Wa-Honda forever!

2006 we purchased a Honda City. 

What a lovely car. Though TopGear used to call it akin to driving a Washing Machine. I never felt so. It has taken us across the country without any hiccups. For the sedate driving we did it was perfect.

Umpteen trips to Coimbatore and Chennai

Pondicherry and Auroville

Ooty's 36 hairpin bends and Kodaikanal, Mt.Abu

Mysore, Coorg, Madikeri

Goa,Harihareshwar,Mumbai

Rain drenched Lonawalla, Kandala, Bushi dam

Kissed Beach sand on Gorai beach near Mumbai

Kissed Desert Sand at Jaisalmer and India-Pakistan Border

Changed Car Tyres twice. Touched almost 98,000 on the odometer.

Had one accident when a BMTC bus banged the car from the back on Marathahalli Bridge, when I had to hit a sudden brake to avoid crushing a 2 wheeler who cut across from left to right. Had our share of close calls, had hit sudden brakes, skids - but luckily no injuries.

There was a good amount of bootspace. Helped pick US travellers with their 2 large suitcases and had room for their cabin bag too. When we migrated from Bangalore to Mumbai - all of San's plants were in the trunk. We shifted in the hot month of April. Every 1 hour we will take a break to water the plants which were literally getting cooked in the summer heat. All of them survived the transit, but soon withered away in the Mumbai heat.

The car was rock solid. 

However - the 2006 old model did not have air bags, nor ABS. It was not mandatory that time and Honda made a handsome profit by not including these safety features. We paid around 8Lakhs odd that time. While the highways became better - and San was touching 140kms - we were running on luck most of the time. I am a sedate driver and will hover around 100kms and not let it go beyond 110. 

City was touching 13 years and it was on my mind to change the car. 

Early in 2016, when Hexa was launched I took a test drive and loved the gigantic car. The cost was north of 20 Lakhs and started saving. 

One Sunday, last August 2019, we had lunch at Salem Kitchen in AECS Layout and went to Chef Bakers on ITPL road to have dessert.

We were sitting near the window and we were watching a family take delivery of a Tata Nexon. I said lets go check out these cars.

I loved the Nexon's design. It was very sporty and compact. I loved the features. Apple Car play support, a bracelet for keyless entry and starting the car, had air bags, ABS, ESP. It had 3 cylinders and had a variable selection - economy, city and sport. It was an automatic manual transmission - AMT. We saw the Harrier but rejected it because of the gigantic size and also it was manual. We saw Hexa too but it was way beyond my budget. I had saved 11Lakhs till now - cannot stretch it to 21+Lakhs a Hexa demanded. 

We got home and made a mental list of non-negotiables. Air bags, ABS and an automatic.

Safety was top priority. Also the next car we were to buy has to be an automatic. We are in the early 40s, and it should last another 15 years. With the Bangalore traffic manual did not make any sense.  

We test drove the Nexon diesel and the top end Petrol variant. Diesel was too jerky and noisy. I liked the Petrol one - it had AMT, Apple Car play and a bracelet plus - Air Bags, ABS and ESP. Yes I am like that - I make my decisions on these little things. I asked them about Hill Hold - which they said it is not guaranteed on steep slopes. It was a downer - the 2nd reason for an Automatic is to have peace of mind in Hills. 

When we visited Sikkim in 2018, I had said to the Himalayas - we will be back. To enter Gangtok, the last 2 Kms or so will take a couple of hours - the cars will move an inch at a time. Can't imagine driving a stick shift. 

However, I was ready to make a booking and pay the Rs.5000 booking amount - the total came around 11Lakhs which I had saved, but before that San wanted to know the price they will purchase the Honda City for. 

Later during the week 2 guys came to estimate Honda City. They removed the beadings and did a thorough inspection and found that this car had got rear-ended, and said Rs. 30,000. We were both disappointed. The car's value was around Rs.2,00,000 in the insurance papers, and I expected atleast north of Rs.1,50,000

We then went to Honda showroom the next weekend. The WRV was there - and we were disappointed that it had a manual transmission and no automatic - otherwise loved the design. Test drove the Honda City - it was a CVT - Continuous Variable Transmission - and it was very slick. Had all the gizmos - touch screen with apple car play support and even a sun roof - but it was touching almost 20 Lakhs. Way beyond our budget.

Then we spotted a BRV parked at the very end. I am a frequent visitor of Team BHP and all the discussions will be around Hexa, Creta, City,XUV, Nexon, Ertiga, WRV, Jazz,Kia, MG Hector - but never a BRV.

I had also missed this car in my browsing. 

We saw it had 3 rows of seats. Strike 1. In all our long drives it will be a fight for space between Man and Dog. Now Sufi can travel comfortably at the 3rd row.

The dash had a very basic music system - not a touch screen - thankfully had bluetooth. Did not have a rear camera. But it was a CVT - and had hill hold which they did not advertise - but CVTs do a good job in the hills. Strike 2.

