Honda Vezel

HRV · January 13, 2014

Hi Guys,

"Heard" that Honda Vezel - a Hybrid small SUV from Honda has landed in SL market. I'm currently thinking about an upgrade (Within next 6 months) and considering this vehicle although I'm not a big fan of Hybrids. My other alternative is to extend the budget a bit and go for a 2nd hand fortuner. (Somewhere around 4.0 - 5.5 Mil+). I know that these Two vehicles are of Two classes. Thing I like in fortuner is, it's a 7 seater and I might need the extra seats from time to time. I'm sure that the Honda would be of a more refined drive than the fortuner which based on the Hilux. (I've my mind on Honda CrossRoad as well, but compared to fortuner it's very cramped inside.)

- Does anyone have any experience on Vezel (specially guys involved in the trade) ? How is the handling, Is it fun to drive or a boring vehicle (Slow acceleration etc) ? I went through some reviews and those mentions that it only contains a 1.5 iVtec motor coupled with the electric motor delivering 150HP+. All of the reviews I found are from Indian web sites which are usually BS.

- I know it is too early to ask such a question, but are there any known issues to anticipate with the technologies involved? (Eg : Gear box issues which are common on earlier Honda CVTs etc)

- Does anyone know the exact market price (non permit) of Vezel in SL at the moment ? (I heard that it's between 4.1 - 5.1 mil, but not sure.)

- Again a hard question to answer but some of you guys know the market being actively involved in it - As a Hybrid would this become too common in Sri Lanka like Axios, Prius, Insights, Allions etc.

- My current ride is perfectly running well, but just thinking of doing an upgrade, since it's getting old. Do you think it is wise to stay few more years until this model becomes main stream and then do a purchase or buy now before the demand/price goes high. I don't have a requirement to buy a car brand new since 2-3 years of use with good maintenance should be negligible wear and tear on a petrol engine.

Thanks guys !

iRage · January 13, 2014

Well so far only seen Japanese press reviews of the Vezel goes on about the features rather than its actual handling characteristics. It is based on the Fit and seems like Honda's biggest boast with it is that it has the best fuel economy in its class in Japan or something of the sort. Apparently the 1.5+Hybrid cobination gets the same power as a 2.0 ltr variant but far more fuel efficient ? Some of the critisims again was mainly about features and pricing where apparently the 4WD variant was as pricey as the new base X-Trail and MX-5 which both have more space and features for base units.

Only seen one "driven" review which claimed it was a pretty comfy ride and hadsome of the Fit's handling characteristics, although the bigger body dampened some of it. The reviewr preferred the Vezel over the Juke.

If I remember right they started taking orders for the Vezel in early December (just before christmas and after it was introduced at the Tokyo Motorshow) for Late Jan/Feb delivery. Haven't seen any at any dealerships except for a test-drive/display model at some dealerships as delivery for my area (Kyushu) is expected closer to February.Although the dealerships are willing to get stocks transferred from dealerships from the mainland before this period for an extra cost and also they claim there is a waiting list (Honda says that about all their cars...not sure how true that is). It is surprising how fast it would have made it to SL shores considering you don't see any for mass sale in Japan yet.

EDIT:

Re-reading the review what it actually claims is that since the Hybrid with the 1.5 liter engine produces equivalent power of a 2.0 liter engine (which one ? no idea), it can handle the extra weight without compromising performance.

So in a way Honda cannibalized the gasoline variant by saying the 1.5 liter gasoline version lacks power to handle the larger bodied vehicle ?

Edited January 13, 2014 by iRage

Crosswind · January 13, 2014

It hasn't made to SL shores yet. Importers are posting tons of ads on paper because they expect it to be a mega hit here. A cheap, fuel efficient vehicle that pretends to be an SUV will always be sold like hotcakes here.

