Honda FR-V - an old 'un but a good 'un (From The Northern Echo)

Honda FR-V - an old 'un but a good 'un

7:59pm Tuesday 20th July 2010 in

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REMEMBER the saying two heads are better than one? If you apply it to people carriers then three seats are surely better than two.

Alongside the recently axed Fiat Multipla, the Honda FRV is one of only two compact people carriers with a 3+3 seating configuration available on the European market.

That's a surprise, as the two rows of three is an infinitely more flexible layout than three rows of two, not least because it keeps a big boot no matter how many passengers are aboard.

I guess the drawback with having three people sitting in the front is that the driver gets feeling they've been shoved to one side.

With all the seats folded down the FRV makes a very handy van that's quite a bit wider than the usual hatchback.

Nigel Burton, Motoring Editor

The FRV feels less cumbersome than the Multipla, but it's still wider than Arthur Daley and feels it on the kind of tightly wound B-roads commonly found in the North-East.

Introduced in 2004, and known as the Honda Edix in Japan, the FRV enjoys something of a cult following among happy owners.

The test car's new 1.8 i-VTEC engine (sourced from the Civic) is judged good enough to replace two powerplants: the 1.7 and 2.0-litre i-VTEC.

At the same time the FRV has been under the knife, although the facelift has been relatively minor limited to different light clusters, different door handles, a darker front grille and some bits 'n pieces of carbon scattered about the interior. The seats and doors have a fabric finish and - stop the presses - there's an extra light in the boot.

It looks good, too, with crisp bodywork, a wide stance and chunky wheelarches - a refreshing change from the "me-too" design of so many medium-sized people carriers these days.

Honda bosses have also given the FRV's equipment mix a stir. There's now an aux input for iPods and the like, but it's buried beneath the dashboard and you'll need a long connector cable.

The interior is very versatile. All three rear seats fold individually - a simple one-handed operation - while the centre front and two outer rears have ISO-fix child seat mountings. As a further aid to child safety, the front middle seat moves 270mm further back than the two outers.

It's the same story in the back, although here the middle seat has a rearward bias as a way of improving the shoulder room for any passenger playing piggy-in-the-middle.

And with six people aboard there's still a very useful boot - something none of the FRV's more conventional rivals can boast.

When the front seat back is flipped forward it reveals a tray and a couple of pop up cup holders with lids.

You sit high up with a good view of the road ahead. I had an issue with the amount of lumbar support in the driver's seat - with the seatback in my usual position it felt as though someone had their knee in my back. If I adopted a more reclined position it wasn't a problem so I guess it's my strange shape.

Small windows at the base of the A-pillars improve your visibility when pulling out of junctions.

The 1.8-litre chain cam engine makes 140PS. It arrived fitted with Honda's (optional) five-speed automatic gearbox which has a tendency to hold on to gears a few seconds too long. At least the FRV never feels underpowered.

As is the Japanese way, the steering is fingertip light and set up for easy parking. It's less good at speed when it's hard to tell what's going on with the front wheels and feels disconcerting "floaty" on the motorway.

A mid-week day off saw the FRV being put to the "real life" test ferrying my son and his friends to school and, with all the seats folded, transporting grass and hedge cuttings to the tip.

With all the seats folded down the FRV makes a very handy van that's quite a bit wider than the usual hatchback. It had no problem swallowing all my junk and on returning home the interior looked as good as new after a quick vaccum to collect any spare bits 'n pieces.

In fact, it's easy to see why the FRV is so well liked by owners (more than 13,500 examples have been sold over here since 2004) and why secondhand examples are so sought after.

The cabin is huge, the carrying capacity excellent even with a full load (minimum boot space is 439 litres, maximum a hefty 1,049-litres), and the 1.8-litre engine is man enough for the job. It's a Honda, so it is likely to prove reliable and the build quality is top notch.

All in all, it's a bit of an undiscovered gem.

Which is sad really because the end is nigh - the FRV is reaching the end of its production life.

A fellow motoring scribe, on hearing what I was testing, said: "I didn't even know they made those any more." He wasn't far from the truth.

Production at the Honda factory in Suzuka, Japan, finished last summer.

Honda UK managed to snaffle a few of the last examples but there won't be any more reaching showrooms when the current inventory is gone. If you want one you'd best be quick.

SPEC CHECK: Engine: 1,799cc petrol Max power: 140 PS Max torque: 128 lb/ft @ 4,300 rpm Top speed: 118 mph 0-60 mph: 10.6 seconds Overall fuel consumption: 34.9 mpg Exhaust emissions: 190 g/km Road tax: £215 Equipment: Electric windows, alloy wheels, air conditioning wi climate control, two rows of three seats, CD player, cruise control, rear parking sensors.

HONDA FRV Price: £18,669