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-   -   Honda BR-V : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/176456-honda-br-v-official-review-40.html)

Just looking at brv sales figures:
Apr 567 - May 2344 - June 3064- July 3333- August 2229- Sep 2193
For the month of September Brv has sold less in comparison to Jazz 2608, Amaze 2861 and City 5855. It makes me wonder if Honda will drop their price or offer discounts like they did on the Jazz.
On the roads of Tamilnadu I must say the brv is still a rare car to be sighted. So far over the last 3months I have sighted 6 brvs and all of them were manual petrol versions of the V variant and 4 of them were tafetta white.
Earlier I had mentioned that my manual petrol Brv gave me 16.7kmpl average fuel economy with careful highway driving at 60 to 90kmph. I recently did a 300km drive from Vellore to Chennai and back with about 25km of bumper to bumper traffic in some of the crowded Chennai streets. This time I drove more aggressively on the highways at speeds from 80 to 100kmph causing me to brake more frequently than before. I got a average fuel economy of 15.4kmpl.

I know no one can really predict the future but I'm really interested to know the future of this car. I went to the showroom to book a City CVT, test drove this and found the drive to be almost exactly the same. Of course some important features are missing but I like the GC and the high seating. More seating inside but at a few notches lower comfort than the City. I was really surprised at the top end CVT costs more than the City which is supposed to be more of a premium car.
I'm really confused.

I think Honda has done a great job in being frank about the fuel economy. The customer gets exactly what the company quotes [if not more!!] unlike most other car companies that quote figures that are 1-2kmpl higher than the real world experience.
I am disappointed however that Honda has sold the brv in Thailand, Indonesia and Phillipines with additional features like Hill side assist. I dont understand why they treated India differently.
Having said that the brv available in India is still a great car though Honda could have priced it 1 to 1.5 lakhs cheaper. I suspect that had Honda done so their brv would have sold like the Breeza. I think the brv sales will eventually settle to between 1400 to 1800/month.
Currently the brv rules the niche area between the Ertiga and the Innova. Anybody looking for a 7 seater with greater boot space and features than the Ertiga but cant afford the Innova will go the brv way. However things may change if Renault comes out with a 7 seater duster upgrade and price it aggressively!!

Advantage City CVT (over BRV):

- Better interiors & attention to details
- Better ride quality (BRV is slightly jumpy)
- Better handling (Honda City MT is significantly quicker than hot hatches like Punto Abarth/Polo GT/Figo diesel on a track. In cars priced under Rs. 30 Lacs, only Octavia 1.8 TSi managed to beat Honda City MT)

Advantage BRV CVT (over City)

- Better looking (as in attracts significant attention on the road, especially in semi-urban and rural areas)
- More practical (high GC, high seating, max 700 litres boot space)
- Feature-rich 2nd and 3rd row seats.

Features and price are roughly the same though. While City CVT get touchscreen, rear parking camera etc, BRV CVT gets projector headlamps and 16 inch alloy wheels and tyres.

I had kept stretching my budget to finding the best car that personally felt the most comfortable on my injured lower back and with a CVT to help take some tension off my knee, back and mind to finally come down to City CVT VX. I know I could have taken the low end CVT also but the features missing are too many I feel. Then I suddenly test drove the BR-V CVT which felt really good ride wise as well as the GC and looks etc. I didn't realize until later that many people have mentioned the bumpy rear and also the car being relatively knew doesn't give much confidence in whether I can use it for the next 5-6 years without any major issues while driving and during service. Why is there no perfect car even after stretching the budget to 15 lakhs! :Frustrati

Lower back pain was one of the reasons why I sold my Civic. Because of higher seating, there is less pressure on the lower back area - and I have absolutely no issues driving long distance with the BR-V. The jumpiness is not felt (that much) while driving. Get somebody else to drive, sit in the 2nd row seat of BR-V and take a long test drive. Because of high seating & 2nd row seat recline feature, you might find the ride manageable.

Car being new or a sales dud is unlikely to be an issue. BR-V is a khichdi of pretty much all cars in Honda line-up (Brio, Amaze, Mobilio, City) - so you will never have servicing or spare part problems for 10 or 15 years. I have seen 1st gen Honda CR-Vs still being serviced at Honda dealerships.

Take a look at Creta petrol AT too. You get high seating + cushy ride.

It's a Honda. I don't think living with one for even 10 years is going to be an issue. Even for sales duds like Brio.

On the perfect car, I don't think it exists.
I think the sheer practicality of the larger space, high GC and easier ingress/exit makes the BRV that much more attractive. The touchscreen, parking cameras can be added later.

Congratulations on your car.
I would also give some unsolicited advice - Don't let the kids sleep by lying down in the car. Make them buckle up and sleep instead.

Waiting for the ownership review. I'm still sitting on the fence and am constantly looking for reinforcement on this forum :)

Maybe you could create a post that links to all of your other posts. I'd bookmark it for sure. please:

My review starts from page 28 of this thread. 8 out of my 10 posts (after page 28) are about my BRV ownership experiences

Before buying the BR-V, I thought it was close to perfect, and it is really turning out to be so. The only criticism I can think of right now is that it is a bit too clinical (I don't mean boring though). It is not as characterful as my old Civic or even my old Optra (was my first car, I covered 100,000 kms in 6 years, so I am a bit sentimental about it).