Edited January 13, 2014 by Crosswind

ramishkad · January 13, 2014

On 1/13/2014 at 10:24 AM, Crosswind said:
that pretends to be an SUV

Shots fired

Hoonigan · January 13, 2014

If it has "Hybrid", "SUV", "Fuel efficient" and "Permit" in one sentence, you can bet your ass it will be as common as the the Prius.

iRage · January 13, 2014

On 1/13/2014 at 10:27 AM, ramishkad said:
Shots fired

But it is the truth !!! the most it could do is a grocery run in the middle of a Sri Lankan snow storm

Edited January 13, 2014 by iRage

NPP · January 13, 2014

guess the Zotye Nomad "SUV" owners will be upgrading

iRage · January 15, 2014

Yeah....there does seem to be a long wait period for the Vezel...whilst the current orders up to now for the gasoline will be delivered close to March and the Hybrid will be closer towards golden week (which will be around last week of April/first week of May) and only a few early orders have been delivered

Apparently up to 12th Jan they have reached 24000+ orders which is 6 times more than what Honda was anticipating....so yeah...hard to believe that it has made it to SL. Also, just be weary that car sales people might promise quick delivery when in reality it might take quite sometime.

If you want to read the article (in Japanese though) here it is: http://car.jp.msn.com/news/%E3%80%90%E3%83%9B%E3%83%B3%E3%83%80-%E3%83%B4%E3%82%A7%E3%82%BC%E3%83%AB-%E7%99%BA%E5%A3%B2%E3%80%91%E7%B4%AF%E8%A8%88%E5%8F%97%E6%B3%A82%E4%B8%874900%E5%8F%B0%E2%80%A6hv%E3%81%AE%E7%B4%8D%E6%9C%9F%E3%81%AFgw%E6%98%8E%E3%81%91%E3%81%AB-1

ramishkad · January 15, 2014

On 1/13/2014 at 8:33 AM, HRV said:
- Does anyone know the exact market price (non permit) of Vezel in SL at the moment ? (I heard that it's between 4.1 - 5.1 mil, but not sure.)

From what I heard from a sales guy :

Gasoline version 4.4 million and upwards

Hybrid 4.9 million and upwards.

Again this is not verified info. There are 4WD versions available too which I believe would be higher than the above prices.

I also read on Wikipedia that the Gasoline version offers up to 20kmpl and Hybrid up to 27kmpl fuel efficiency. Even the non hybrid version has better fuel efficiency than a Civic Hybrid With this kind of fuel efficiency advertised for a SUV, I wonder how the performance of the vehicle would be.

Crosswind · January 15, 2014

On 1/15/2014 at 10:32 AM, ramishkad said:
From what I heard from a sales guy :
Gasoline version 4.4 million and upwards

Hybrid 4.9 million and upwards.

Again this is not verified info. There are 4WD versions available too which I believe would be higher than the above prices.

I also read on Wikipedia that the Gasoline version offers up to 20kmpl and Hybrid up to 27kmpl fuel efficiency. Even the non hybrid version has better fuel efficiency than a Civic Hybrid With this kind of fuel efficiency advertised for a SUV, I wonder how the performance of the vehicle would be.

For f&&k's sake, what Wikipedia gives is the fuel figures under TEST conditions, not under normal driving conditions.

ramishkad · January 15, 2014

On 1/15/2014 at 11:14 AM, Crosswind said:
For f&&k's sake, what Wikipedia gives is the fuel figures under TEST conditions, not under normal driving conditions.

What I said was, it's still higher than what's rated for the Civic Hybrid in the same JC08 test cycle. Either way, I'm not one to get a boner for fuel efficiency so no need to go medieval on my ass

Edited January 15, 2014 by ramishkad

iRage · January 15, 2014

It will be interesting to see how it performs. Drove a 1500cc Juke sometime back and well...it was a bit sluggish but the 1600cc did quite well. So if that is any indication I wonder if the 1500cc gasoline will be somewhat sluggish and the 1500+Hybrid (which Honda equates to one of its 2000cc engines) might be a lot more perkier ?

Initial reports said the AWD will only be available in Hybrid but I now see that they offer a gasoline AWD in base grade.

MSRP seem to start at

1.8 - 2.1 mil yen for the gasoline

2.2- 2.5 mil Hybrid FF

and 2.4 - 2.7 mil for Hybrid AWD.

plus when you add delivery charges, dealer options etc you are probably looking at least another 300000yen on top of that....

Apparently of all the orders received so far the Hybrid (86%?) seems to be the most popular.The AWD is apparently only 3% of orders received so far. The AWD prices are touching base on X-Trail/CR-V/RAV4 prices here in Japan, so it would be interesting ot see how Honda fairs is stealing away a decent chunk of the buyers of the traditional soft-roaders with its fuel efficiency, tax breaks etc...and "SUV" capabilities.

Edited January 15, 2014 by iRage

Jaliya48 · January 15, 2014

On 1/13/2014 at 12:56 PM, iRage said:
But it is the truth !!! the most it could do is a grocery run in the middle of a Sri Lankan snow storm

LOL good one!

iRage · January 20, 2014

So finally read an actual test drive report of the Hybrid and gasoline Vezel.

The reviewer says that the Hybrid’s performance is adequate but not great and under full-throttle/hard acceleration has somewhat of a time lag and the engine feels a bit half-hearted and discomforted as the IMA tries to figure things out. Could be the diesel engine being typically diesel-enginey ??. Irrespectively at the end of the day most people will find hard/full-throttle acceleration “sporty” if they ever do do it <Yes I said "do do">. I guess what is meant is that although there is a time lag and the engine feels sluggish it still has the typical Honda sporty feel to it ? Also the half-hearted hard acceleration could be like the Fit gasoline vs. hybrid variants. The Fit gasoline feels a lot more happier with hard acceleration whilst the Hybrid seemed like it first wanted to think about it and then reluctantly go for it (and let the onslaught by Fit Hybrid owners commence…but sorry the gasoline did feel a lot more fun).

During the test period the guy only managed to get 17 kmpl…which I guess won’t be too bad once you convince yourself that it is a SUV (well a pseudo one at least).

As for the gasoline variant, to my surprise, it actually had been pretty perky and a much better engine experience than the Hybrid and still gets similar performance (lighter weight so almost equal power to weight ratio ?) and ended up getting 14 kmpl.

As for ride quality, compared to other soft roaders apparently it feels more nimble with lesser body roll etc (no surprises there). Although I have no idea why Honda insisted that he compare it to a X-Trail and a Forrester as the Vezel seems more like a “Juke” or even a XV. Space wise apparently it has been quite a squeeze for the rear passengers with him driving...but this guy is pretty tall for a Japanese dude.

At the end of the day no matter what a reviewer might say and how it is going to actually perform in real day-to-day driving; this thing is probably going to be a hit (at least it looks better than the Juke) with our Hybrid and SUV fan boys and permits and lower duty and...

iRage · January 22, 2014

The Vezel has a mechanism that makes the accelerator peddle heavy requiring more force than usual to depress it if YOU, the driver, are being too aggressive and unnecessarily heavy footed. Now I am even more curious to go for a test drive with one of these things....the quest for creating drivers who cannot drive continues

http://car.jp.msn.com/news/%E3%80%90%E3%83%9B%E3%83%B3%E3%83%80-%E3%83%B4%E3%82%A7%E3%82%BC%E3%83%AB-%E3%83%8F%E3%82%A4%E3%83%96%E3%83%AA%E3%83%83%E3%83%89x-%E8%A9%A6%E4%B9%97%E3%80%91%E8%B2%A0%E8%8D%B7%E6%99%82%E3%81%AE%E3%83%91%E3%83%AF%E3%83%95%E3%83%AB%E3%81%95%E3%81%AB%E3%83%A2%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%81%AE%E6%81%A9%E6%81%B5%E3%82%92%E5%AE%9F%E6%84%9F%E2%80%A6%E8%AB%B8%E6%98%9F%E9%99%BD%E4%B8%80-1

Bracket · January 24, 2014

Today I got a mail - Vezel B/N price they have quoted is CIF HAMBANTOTA = 2.45 million JPY (Rs.3,135,000)

Magnum · January 24, 2014

The best part is that it has a dual clutch tranny

Magnum · January 24, 2014

and looks awesome with the Mugen kit

Magnum · January 24, 2014

On 1/24/2014 at 2:25 PM, Bracket said:
Today I got a mail - Vezel B/N price they have quoted is CIF HAMBANTOTA = 2.45 million JPY (Rs.3,135,000)

Could you check whether its the fully loaded one?

iRage · January 24, 2014

Saw a pic of a gun metalic grey unit with the Mugen kit which looked AWESOME !!! The dark body went well with the lighter kit.

I wnder if the whole eco smart accelerator pedal is only active in ECO mode or something. Would be quite an annoyance if you want to drive a little sportily.

That CIF price seems about right for a Hybrid FF (probably a mid grade) or a gasoline unit ? The AWD which were initially announced as Hybrid only was about 2.3mil yen onwards. But now the base grade Gasoline is also available in AWD but not sure what the price is (probably about 150000 yen or so cheaper than the Hybrid ?).

EDIT : A photo gallery for the Mugen VEZEL in different colors:

http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-gallery/honda-vezel-mugen-suv-photo-gallery-368399,15.aspx#pic

Hmm...somehow it doesn't look as hot as i remembered it. Lemme see if I can dig up the pic I originally saw...

and this one...well I guess it is somewhat of an acquired taste....

Edited January 24, 2014 by iRage

Magnum · January 24, 2014

I like it in this blue

bdw talking about 4WD, i wonder how the extra 2 wheels(probably its the rear ones) are powered. In the Harrier hybrid its powered by an extra electric motor

Edit: i found something about the 4WD

The VEZEL HYBRID will also be the first among all Honda hybrid models to be equipped with Honda’s original Real Time AWD, which controls torque distribution to the front and rear wheels precisely through electronic control.

With Real Time AWD, the ECU accurately detects the driving situation based on the information collected through multiple sensors, and determines the amount of torque necessary for the front and rear wheels. The system instantaneously distributes an appropriate amount of torque for the rear wheels and smoothly shifts to 4WD.

A VEZEL-exclusive setting distributes more torque to the rear wheels during cornering, enhancing the driving feeling.

Edited January 24, 2014 by Magnum

jaaz · February 13, 2014

HI Guys!

Please read this info about Honda recalls, before you Buy HONDA Fit 2014 Models and Vezel's

http://world.honda.com/news/2014/c140210Recall-Fit-Hybrid-Vezel-Hybrid/index.html

Bracket · February 17, 2014

Last recall 10th feb. 2014, I wonder what will happen to the units imported to Sri Lanka. Will $taff*d motors do something about it?

kush · March 4, 2014

Had a look at one yesterday.

Some sellers try to compare this with the CRV claiming that this is equally spacious “FASE”.

It may share the same wheel base but that is it.

Physical size equals Juke/ Terrios/ new IST.

Interior space equals FIT (new one) with bit more boot space.

When you sit in the front seat does not feel spacious (but roomy enough) you don’t have the SUV driving position (more car like)

Rear seat has enough leg room but the seat is not tall enough for adults.

It is a nice looking car if you need a nice urban runabout with bit more ground clearance than the typical JDM (reminded me of the old

Swift I let go few months back).

Not for anybody looking for a SUV or a soft-roader

I was told the price will be in the range of Rs. 4.9-5.4 depending on the grade.

iRage · March 4, 2014

Actually, test drove one last weekend. It was a pretty okay experience. Had the usual Honda Hybrid lazyness feel to it and couple that with the adaptive pedal it was a bit of a pain to get it moving up hills (Nagasaki is full of hillsso even slow moving traffic is an uphill experience). Personally the ride quality was a lot better than with the Juke. It is definetly NOT a CR-V actually it is a lot smaller and lot more nimble than the CR-V.

The white looked a lot better with the black cladding compared with the green unit they had and the blue I have seen around town.

Next stop the new X-Trail (looks too soft and curvey and girly...I liked the boxy rugged look of the old units) and the Le-Voge...

Edited March 4, 2014 by iRage

Magnum · March 4, 2014

On 3/4/2014 at 5:21 AM, iRage said:
Actually, test drove one last weekend. It was a pretty okay experience. Had the usual Honda Hybrid lazyness feel to it and couple that with the adaptive pedal it was a bit of a pain to get it moving up hills (Nagasaki is full of hillsso even slow moving traffic is an uphill experience). Personally the ride quality was a lot better than with the Juke. It is definetly NOT a CR-V actually it is a lot smaller and lot more nimble than the CR-V.
The white looked a lot better with the black cladding compared with the green unit they had and the blue I have seen around town.

Next stop the new X-Trail (looks too soft and curvey and girly...I liked the boxy rugged look of the old units) and the Le-Voge...

Sadly you dont get the highest grade(Z grade) with that black cladding and the black/orange interior comes only in the Z grade

Edited March 4, 2014 by Magnum