limited to 2 adults. If you want to cramp in another person to give a full 7 person capability, the 3rd row needs to be cramp in with 2 adults and 1 small child if you want to have a pleasant journey. With all the 3 rows of seat being used, the cargo space is a premium for a long journey drive. This problem is normal for a compact MPV thus if you want to carry more cargo, you can stow your luggage at the walkthrough cabin or you can installed an external roof cargo space. I’m not so sure whether this setup is possible or not as I can’t see any rack or any mounting point on the roof side to hold the external cargo equipment. Maybe these are the thing Honda needs to look at for a facelift job. If you are travelling with only 4 persons on board, the 3rd row seat can be stow up thus expanding the cargo space to an estimated 667Litres of cargo space (VDA calculation).
The build quality for Honda Freed is very good; the gap on panel is very tight fit, a renowned quality known to Honda. The only gripes that I can think of is the used of hard plastic material on the instrument panel (dashboard). The colour theme that Honda choose for the instrument panel is quite good, with a two tone coloured being used namely the top panel used a black coloured plastic and the lower half of the instrument panel were coloured with a dark gray plastic. Luckily the plastic for the instrument panel is not easily scratch thus it is good for a people mover especially if you have a small kid. Speaking of small kids, the instrument panel in front of the front passenger area is quite flat thus it can be used if the kids want to write or do some colouring on the colouring book while the car is in stationary. As for the instrument panel, I can feel some sharp edge feel on the lower half of the dashboard and this should be improved by Honda if you want to customer to pay for a car in access of RM 110K.
In terms of driving position, Honda Freed gives a very good view on the road in front, which I’m sure to be a blessing and a very convenient feature especially for the ladies. The steering can be tilted but there is no telescopic feature which I think a very negative point. Even the Honda City, Jazz now features a tilt and telescopic steering. The gauges on the instrument panel can be clearly seen when you are in the driver seat and ergonomics is very good as the gear lever with a Shift Hold Control features together with the full automatic air cond button is within reach of the driver. Speaking of ergonomics, the only concern that I have would be the seat belt on the front passenger side. The seat belt on the front passenger side is not adjustable i.e. fix position. For me a 180cm driver, the seat belt fitted nicely on my shoulders and cross my chest, but for a shorter person, I think it would be a problem as the seat belt position might be a little bit too high for them especially when the seat belt is position near to your neck when you buckle up. That’s also another major point that needs to be considered by Honda Malaysia for the next facelift job. I have mention about the air cond, I also found the air cond blower is quite noisy, especially when I first started the air cond, there is a whistling sound emitted from the blower, I’m not so sure whether it is an isolated case or not but to me it’s quite annoying. As I have mention, the blower sound is quite loud, and this may be due to the capacity of the air cond that needs to throw the cool air from the front passenger all the way to the 3rd row passenger. There is no air cond vent on each row of the car thus; the air cond needs to be operating at a higher flow especially when you are driving in the hot swelling days.
Speaking of driving, the handling for the Honda Freed is quite decent. The steering used an EPS (Electric Power Steering) set up and the weight of the steering is quite good. It is not too sensitive as in Kia Forte and the direction of the car when you give the input to the steering wheel is quite linear. This improvement can be seen in the current Honda City thus this is a very good setup being done by Honda if you want to compare to the previous generation of Honda City which also uses EPS steering system. If you are going to push hard for this car, it would not be a good idea, as the car tends to give an over steer and a quick correction is needed on the steering wheel to straighten the car back to its course. It is quite normal for a compact MPV as the suspension setup uses a McPherson Strut with stabilizer on the front and an H shape torsion beam at the rear.
In terms of safety the Honda Freed is equip with dual front SRS air bags and also G-Force Control Technology (G-CON) and it is awarded with 6 star JNCAP which is the same with Grand Livina. The 6 star was achieve with the innovative ideas that used a shock absorbing hood and hinge structure, a shock absorbing fender and also shock absorbing bumper. Besides that, a 3 point ELR seat belt was a standard features for all 3 rows of seat belts with the front row were installed with a pretensioner with load limiter for an added safety. Safety is not complete without a good stopping power. The Honda Freed is also equip with an ABS (Anti Lock Braking System), BA (Brake Assist) and EBD (Electronic Brakeforce Distribution) as a standard features to the car.
