Long Term Report-2

It has been around two-and-a-half months since the Honda Mobilio entered our long term fleet and since then has become our very Swiss army knife. Its MPV design and car-like proportions have ensured that we have used it for a plethora of purposes apart from the usual daily commute and weekly eat outs (binge sessions to be more honest) in South Mumbai.

We have discovered that its boot with the third row folded up serves as a second office space for our friend Sanchit, from PowerDrift, whose photography skills you have been seeing in our reviews. Further, we have also discovered that it can swallow a large cycle (with the second and third row folded down). It can also comfortably accommodate five adults with about three pieces of airline-sized luggage. However, if you are a bit daring and are flexible when it comes to personal space, then seven adults can also be accommodated in the cabin (but it would be too much of a squeeze).

The third row is also good for your four-legged companion though there is more room and openable windows in row two for them to pop their heads out, a sight that would bring joy to any animal lovers heart. An experiment by Vikrant to test out the storage spaces yielded quite a positive result as he literally ran out of things to keep but was still not done using all the cubby holes in the cabin.

The space and practicality of the vehicle is all good but unfortunately the beige upholstery trim seems to have gone the other way. Three months of rains, dust and slush had left the trim, including the carpets, stained and noticeably dirty. A professional shampoo and internal cleaning job has set me back by Rs 1,200 and would cost anyone else that much (give or take a few Rs 100 depending on the car spa).

Another thing we discovered was that the contrast and brightness of the AVN display had been cranked up completely in what appears to be a bid to compensate for low visibility in the sunlight. Adjusting this to an acceptable level has brought in the richness of the colours but has made it a bit of a challenge to work with the system when there is sunlight directly shining on it.

On the fuel efficiency front, the Mobilio’s 1.5-litre i-DTEC four-cylinder diesel mill has continued to impress once again. The gauge has been indicating an efficiency of 18kmpl to 20kmpl. In terms of actual efficiency, we used 35.26-litres to cover 610km while my colleague Omkar used 87-litres to cover 1560km. This indicates that it has been averaging between 17.3kmpl to 17.9kmpl consistently giving us a running cost of Rs 2.7 per km.

It may be down on the features and space in the third row but the Mobilio is being quite easy on my pocket when it comes to running costs and that is something that I’m hoping will continue over the rest of my time with the car.