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Four friends & their Honda BR-Vs: Four interesting ownership stories

31st March 2025, 10:04 by Deepankar Sadekar

The car is now seven and has never given my friend and his family any heartaches.

BHPian vigsom recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Introduction

The urge to own MUVs (or new age SUVs) had caught up, and over the last two years, I was faced with unusual requests from close friends to help them get 7 seaters. Well, getting one isn't a big deal, but the budget certainly is. Remember the 2,32,000 done Innova and the friend was tough enough to take the gamble. What about lesser risk takers? For a budget under INR10L, finding a good 7 seater wasn't going to be easy. Ertiga ZXi AT was one option but rarer to see than a solar eclipse.

This is a brief account of how four friends got real lucky - getting their dream machines for not so dreamy money. Dream Machine = Honda BR-V, and best of all, all CVTs which came only in the V avatar.

BR-V #1 - Born 2017

In Jun 2017, my friend, who had an SX4 ZXi AT with the odo at 83,000km approx. wanted to move to a new car. The SX4 had been wanting attention more frequently than before, and even after rectifying the lower arms, was staring at spend on new tyres and on suspension parts other than the lower arms. I pleaded with him to go the pre-owned route but his family was dead against the idea.

He evaluated the Tata Hexa XMA, but declared the car too big, and then evaluated a Ciaz Alpha AT. One of the Nexa dealerships in Chennai offered him a good deal on a Feb-2017 manufactured metallic beige Ciaz ZXi+ AT (this was equivalent to the new Alpha) with the dealer offering an INR 40,000 discount on the car plus a whole lot of useful accessories. Ciaz ceased to sport the beige exterior after moving to Nexa.

While my friend was processing the quote via a leasing company, the move to the GST regime happened and there was confusion around benefits through the lease plan. Add to that a revision in the price of the Ciaz . Delays in his lease process, pressure from the dealer, and he finally gave Nexa the clearance to process that car for someone else and refund his booking amount.

Later in Jul 2017, he saw the Honda BR-V CVT which was being offered at INR 40,000 off. He also got a good trade in value for his SX4 with an exchange bonus and eventually decided to go with the BR-V. The BR-V was finally his in Aug 2017, and the first BR-V in my club.

BR-V #1 (Contd.)

Advantage BR-V

1. It's a Honda
2. 1.5L butter smooth engine
3. Reliable CVT which goes on and on
4. Super light steering and extremely easy to drive
5. Good FE for a utility vehicle (typical 15kmpl on highways)
6. Loads of space inside
7. 60:40 seats in second row and 50:50 in the third, with still some decent boot space with all seats up

The car is now seven and has never given my friend and his family any heartaches; in fact the only notable failure was a fused puny bulb under the gear lever console and a chattering AC flap motor that he had to pay for.

Maintenance expenses (not the full account but based on information I've gathered)

1. Aug-2019 20,000km service INR 9,700
2. Sep-2021 38,000km service INR13,000 (CVT fluid replaced plus one driveshaft repaced in warranty)
3. Apr-2023 50,000km service INR 10,000 (rodent repellant, AC blower cleaning)
4. May-2024 55,000km service INR 10,000 (rodent repellant, AC blower cleaning)
5. Oct-2024 57,000km First change of tyres from the stock 196/60R16 Michelin Primacy LC to 205/60R16 Yokohama Earth1 INR 30,800 (tyres plus alignment plus balancing plus N2)

Thank You @SmartCat for testing and certifying the 205/60R16. My friend has reported only good things after the tyre upsize.

BR-V at 7 years - except a minor dent on the hood, all paint is stock