As for the warranty, Honda has warrant the car to be trouble free for 3 years or 100,000 km and if you do find any problem to the car, the replacement part will be liable under this warranty as stated above.
As for the conclusion, I do find the car to be a good product from Honda but it’s not a great product. The price tag of the car is a wee bit on the high side for a price sensitive and also conscious consumer in Malaysia; it looks like Honda needs to work up a bit in order to full fill its orders. Honda has announced it is targeting to sell 1,600 units of Honda Freed this year and to me, the sales target that has been set is a very realistic target. And the final verdict, I award the Honda Freed a 3 out 5 stars. Do drop by to the Honda showroom if you fancy the Honda Freed. Happy motoring from me.
As you already know the Honda Freed is powered by a 1.5Litre SOHC i-Vtec engines which we can find in the Honda City and Honda Jazz that we have here in Malaysia. The drive train also remains the same with a 5 speed Auto being soldiered on to haul the car around any destination of your wish. The kerb weight of the car is 1355kg and as I have expected, the power to weight ratio would be a problem to the car. The engine produce 118ps at 6600RPM which is 2ps lower compared to the one produce in the Honda City and Honda Jazz. The reduction in the horsepower is due to the calibration on the engine management to have a better lower end torque which is essential for this type of car. Even though the engine has been retuned, from my initial driving impression, the car feels a bit sluggish to haul the masses even though the engine manages to burst a 146Nm of torque at 4800RPM. At the particular time of the initial driving impression, the car was hauling 3 persons on board including me as the driver and the engine response is quite sluggish even when you floor the pedal. It may be due to the car was not run in properly yet as the odometer is only showing a mileage of 150km but with a proper run in, the engine might response better but not too great to an extend giving a better driveability in term of hauling the masses in the car. It is quite evident even in a standstill to get the car moving to the speed that you wanted; it took a little while to achieve the desired speed. I know this is an MPV, a people mover, and please don’t get me wrong, but I have driven Grand Livina even with the 1.6Litre engine, it does give quite a shove around let alone the 1.8Litre model. With this characteristic, the fuel consumption might be on a little on the high side as compared to other Honda stable with the same engine capacity. Luckily the Honda Freed is equipped with a 42 Litre fuel tank to enable you to have a long balik kampong journey.
If you are in a hurry in the Honda Freed and you floor the pedal to the metal, the sound emit from the engine bay is quite evident as compared to other models in Honda stable here in Malaysia. I’m not so sure if it is a result of cost cutting or the lack of ticker sound shield padding, but I think Honda Malaysia should have pay attention if they really want to price this MPV as a “Premium MPV” as they have mention. Luckily the wind noise and tyre noise is quite minimal when travelling with this MPV. If the noise emitting from the engine bay is annoying to you, luckily there is a 2-DIN Alpine head unit that can entertained you along your journey. With a capability of tuning a radio, playing a CD and MP3 files, the head unit also accepts connection from USB device to blast the 4 factory fitted speaker. The sound from the head unit is quite descent with the bass that is not hard and a treble sound that is not too pitchy. To me if Honda Malaysia can add in a tweeter to the whole set up of the sound stage, I personally think the sound would be great as the MPV is quite spacious to give the right ambience to the sound stage.
Speaking of spacious, the Honda Freed was design with 4 individual “Captain” seats, 2 in the front row and 2 in the second row. The second row seat is capable of sliding fore and aft which is very good in adjusting the space as this enable the 2nd row and the 3rd row passenger to compromise each other legroom to make the whole long drive a smile to the face. To access to the 3rd row, Honda has manage to produce a novel idea of having a walkthrough cabin as I am 180cm tall, the tall roof of the Honda Freed is a welcome a I don’t need to bow to much while walking to move to the 3rd row of the seat. Speaking of 3rd seat, the seat can accommodate 3 persons on the bench; with the most spacious setup will be limited to 2 adults. If you want to cramp in another person to give a full 7 person capability, the 3rd row needs to be cramp in with 2 adults and 1 small child if you want to have a pleasant journey. With all the 3 rows of seat being used, the cargo space is a premium for a long journey drive. This problem is normal for a compact MPV thus if you want to carry more cargo, you can stow your luggage at the walkthrough cabin or you can installed an external roof cargo space. I’m not so sure whether this setup is possible or not as I can’t see any rack or any mounting point on the roof side to hold the external cargo equipment. Maybe these are the thing Honda needs to look at for a facelift job. If you are travelling with only 4 persons on board, the 3rd row seat can be stow up thus expanding the cargo space to an estimated 667Litres of cargo space (VDA calculation).
