The Honda Jade is the Civic Wagon You’ve Always Wanted (Not for North America)

At the Shanghai Auto Show Honda unveiled a Jade MPV, thinking it was an ugly looking concept (it was snot green, after all) I passed it by. Never judge a book by its appearances apparently as the Honda Jade is now running down Dongfeng-Honda’s production lines, it uses the platform from the Honda Civic as well as the Civic’s drive train, furthermore it has six seats.

The Jade is up against the Mazda 5, another six seater MPV which seats its occupants in rows of three and has sliding doors and is obviously aimed at home users whilst the bigger Honda Oddysey will be aimed at those business users. Pricing hasn’t been announced but it is thought the base model will be from around 150,000RMB and rising, possibly to as high as 220,000RMB for the top spec model. Oddly base models come with a 5 speed auto as used elsewhere in the Honda line up but the top spec models use CVT gearboxes.

As a dad that is currently looking at new seven seat vehicles for a 2014 purchase I cant bring myself to sit in any MPV’s from the likes of Ford or Kia, they all just seem too ‘white collar, mid 30′s, growing a beer belly‘, but this Jade seems like its a mixture of wagon and people hauler, plus its Civic based so it probably drives half decently. Guess I’ll have to give this a real look at early next year!
Pictures from autohome.com.cn

Source;
http://www.chinacartimes.com/2013/07/the-honda-jade-is-the-civic-wagon-youve-always-wanted/

Spied – Honda Jade MPV spotted completely undisguised in China

The production version of the Honda Jade, a compact MPV that made its debut at Auto Shanghai 2013 as a near-production concept, has been spied in China and that without any camouflage.

The Honda Jade was previewed by the Honda Concept S, unveiled at the Beijing Motor Show last year. The car is based on the platform of the third generation Honda Stream which is again a compact MPV.

The production version that was spotted stays completely true to the car that debuted at the Auto Shanghai.  The compact MUV has balanced proportions and a low slung appearance.

The China specific car will be manufactured by the Dongfeng-Honda JV. The Jade measures 4,645mm long, 1,775mm wide, 1,500mm tall, and has a wheelbase of 2,760mm. Honda says the production version will be 99% similar to the concept. And that’s apparent from the spyshots.

The car will offer two engine options – a 1.8-litre engine producing 140bhp or a 2.0-litre engine pumping out 170bhp. There is also a possible hybrid variant that could join the lineup in the following years.
Even though the Jade is touted to be a China only model, it makes sense for Honda to replace the aging Stream with the Jade in international markets.
The predicted starting price stands at 150,000 Yuan (around Rs. 13.63 lakhs).

Source;
http://indianautosblog.com/2013/05/honda-jade-mpv-spotted-completely-undisguised-in-china-78154