Whitefield Honda showroom itself had a 2nd hand sales division and they sent an evaluator. They gave a price of Rs.1,30,000 and an additional loyalty discount of Rs.50,000. Strike 3. Plus they offered a 5 year warranty. 

BRV had Air bags - which later I found was mandatory in all cars now, and ABS. But did not have ESP - Electronic Stability Protection. BRV had good crash testing ratings but not as good as a Nexon which hit 5stars - a first for an Indian Manufacturer. The onroad price came to 15,92,000 - chose a Rear view camera and leather seats. Along with the discount and resale, had to stretch quite a bit to reach this number.

Nexon, like Ford Ecosport - which was the next showroom I would have visited if we did not spot the BRV - is a 3 cylinder engine. They compensate the lack of the 4th cylinder through some fancy electronics - because in the long run it has less wear and tear and gives God awesome fuel economy ( like 20 KM plus even for a petrol ), but it does not have the smoothness you get from a 4 cylinder car at low speeds. In highways the momentum takes care of the missing 4th cylinder. Hence the option of Economy, City and Sports mode for the AMT - so you decide how comfortable the ride will be - Smart! 

Also during the test drive of Nexon, found everyone’s head wobble to and fro whenever the gears switched up. I asked in Team BHP and the experts said you should get used to driving an AMT. Whenever you increase speed, you should anticipate the gear change coming and take foot off the accelerator - so the wobble does not happen. This was not present in CVT where the transition was smooth - actually the technology later I learnt is quite interesting. CVT does not have gears in the traditional sense - its continuous. 

BRV had the same 1500 CC, 4 cylinder petrol engine - the 20L City had. Honda has perfected the Petrol engine and it has the best among all its competitors. The Economy they claimed was around 14 - 16 Kms per liter. 

We decided to go for the BRV. 

Later, I changed the stock music system with a Pioneer touch screen which supports Apple Car play and Google Maps + Apple Music were now available in the dash.

BRV is a flop in Indian market. It is high priced plus devoid of any fancy features. However we loved the practicality of this car. Any other car which had 3 rows was north of 20 Lakhs - an XUV, Hexa, Fortuner or Endevour. Ertiga was the only contender, cheaper than BRV - but we were already in Honda's clutches - so did not check it out.

After we took delivery of the vehicle we found some more good features this car had.

The 2nd row seats could be tilted back further which was a pleasant surprise. In most of the sedans it is fixed and cannot be tilted further back. 

The 3rd row seats - even they can be tilted slightly back - can fully fold down and against the 2nd row seats and we get a humungous bootspace. For the first service, I put my cycle inside the car after folding the seats, dropped the car for service and rode the cycle back home. 

BRV does not have any fancy bracelet like Nexon, but it has keyless entry. We made a chain with a black thread and hung the key on it - and we wear it like a necklace whenever we take the car out. During these Covid times it is super beneficial as we do not need to touch the key at all. 

The window for the 2nd row passengers is humungous. In Nexon it was a bit claustrophobic. Sun is a problem - still on the hunt for a good sun shade system. Then I imagine the view the 2nd row passengers will also have when we hit the Himalayan slopes some day.

BRV has paddle shifters. First I thought it was a gimmick but later found it quite useful. Whenever had to reduce speed - lets say while approaching a Toll gate, instead of hitting the breaks to reduce speed, I can just downshift using the paddle shift - this will use engine breaking and is easy on the breaks.

The speakers are quite loud even in the 3rd row - there are outlets there. In the 2 rental cars we had taken from Zoomcar - a Fortuner and Hexa - both were entry level models in their defence - the 3rd row can hardly hear anything. We had to keep maximum volume for the 3rd row to hear, but it will give a headache to the driver.

Air con vents - actually these are just blowers - on the top for 2nd row passengers - and can be adjusted. It was one of the biggest complaints in our good old Honda City. During hot summer trips, the 2nd row will want the AC fans to blow at top speed - so it will reach them. However the driver and co-pilot seats will get super chill. It was always a fight. Now with the vents at the top - it was nicely circulating the air. Also one feature we missed in Honda City - automatic climate control was there in BRV. 

Things BRV does not have - Cruise Control - it is debatable if this feature is useful in India, but I am for Cruise Control - one less thing to monitor while driving. Also it is a 2 Wheel Drive. If we take to Gorai beach once again and car gets stuck - will have to get help of the locals to push it out! One of our acquaintances in Mumbai, always carry’s a thick rope - once he got stuck in desert sand it was a fight to get his car out. After that he always carries a thick rope. On my to-do before the next long drive.

Now the BRV has completed its 3 free services. It is 11 months old now, has only put 4,000 Kms and is cooling its heels waiting for the Covid to blow away - so we can point it towards the Himalayas, or Goa, or Kerala or North East.

Wa-Honda forever!