2019 Honda Mobilio: Changes explained

The start of 2019 for the MPV segment here in the Philippines had nothing special. But we knew that this year will bring a host of new vehicles that will increase the competition in the segment. It was sometime in late January when an all-new 2019 Toyota Avanza was unveiled. Okay, that happened in Indonesia, but the new MPV will make its way to our shores pretty soon (hopefully, right, Toyota Philippines?).

So, the spark was already created by Toyota, and it didn’t take long for Nissan to respond. We saw a few spy shots of the new 2019 Nissan Livina earlier, and last week Nissan pulled off the sheets from this new MPV. Again, this happened in Indonesia but we being optimistic as always, are pretty sure that Nissan will be bringing the new 2019 Livina in our country at the earliest (Don’t let us down, Nissan Philippines).

Now amidst all this, Honda caught the drift of what’s happening. It had to take a step. And as a consequence, we have got the 2019 Mobilio. Honda Philippines made a few changes to make sure that the Mobilio remains attractive and desirable. And it stays in the front page of the MPV segment. In this story, we are going to let you know all the 'new' that is in the 2019 Mobilio.

Exterior

The 2019 Honda Mobilio has always been a stylish MPV but to make things even more interesting, it now comes with projector headlamps. They bring with them a more premium look and feel. And that’s not it. We have also got a nice and sleek strip of LED daytime running light located just under the projector unit.

In fact, the DRLs are an integrated part of the headlamp housing. The Philippines gets three Honda Mobilio variants, and all of them have been updated with the aforementioned setup.

Honda has cleverly used the alloy wheels of the RS model and put them in the new E model. And the new RS model gets a set of new stylish 5-spoke dual-tone alloy wheels; much better than the previous ones. That’s about it. These were the changes that Honda has done to the exterior of the new 2019 Mobilio.

Interior

The interior of the Honda Mobilio offers a generous amount of space for all the occupants. Its cabin space is one of its USPs. Honda has not altered that at all. So, the new 2019 Mobilio continues to have the same amount of space, same seats and comfort level as before.

What’s new is the inclusion of an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system. It isn’t something that Honda developed only for this model, instead has been borrowed from other Honda cars. We have seen this system in the new Honda HR-V, Honda City, and Honda BR-V.

We like the new orange accents around the AC vents. It is a nice touch and is in contrast with the rest of the interior. However, we think this is limited to the RS variant only. Anyway, the E variant gets a black theme in the cabin instead of the beige treatment as before. This keeps things a bit sportier.

The rest of the car remains the same which is a bit disappointing because if Honda is trying to win over the 2019 Avanza and 2019 Livina by doing such minor changes in the 2019 Mobilio, then we don’t think it’s a great move. Perhaps, Honda might introduce a new model later in the year.

Engine

The Honda Mobilio specs have been left untouched when it comes to the engine. We have got the same old 1.5-litre 4-cylinder engine that produces 120 PS at 6600 rpm and generates 145 Nm of peak torque that kicks in at 4600 rpm. It is only the base E variant that comes with a manual transmission. The other two variants, V and RS, are equipped with a CVT unit.

The Honda Mobilio price starts at Php 884.000 for the base model and rises up to Php 1.07 million for the range-topping model. All of the variants are available in 6 different colors - Crystal Black Pearl, White Orchid Pearl, Taffeta White, Lunar Silver Metallic, Brilliant Sporty Blue Metallic, and Phoenix Orange Pearl.

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