In terms of driving position, Honda Freed gives a very good view on the road in front, which I’m sure to be a blessing and a very convenient feature especially for the ladies. The steering can be tilted but there is no telescopic feature which I think a very negative point. Even the Honda City, Jazz now features a tilt and telescopic steering. The gauges on the instrument panel can be clearly seen when you are in the driver seat and ergonomics is very good as the gear lever with a Shift Hold Control features together with the full automatic air cond button is within reach of the driver. Speaking of ergonomics, the only concern that I have would be the seat belt on the front passenger side. The seat belt on the front passenger side is not adjustable i.e. fix position. For me a 180cm driver, the seat belt fitted nicely on my shoulders and cross my chest, but for a shorter person, I think it would be a problem as the seat belt position might be a little bit too high for them especially when the seat belt is position near to your neck when you buckle up. That’s also another major point that needs to be considered by Honda Malaysia for the next facelift job. I have mention about the air cond, I also found the air cond blower is quite noisy, especially when I first started the air cond, there is a whistling sound emitted from the blower, I’m not so sure whether it is an isolated case or not but to me it’s quite annoying. As I have mention, the blower sound is quite loud, and this may be due to the capacity of the air cond that needs to throw the cool air from the front passenger all the way to the 3rd row passenger. There is no air cond vent on each row of the car thus; the air cond needs to be operating at a higher flow especially when you are driving in the hot swelling days.
Speaking of driving, the handling for the Honda Freed is quite decent. The steering used an EPS (Electric Power Steering) set up and the weight of the steering is quite good. It is not too sensitive as in Kia Forte and the direction of the car when you give the input to the steering wheel is quite linear. This improvement can be seen in the current Honda City thus this is a very good setup being done by Honda if you want to compare to the previous generation of Honda City which also uses EPS steering system. If you are going to push hard for this car, it would not be a good idea, as the car tends to give an over steer and a quick correction is needed on the steering wheel to straighten the car back to its course. It is quite normal for a compact MPV as the suspension setup uses a McPherson Strut with stabilizer on the front and an H shape torsion beam at the rear.
In terms of safety the Honda Freed is equip with dual front SRS air bags and also G-Force Control Technology (G-CON) and it is awarded with 6 star JNCAP which is the same with Grand Livina. The 6 star was achieve with the innovative ideas that used a shock absorbing hood and hinge structure, a shock absorbing fender and also shock absorbing bumper. Besides that, a 3 point ELR seat belt was a standard features for all 3 rows of seat belts with the front row were installed with a pretensioner with load limiter for an added safety. Safety is not complete without a good stopping power. The Honda Freed is also equip with an ABS (Anti Lock Braking System), BA (Brake Assist) and EBD (Electronic Brakeforce Distribution) as a standard features to the car.
As for the warranty, Honda has warrant the car to be trouble free for 3 years or 100,000 km and if you do find any problem to the car, the replacement part will be liable under this warranty as stated above.
As for the conclusion, I do find the car to be a good product from Honda but it’s not a great product. The price tag of the car is a wee bit on the high side for a price sensitive and also conscious consumer in Malaysia; it looks like Honda needs to work up a bit in order to full fill its orders. Honda has announced it is targeting to sell 1,600 units of Honda Freed this year and to me, the sales target that has been set is a very realistic target. And the final verdict, I award the Honda Freed a 3 out 5 stars. Do drop by to the Honda showroom if you fancy the Honda Freed. Happy motoring from me.
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