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-   -   Honda Mobilio : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/153362-honda-mobilio-official-review-25.html)

In all fairness it looks a bit bigger than Ertiga.
I saw almost all colors and white looks the best IMO.

Call it cheap, over priced, flop, whatever you want but I don't think mobilio is going to bomb in the market like the jazz. I just went for a drive to kochi yesterday and already spotted three. I guess the "H" badge with a diesel is just too hard for the masses to ignore.

Of course I could be wrong though.

There was a display of the mobilio at a mall here today.
Picked up the price list.
Talking about the prices, well no comments lol:

:thumbs upThat is exactly the point that I am making too. But some people won't agree to it.

The Honda name is going to drive a lot of people to buy this car despite its shortcomings or its price or anything.

Last Friday I was at the Honda showroom for the 2nd service of my new City and waited in the Showroom throughout the Servicing. It was about 3 and half hours and there were at least 6 confirm bookings within these 3 & half hours in just that Showroom. And this is just 2 days after the price launch.
Goes to show that the 'H' badge is just to big to ignore.

If Honda is watching this thread....

I was waiting for the Mobilio to exchange my Ikon. Now, reading all reviews and talking to a few friends who have seen the car, I have decided to live with my Ikon for few more years.
I dont feel the desire to visit the showroom to see the Mobilio.

Good job Honda!

Sure, a lot of people will buy Mobilio. I think it is the disappointment - given the "H" badge and products of the caliber of City, there was a similar expectation from Mobilio too. Finally, it is all about how much bang one can get for the buck.

A relative, being extremely kicked about the Mobilio prior to the launch, took me to the showroom last weekend. We walked out within 10 minutes after being extremely disappointed. This after the fact the he has a Civic and I own a City. Now he is back to square one with no car to look forward to!

In all fairness and after reading almost the entire 25 pages of a splendid review and subsequent discussion, I do feel that Mobilio as a product may not be money churning machine and at the same time not a dud either. In fact, I do feel it to be fairly successful in its own league. True, a sensible buyer who is looking for maximum bang for his money may not buy it, heck I will never buy it, but can the same be said for all the buyers in the market. I doubt it highly.

For one, we know that Indian car scene is very different. In India, practically anything sells, the exceptions being far and few between. Ergonomic shape I believe is the last thing an average Indian buyer would care for.

IMHO, Safety features, product dynamics, convenience features, etc are all compromised for reasons as below.

Brand Value - Surely the Honda badge is guaranteed to attract many buyers. The product itself may be inferior, the badge isnt.

Reference - this is a well known marketing - psychological concept. If most of the products from a manufacturer or dealer are trusted to be high on quality, the new product is also viewed in the same light, individual characteristics of the product play little part. Even when encountered with apparent faults that cannot be blamed on anything else but poor design, or cost cutting, or willful deficiency of service, buyers and users are willing to forgive and forget.

Niche Product belief - We have seen how products like Innova continue to sell despite its ridiculously high price which is far from any semblance of sensibility. Still the car sells in huge numbers. What is worse is, with each price increase more people aspire to buy an Innova. Could it be linked to prestige? Even with little resemblance to actual benefits one may look to derive from buying an Innova? Hard to tell.

We have also seen how other products, which risk scrapping the moment they are launched in a developed market due to poor design, safety features, or both, are confidently launched and well received in India by buyers.

I do feel aggravated and little cheated at the end of the day, knowing that when I go to purchase a new car I will probably have to live with an outdated or at best - an under par product, for I will never have access to the same engine, same safety features and same superior design specifications that buyers in the developed automobile markets almost expect as "given".