The higher noise levels I was complaining about too is no longer an issue, probably due to 3M rubberized underbody coating. Moreover, in our BRV Whatsapp group (has a grand total of 10 members), only 2 of us had (has) issues with high NVH levels. Also, I have learned NOT to use S mode for empty wide 2 + 2 lane highways. Sports mode is best used for overtaking, winding roads and roads with long wave undulations (like narrow smooth roads connecting villages to NH or SH).

Right now, I'm exploring rural Karnataka and have put in 900 kms on this trip so far. The score when BRV is driven enthusiastically (as if I'm driving a Civic, revving to 4000 to 5000 RPM occasionally) -



One big advantage of BRV over Tata Hexa, Innova Crysta or XUV 500 is that you can easily get to little known destinations via these "roads". And also make an U-turn if Google Maps goes crazy and lands you in a soup.



Travelogue titled "Little known temples of Hoysala Empire" (or something on those lines) coming up soon!



Anyway, there are hardly 8000 - 10000 BRVs on the road. But what are the odds of 2 BRV automatics entering the basement parking lot of the same hotel at the same time, in a small town like Hassan (Karnataka)?

OT: Looks like Sri Laxmi Devi Temple, Doddagaduvalli, off Belur-Hassan Road? One of those "not so famous" temples around here despite of a good signage along with a pic at Kalkere village indicating a turn off to this temple.

(If what I am guessing is right that is :) )

Is there anyone here who's driven both Ecosport and BR-V here? Both are said to be bumpy at the second row. I wanted to know the comparison of suspension in terms of comfort on bumpy city roads (highway driving dynamics is secondary) and comfort of seating for the driver.

Right, Doddagaddavalli Sri Lakshmi Devi Temple. They gave a big bunch of Tulasi leaves for the car. If Patanjali & Baba Ramdev ever get into car modification business, this is what their products would look like. It cannot get more swadesi than Tulasi leaves -



Ecosport's ride quality is pretty good. However, I have driven it only for a couple of kilometres.

Meanwhile, at 4000 km on the odo, I discovered that BRV's bumpiness/jumpiness vanishes when the boot is loaded with luggage. When loaded, both low speed and high speed ride quality is supple. I found this out on today's Hassan to Mangalore drive. The road is a mix of smooth fast curves and small stretches of completely broken and rutted roads. And thanks to the heavy holiday traffic, you get mouthwatering overtaking opportunities only on bad stretches of road (when other traffic slows down). When the back is weighed down by luggage, BRV rides flat like a Duster AWD (I have driven my friend's Duster for 700 kms) and flies over bad roads.



I would recommend placing couple of sacks of cement in BRV's boot before taking a test drive! :D

A couple of days back, we visited Shettihalli Church (ruins). Bumped into BHPian kptraveller (Wagon R) and did a photoshoot by the lakeside.











ISSUES DURING THE TRIP:

1) Keyless lock/unlock button on the driver side door is acting moody again. 1 out of 20 times it does not work.

2) On a particularly bad stretch of state highway, BRV developed a rattle on the rear door, sounding like a KSRTC Rajahamsa bus. But after a night's rest, the rattles magically disappeared.

These are the worst kind of niggles, the one's that can't be reproduced at will. Invariably, when you take it down to the service centre, they stop acting up and the product behaves like a goody-goody boy/girl. :Frustrati

Great going Smartcat. You are truly putting the BRV to use. I have barely managed 1000 kms and that too 100% city driving. Haven't got a chance to take it out of the city.
@HVT. Maybe we can just plan an aimless drive on the expressway to get those 18 + kmpl figures clocked and documented. :D

I have just completed 2200km on my brv petrol manual with a fuel economy of 15.8kmpl. This 2200km includes about 400km in Chennai city. In my drive yesterday from Vellore to Chennai there was a cloud burst close to Kancheepuram with very heavy torrential rain and gusty strong winds. Prior to this I was driving at a steady 80kmph and was overtaken by the vast majority of vehicles on the highway. However once the rains started to lash and the highway was flooded with water of about 180cm depth I found all the vehicles that had overtaken me having either halted by the side or struggling to crawl forwards. Only the innovas, xylos, fortuners and scorpios with party flags continued cautiously on the highway. I was able to continue at 60kmph in the brv despite the rains. My mom who is in her late 60s gave what I though was the ultimate complement " I really feel so safe in this car."

I have noted smartcat that you have got the front metallic bumper guard fixed to your brv. I feel damage to the front of the car can in the large part be avoided by a cautious driver. So why have you installed this accessory. I am wondering if it has a benefit that I am unaware of.

The rear metallic bumper guard on the contrary I feel is an absolute necessity for those living in a city with bumper to bumper traffic like in Vellore. Unfortunately the honda accessory guys dont have this readily available. They charge 10500 for this. I looked online and found a place in Bangalore that does it for 3800. The Honda accessory guy told me that the car has provision for just 1 side to be fixed and that they drill a hole in the service centre to fix the other end. He said that the non Honda shops just fix it with clamps. It made me wonder if this fixing with clamps is inferior to the way the Honda accessory guy does it? Does anybody know??

That bumper guard, supplied as an OEM accessory, is of fibre and is just a decorative item. It is pasted on the front.
As far as I know, the clamp fitting guards are fitted on the chassis and in case of severe accident, causes more damage to the chassis than can be seen/noticed.

Great FE.

The bumper guard is plastic and its there purely for aesthetics. I did not like the design of the rear bumper guard, so did not pick it up. Plus, I'm guessing it would affect rear parking sensors and camera.

BRV amidst greenery pics: