Category: Compact MPV 
Price Range: £16,480 to £20,090
Roomy, versatile, well made.
Front middle seat isn't actually very useful.
Takes the strain out of family life.
Trust Honda to go its own sweet way. The least 'me too' of the mainstream carmakers has come up with a compact MPV that owes very little to anybody else's ideas about what a compact MPV should be like.
Other firms wanting to offer more than five seats in MPVs built on Astra-sized underpinnings have fitted a third row in the boot. In many cases, such as the Vauxhall Zafira, Renault Grand Scenic, Mazda 5, VW Touran and Toyota Verso, this has been done very neatly, but nonetheless there are many compromises involved.
Honda has instead gone for two rows of three seats. On paper it's much the same arrangement as Fiat devised for the Multipla, but the two cars look and feel very different, inside and out. Where the Multipla - especially the more zany looking MkI - is youthful and bright, with a touch of the minibus trip to the seaside about it, the FR-V is a more sober affair, and drives like a car, albeit a tall, wide one.
The FR-V was launched in 2004 and given a major refresh for 2007, including a new engine line-up. There are now two engines, one petrol and one diesel. The petrol, a 1.8-litre four with i-VTEC variable valve timing, produces 138bhp and 128lb-ft of torque. The diesel, a 2.2-litre four with common-rail direct injection, also makes 138bhp, but this time there's 251lb ft of pulling power. They both come with a six-speed manual gearbox, and the petrol is offered with a five-speed automatic as well.
There are three specification levels, available with both engines: SE, ES and EX. Prices range from £16,127 for the 1.8 petrol in SE trim to £19,837 for the 2.2 diesel in EX spec.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Honda FR-V
wrote on 08 07 2006