Honda have finally ventured into the lucrative MPV market with their latest offering, the Mobilio.
Priced from Rs 6.49 lakh for the base petrol version and starting at Rs 7.89 lakh for the base diesel (ex-showroom, New Delhi), the Mobilio is looking to take on the Maruti Ertiga and if possible, take the Toyota Innova down a notch.
The new car follows Honda traditional approach of providing an exceptional car with good looks and sporty performance, at an affordable price. The front of the car is fairly reminiscent of the much smaller Brio. This isn’t a surprise, seeing as Honda have announced that the Mobilio is based on the same platform as the Brio/Amaze. The car looks sporty at the front because of the grille, sharp spoiler and character line which continues to the side. The E, S and V variants all look the same with a few small distinguishing marks on each. The diesel version of the Mobilio, however gets a new variant which has been designed to appeal to the younger crowd, who look for distinct styling with the comfort of a large MPV. This variant is called the RS and features a bolder and sportier design than that of the base cars. The RS gets projector head-lamps with LED position lamps, a chrome grille, tailgate spoiler, exclusive alloy wheels, retractable ORVM with turn indicators and chrome door handles.
The Mobilio is a large car, measuring 4386 mm in length, 1683 mm in breadth and having a height of 1603 mm with a wheelbase that is 2652 mm long. However, the driving dynamics ensure that the car does not feel unwieldy or overtly large on the road. It has a small turning radius of just 5.2 metres. All this ensure that the Mobilio is a good city performer. The Mobilio also has a ground clearance of 189 mm, which will surely put the drivers mind at ease while driving on bad roads or through stormy weather.
The Mobilio uses the 1.5-litre i-DTEC and 1.5-litre i-VTEC, which are known for their performance and fuel economy. The 1.5 i-DTEC, based on Honda’s latest Earth Dreams Technology, makes 100 PS and 200 Nm of torque. Honda claim that this engine is capable of returning a class leading average of 24.2 km/l. It is available with a five-speed manual gearbox as standard. The 1.5 i-VTEC delivers 119 PS of power and 145 Nm of torque. Honda once again claim a best in class fuel economy of 17.3 km/l. The petrol also sees the use of the five-speed manual ‘box.
The prices for the Mobilio are as follows:
i-VTEC Petrol:
E: Rs 6.49 lakh
S: Rs 7.50 lakh
V: Rs 8.76 lakh
i-DTEC Diesel:
E: Rs 7.89 lakh
S: Rs 8.60 lakh
V: Rs 9.76 lakh
RS: Rs 10.86 lakh
All prices are ex-showroom, New Delhi.
Story: Pranjal Bhatnagar
