Honda Freed Experience: A Premium Compact MPV Review with PaulTan.org

A Honda Freed Experience: A Premium Compact MPV Review with PaulTan.org

It was a sunny Saturday, a perfect weather for photography and outing. A special thanks to Honda Malaysia and Advertlets for inviting me for a special test drive experience with the brand new Honda Freed. Not forgetting also Malaysia’s Finest Automotive Blogger, Paul Tan, Harve Singh and also the team from Driven.

It started off at Souled Out with 8 different teams of bloggers and media. Each team of four is assigned to drive a Honda Freed for a certain mileage. With a load of four, the car is heavier and closer to a real case scenario. Bear in mind, Honda Freed is a premium compact MPV and it’s not a sedan or hatchback car.

The first impression of the outlook is Honda Freed looks like a bigger version of Honda Jazz with a facelift. Well, don’t be fooled by such judgement. The driver itself is comfortable and the first notable thing on the dashboard is the gear shift handle. Putting down the hand rest, the gear position is quite “natural” with the arms resting. It came with dual air-bags, nice Alpine sound system and air conditioned. The second notable thing is the side mirror. The Freed’s side mirror is closer to the driver and the passenger.

Smart and sleek looking dashboard
One of the things that raised my eye brows is their handbrake system. Similar to premium cars such as BMW, Mercedes and certain Lexus and Toyota models, the handbrake is next to the brake pedal. It’s so simple, just to step on it to release the handbrake.

Stylish Honda Freed headlights
Ester, Khairul, Chris Tock and me formed a team with car no 8. We started our journey from Souled Out to Putrajaya. We went through the busy Federal Highway, then to Maju Expressway and all the way to Putrajaya. The power of the iVTEC can be felt on the first 0-60km/h. I would say similar to most cars within the 110-120PS which is 1.6l.

Honda FREED is 118PS with 146 NM at 4800rpm for maximum torque. Going on uphill on the highway is an easy task if it is less than 120km/h, anything more than that the car could struggle a bit. Well, it’s 1.5 liter with 5 speed transmission and there were 4 of us, it’s more than enough. Remember, this is a MPV not a compact car.

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Wilson Ng