In India, for basic features like crash handling, ABD, airbags, parking sensors, speed sensitive seat belts, auto locking doors, crumple zones, etc, one is supposed to pay a heavy premium. Almost each car manufacturer has taken the Indian market for granted. Its kind of a vicious circle with manufacturers paying little attention to the softer features, and the buyers reinforcing the beliefs of the manufacturers that "this is India". The manufacturers will always have some excuse, high R & D costs, capital investment, future strategy, etc. But I firmly believe that if one looks and compares the cost of doing business, India as a geography may work out to be the one on the lower end of the spectrum. I believe, and the experts can correct me if I am wrong here, it wont cost more that 3% - 5% of the ex-showroom price of a car to load it with 60 - 70% of safety and convenience features that are fitted in export versions. All it then means is that the manufacturers want the biggest margins, even at the cost of selling sub standard products, knowing fully well that they can afford to do so!! :deadhorse

By the way guys, hope you saw the latest news...it seems that Honda is sacrificing the City (really??) and / or the Brio (more believable), to speed up Mobilio deliveries, they have crossed 10k bookings it seems!

http://profit.ndtv.com/news/corporat...s-first-609661

http://www.zigwheels.com/news-featur...er-brio/19306/

An excellent Review by GTO as usual.

However, what I miss in this review is the discussion on the safety.
On one hand, the review says "The sheet metal does feel awfully thin for the segment". Some members have already commented on the impact on crash safety due to the thin sheet metal. Also complete lack of Airbags in E & S versions as well ABS and EBD on E&S versions of Petrol model has been tabulated. But there is little discussion on the subject in the review.

The Honda web site too is rather disappointing in this respect, for example, it just mentions that the car has "passed a stringent Test Crash Facility"- no details given, no crash test result scores provided.

Considering the fact that most of the cars sold in India fail miserably on the international safety standards, the forums like TEAM-BHP should make it a practice to include more details on safety aspects and crash test results as part of new car review. I feel the reviewers -during their interaction with the car Mfgr staff can and should extract more details on this. That's one way of pushing the buyers to think more on this important aspect and companies to make this as a selling feature.

(In fact I just noticed a post from Rattanw highlighting the compromise on the safety features)

Psp62in - yes you are right about more coverage about safety features. The only reason I didnt ask for it was thst the review by GTO is very comprehensive and somewhere in the back of my mind I had the feeling that safety features are virtually non existent in every car in the sub 15 lac bucket, hence whats the point in mentioning those. I mean let's face it, we as buyers have learnt to live with these ironies. In this case the irony being paying premium prices for sub standard products in the geography where those standards and features are most needed. Though I surely feel the need for a wider coverage of how the manufacturers are taking the genuine customers for a ride. I actually wont be surprised if the statement about "stringent crash tests turns out to be another marketing gimmick without much base in reality". I mean realistically speaking do you really expect any tests, at all, leave alone stringent tests given the lack of sensitivity in manufacturers' attitudes. Also, if at all any tests are conducted, would any automobile company ever care to make public the results from those tests, even if conducted in-house with significant bias. I can accept even those results as a reasonable start towards chabging outlook towards road safety, or maybe thats too much to ask. In any case I maybe wrong given my limited knowledge, if I am, I would appreciate corrections by more knowledgeable bhpians..

The news about Honda crossing 10k bookings is another proof of the irony and typical buying behavior. Guess all is well!!

Typed using mobile device, pardon any brevity.

The Indian psychology of anything that is priced higher than its real value ought to be good is playing here to Honda's advantage..

Excellent review and discussions on the pros and cons of the new Mobilio.

Is it just me or did others also find the appearance of Mobilio from rear a tad depressing? I was at the Whitefield Honda to take a look at the new entry but just the view from rear stopped me from venturing any further. I was more looking at trading my Jazz for the Mobilio but am staying with the Jazz for the moment.

Reviews seen all over say that the rear end styling is good and much better than the front end. The front end is what is not that great to look at thanks to the big chrome slat.

I know looks are a personal choice but IMO the rear design is good on the Mobilio.

Anurag.

The Mobilio managed to put Honda on the 3rd spot along with the City & Amaze in July as per this article:

Source: http://www.zigwheels.com/news-featur...y-2014/19316/2

Going by the statement in bold, out of 15709, city grabbed 7705 leaving the remaining 8004 to the Amaze and Mobilio (now) where I suspect both would have got equal shares(?)