Oh but we kid. 7-people 1-point-something-litre vehicles are common these days, mostly in the form of the Toyota Avanza, Voxy, Daihatsu Terios-7 and so on. But it’s worth noting that some of these cars often have uninteresting dynamics on the road, as well as less-than-desirable build quality.

You can’t blame them though. Some were in classic 4x4 fashion, body-on-frame devices made for people who want “bang for buck” more than “bang-on through apex.”

There’s also the decidedly pointless Honda Airwave – a 5-seater ballooned to look like something that seats 1000. And for our markets like ours, Honda needed to plan things very thoroughly before bringing the Freed through the gates of PSA.

The Freed is short for Freedom, as is the way things go when the Japanese put a name tag on products. The one we’re getting through Honda’s official distributor might be built in the archipelago, but at origin, its design and engineering are far better than any other 7-seater in this segment.

Replacing the outgoing Mobilio, the new platform is based on the current Jazz, and can be configured to offer six, seven or eight seats. It’s an ingenious idea aimed aggressively at the Asian market.

Take Indonesia for example, where vehicles with seven or more seats in Indonesia are subject to the least amount of vehicle-tax. No surprise that the Freed, like Proton’s Exora, has also found its way into being locally produced for that Indonesian market, with huge sales expected in the long term.

Design, comfort

Positioned above the Jazz and below the Civic, the Freed is unmistakably MPV-like. But its sharp nose and raised shoulders show good disposition from most angles. It’s a surprisingly photogenic vehicle, and that’s plenty of praise from MPV-despising me.

Perhaps “stretched” is an understatement. Its wheelbase is a whopping 40mm more than the current Civic. At 2,740mm, it’s 240mm longer than the Jazz, while overall width and track remains paired to its hatchback sibling (1,700mm and 1,478mm respectively.) To shed some “perspective,” it's a huge 210mm taller than a Jazz, and even taller than a CR-V!

Electronic sliding doors, both left and right, will probably be the car’s focus, and perhaps will be a strong selling point over rivals such as the Toyota Sienta and the Nissan Cube.

They seem to have gotten the driving position just about right, as we didn’t feel awkwardly high or uncomfortable like in the Airwave, or even in smaller cars such as the Perodua Myvi/Daihatsu Sirion. It wasn’t low to the point where shorties would complain either.

The black and grey plastics are on-par with those found in a Jazz, but dual-coloured door trims don’t appear to match very well. They also feel flimsy.

Driver and passenger legroom can be classified as above average, surpassing that of the Honda Jazz, and middle-row passengers can expect more than third-row passengers. When properly adjusted via the middle row of seats, it isn’t so bad, but put two 1.7 metre tall, medium framed Asians at the back and you’ll probably have to sacrifice a little mobility, backmost.

But that’s all to it, so not to worry - you won’t be complaining about the high, airy ceiling that extends all the way to the back, giving ample amounts of head and shoulder room wherever you are.

We had no trouble crawling through centre portions of the vehicle from back to front, thanks to the console-mounted gearlever, so expect a great amount of disturbance from your bored kids over long distances!

Driving Impressions

The first thing you’ll enjoy when stepping into the Freed is the driver’s arm-rest mounted on your seat. And if you like the Jazz/Fit, you’ll like the Freed’s steering wheel too, albeit without paddle shifters and metallic inserts.

It also has the same 1.5-litre engine from Honda’s perennial hatch, meaning 118 bhp at 6,600 rpm and 146 Nm of torque at 4,800 rpm. But we’re well aware that pulling power off the lights was never a priority.

Though such, the Freed still gets to 100 km/h in a not-too-bad 13.2 seconds (stopwatched time) with two people in it, credit to it’s 1355 or so kilogramme kerb weight. So expect it to perform like the Jazz with a small portion of sluggish on the side, down to the smoothness of the five-speed conventional, torque converter transmission that we enjoyed so much more over any continuously variable bog-box.

The front disc and rear drum brake-set is adequate, and we’ll leave it at that. Remember, it’s a family car, not something you’d bring to Sepang. But most surprising of all was its handling. We’ll have you know that creative placement of the gas tank has produced a car with a very low centre of gravity for its height.

That made the Freed feel as nimble as a Jazz, and we were confident that aside from the lowly-geared steering that required more hand, everything else was more or less similar. Honda’s quoted 5.2m turning circle also worked out well in real life, kerb-side U-turns, especially in cramped open-air HDB carparks.

The parking brake is foot operated like in the Accord, and we’re glad to report that it doesn’t get in the way of left foot-space like in so many other cars we’ve tried.

Refinement is another Freed forte. Rough, irregular back-roads matching those found in worn-down lorry car parks with a full complement of seven on-board, presented no structural rigidity problems. In addition, tight panel gaps also meant that wind noise was kept to Corolla-like levels at highway speeds.

Freed(om) of choice?

For $83,900, you’ll get the top-of-the-line “EX” variant that includes the electrical sliding doors, climate control, a JVC in-car-entertainment system with reverse-sensors and a camera, variable intermittent wipers, a higher level of trim including chrome and a few more minor details.

For $83,900, you’ll get the top-of-the-line “EX” variant that includes the electrical sliding doors, climate control, a JVC in-car-entertainment system with reverse-sensors and a camera, variable intermittent wipers, a higher level of trim including chrome and a few more minor details.

At such a price, one would be looking at cars such as the Hyundai Santa Fe and the Citroen C4 Picasso, both of which are vastly different competitors. It’s safe to say that one could go the parallel imported route, but as far as aftermarket car-care is concerned, the price premium one pays at Honda’s authorised distributor should be well-worth his or her money.

Ultimately, it’s safe to say that you can’t really go wrong with the Freed if you have a family of five to seven. It’s safe, fuel-efficient, seats seven mid-size Asians in comfort, and rest assuredly won’t have you and your kids screaming its name at the end of every journey.