Honda BR-V Long Term Report: March 2018

Multitasker

It’s amazing when you think about it. I mean, making a ladder-frame chassis fit different car bodies is one thing, but developing a monocoque chassis based on the tiny Brio hatchback and then using it for this rather long seven-seater is quite another. Sure, it can be done as it has been done. But the brilliance of this job really shows in the way BR-V handles. Despite being longer, wider and taller than its hatchback sibling, the BR-V stays planted at high speeds, and around bends it absolutely sticks to the road with those wide 195/60 section tyres. The suspension setup is on the stiffer side, but the ride never gets uncomfortable. 

So, all this combined with the car’s excellent fuel efficiency makes the BR-V diesel a near perfect highway cruiser as my colleagues found out last month. But this month, I want to talk a little more about it. 

Honda has worked really hard to improve the refinement of this 1.5-litre turbo diesel engine. Now, the NVH levels are rather low as compared to the Amaze. It also has one of the slickest shifting manual gearboxes and super light clutch. The BR-V, while it is not a pain to drive, it could do with a little lower NVH and a lighter clutch.