Honda FR-V 1.8 i-VTEC ES

Author's product rating:   

Safety	Excellent
Comfort	Good
Road Handling	Good
Looks	Excellent
Features	Good

Advantages:	Plenty of space .   Looks good .  .  .  .  . not like an MPV !
Disadvantages:	None really

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This is a great car!

With 2 kids, we were perfectly happy in our Mazda Premacy Sport.....a pretty good car. Now that our third has arrived, things have changed! Fitting 2 child seats in the back seat of almost any car is fairly easy.......fitting 3 in a row is a different matter completely, and that is the case for most cars and mini/midi MPV's. It's possible but not easy.

So, we needed a new car......with room for 2 adults and 3 child seats, a reasonable sized boot, and something that didn't look like a mini-bus! We looked at many of the newer 5-7 seater MPV's. All of the 5 seaters were ruled out quickly as there was no real benefit over our Premacy. We also didn't like the 7 seaters too much because they either had a tiny boot or were massive in overall size, and just look like fancy mini-buses.

Then we found the 6 seaters......Fiat Multipla and Honda FR-V. There's no doubt that the Multipla is a good car with better prices but even the newer facelifted model is still an odd looking beast.......quote from my wife...."I'm not driving that!"......that was the end of the Multipla.

When we went to view an FR-V, we were immediately impressed. First of all, it doesn't really look like an MPV at all. With it's shape, stance, smart alloys, privacy windows etc, it looks really good. The 3 car seats went into the back seat without any problems and the kids were very happy in there.

On to the front seats. Very comfortable for the driver, with controls all readily available. I've read other reviews saying that some controls are too far away but in my opinion there isn't an issue......the furthest controls are for the radio, particularly tuning and sound settings....well, I don't need to touch these, pretty much ever, as the sound is set as we like it and our favourite radio channels are programmed in and controllable from the steering wheel. The climate contol buttons are in the middle of the car below the radio and again, for me, no problem. The beauty of automatic climate control is that you don't have to touch it.
I also read that some people felt the driving position was offset.......again, I don't see the problem. We find it very comfortable.
If all 5 of us are in the car, the front central seat is folded forward, giving nice big armrests for the 2 front passengers, 4 extra cup holders and a flat tray area.
We've tried putting 3 adults across the front seats and again, no problems. The central seats slide back so that they are offset, ensuring that everyone has plenty of shoulder room. We tried it on a fairly short journey, but I'm sure driving a long distance would be comfortable too. Other reviews say that 6 men would be a bit squashed.....well, I'm sure they'd be ok but the reality is that this is primarily a family car, so how often will there be 6 adults in there?

The boot is a good size too. Maybe not quite as deep as some cars but deep enough. Nice an wide. No problems getting our pretty bulky pram in.

The car also feels like it was built to last. With good quality materials, it gives the feeling of a 'quality' car rather than a purely functional family mover. Several Zafira and Scenic owning friends were very impressed. Put an FR-V alongside a Zafira, Scenic, Picasso, Multipla, etc and for us there is no contest as to which I'd prefer to drive.

Like many others, I really like my cars. Before kids, we had several BMW's and Audi's, and the FR-V feels much more like cars of that ilk. It's reminded us how 'ordinary' the Premacy was. OK, the FR-V's no sports car but it's quick enough and feels very solid to drive. I don't have to discuss reliability as Honda is famous for it.....I'm not sure the others can all say that?

To summarise, we love it! Get one!