If you be in the market for a
compact MPV which you can drive to work everyday and travel with your family in
it together, you only had one choice till now the Maruti Ertiga standing behind
me but with the arrival of the Honda Mobilio things have changed and become
more confusing. So is the Mobilio worth the premium that Honda is asking for
it, we find out today.
While people have a lot of
expectation from Honda not to say that people do not have expectation from
Maruti because Maruti has its own traditional trend but we need together in to
the car and find out little more things that’s there all about.
We all know that Honda Mobilio
really does look nice and snazzy from the outside but how practical is to live
with, as with any Auto Portal review we will start with the Boot first. Not too
much of space here if you will notice, you may not be able to fit in a Golf Bag
with the rear seats up the third row up but yes it can fit in smaller bags,
well good part is that it is very flat, there is no loading lip here so you can
even that heavy luggage if you got your arms full, I agree but if you want to
create more space all you need to do is just flip down and just pull this one
tag here and bind up and you get a larger loading carrier. That is really easy
thing to do, isn’t it? It is absolutely easy thing to do.
Let’s now have a look at how big
the Ertiga’s Boot space is? Well Ranojoy, if you thought the Mobilio was tight
on rear space, this one what do you think, It is little less than that. Even
with the rear seats down it is not as spacious as the Honda Mobilio. I think
the Mobilio has utilized space much more effectively. Well I think the Mobilio
definitely has the edge in terms of the boot space with all three rows up and
even with the last one down.
This bench has got good amount of
leg room if you adjust the front seats according to my height which is 5’10”,
you also get these rear AC Vents on top of the line ZXI and ZDI version and
they really go long way in adding to the comfort, you also get these sliding
seats, you can push them forward or backwards depending on who sitting at the
back. Another plus point is of course, this flatish flow panel which really
helps for the middle passenger on those long journeys to keep his feet at. Well
once you in, Leg room is just about adequate in last room of seats, but it’s
not really much. Not really ideal for a tall passenger but may be these seats
are good for small kids really.
As we know about Honda’s Man
Maximum Machine Minimum concept and to show you that it not just a catchy punch
line that they have, we will get in to the car and we will start with the third
seat. Well, getting inside to the last row is pretty easy, you just have to
pull this lever here, push this one down and it’s a nice stumble on effect
which Honda calls it, very easy to get inside, well surprisingly there is decent
space over here for an adult like me, I am 5’10” and well now it’s a bit tight.
Well it’s not really that way now, once you put the seat in its place somebody
will suffer from Knee Crams on that long journeys. So can I get back in the
front seat here? No, right now I will be getting in the back seat and we will
talk. This is much better. Well the last row not very roomy, you actually
visiting your legs right in your mouth if you are at a long journey and this is
actually only good for kids but on the plus side, you get your own cup holders
and there is also a small tray to put you cell phone or something like that in.
Decent place, better than the Maruti Ertiga for sure but not really ideal for a
tall adult like me. Lets us look at the air conditioning vents here, it has the
same type of air conditioning vents which is there in the Ertiga, that is there
are no rows for the third seat but the air flow is powerful enough to cool
their air cabin very evenly and I think that is good point. Well I have adjusted
the front seat to my height which is 5’10” and as you can see these front seats
are scooped out from the back which really does help in getting the extra leg
room, head room is really generous and the best part about the seats is of
course you can slide them forward or push them back if you want that extra bit
of room. So overall a great place to be in the 2nd row of the
Mobilio.
If you be inside in the Brio or
the Honda Amaze before, this cabin will be very very familiar to you, its
exactly the same dashboard and its exactly the same steering wheel in fact,
every thing really feels very familiar, I think they have done this on purpose
to cut cost, they haven’t change much. Well this Beige and Black combination
looks good lots of plastic around and I think the quality of switch gears also
is quite decent, of course on the top model, one would have prefer to see an
electronic climate control system and things like that. But as on personal
things and minor greats, I don’t think that is the major deal breaker. I do see
over all the good quality in this cabin. Well so in the overall analysis, it is
a great place to be, the front seats just like the rear ones, very nice and
very comfortable on the long run, great work in terms of quality, refinement
and overall ambience, Full marks to Honda and have a job well done, terrific.
Maruti also seems to have further
the same modular concept, if you notice the Ertiga has the same dashboard that
you would say in a Swift or in a Dzire because it is again on the same modular
platform. I personally feel Ashish that the quality of this car is also
fantastic like I love that glass holder which is in front of the Air
Conditioning vent; I think it is very neat touch also this little bit of
brushed aluminum feel here. Overall the entire dashboard quality seems to be
very good. So overall I think in terms of the seats and comfort, the Ertiga
still has that slight edge over the Honda Mobilio in terms of the front seats,
absolutely so.
The first question you will ask
your self when you drive the Mobilio is, am I really driving an MPV because it
suddenly doesn’t feel like one. It really does feel like a proper hatch back
that you are driving in the city. On the downside though, the engine is a
little noisy you know it goes to get little buzzy when you push it. It got
about 100 PS of power which is pretty good and is about 10 PS more than the
Ertiga and in the overall analysis it’s a very very responsive engine, it
starts responding around 1500 RPM which means driving in the city really is a
bit easy affair. Well the Honda makes one of the most nicest gear boxes and
this one is no different, it’s nice and easy, the gate is very very narrow and
you really will enjoy changing gears and in fact you will change with the hack
of it like I am doing right now. Well the steering is really nice and easy when
you inside the city, its very light and once when you move on the highway, it
really does bit of quite nicely because the steering it self, it offers pretty
good communication considering it is end of the day an MPV.
What about be the merits or
de-merits of the Mobilio, the Ertiga of course hold its own as far as the power
plant is concerned. One very good thing that I like about the Ertiga engine is
that it is very quiet engine, power wise there is not much of difference, this
is 90 PS where as the Mobilio is 100 PS, a very small difference in performance
which can hardly be felt but I do feel that this engine is a very quiet engine
compared to that one. The gear box is a little notchy, it takes some effort to
go to the gate but it is ok to use. I wouldn’t say that again its too much of a
deal break, I think it is fine but overall the ride quality is quite good, it
is quite compliant and I think the car with it’s adequate ground clearance
rides very well on our pot hold roads giving outstanding performance. Overall
the Ertiga just gives you a feeling of being the kind of car that you would
love driving while going on those long drives, even in the city it’s a very
maneuverable car, it’s extremely fuel efficient, it will give you 17 to18
kilometers to a liter in real world conditions with the air conditioning on and
all these thing is definitely make the Ertiga with it’s low NBH levels, the
ideal car to drive or be driven it.
On our overall analysis, the
Maruti Ertiga really does come across at the very honest and value for money
product and you really do get you pay for. If you looking for something which
is an old work car, easy to maintain and has a pretty reliable reputation than
I would say that the Ertiga is it but of course if you are looking for
something posh, something new or something that is fancier then of course the
Mobilio does it. Well folks, so that’s the conclusion we have for you, the Mobilio
wins this one but just by that small whisker, if you are on a tight budget, you
can of course still go in for that Ertiga, it’s still a very good car, great
value for money and of course Honda always the posh badge, go for it if you
have the extra cash, it really worth spending that much more extra
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