IN 2013, HONDA LAUNCHED THE HONDA VEZEL, A SMALL SUV MODEL IN THE JAPANESE MARKET, WHICH QUICKLY BECAME ONE OF HONDA'S MOST POPULAR MODELS IN JAPAN, AND TWO DOMESTIC VERSIONS OF IT – GUANGQI HONDA'S BINZHI AND DONGFENG HONDA'S XR-V – ALSO QUICKLY LANDED IN CHINA.
 
VEZEL IS A CLOSE RELATIVE OF THE HONDA FIT, IT SHARES THE CHASSIS WITH THE FIT, AND BOTH THE BENZ AND XR-V HAVE TWO POWERTRAINS, ONE IS THE SAME 1.5L NATURALLY ASPIRATED ENGINE WITH THE CURRENT GENERATION OF THE FIT, AND THE OTHER IS THE 1.8L NATURALLY ASPIRATED ENGINE WITH THE PREVIOUS GENERATION HONDA CIVIC AND HONDA JADE PAIRED WITH A CVT TRANSMISSION. The engine power figure of the 1.5 is not high, but it has good low-rev torque, and the CVT transmission responds in time, so it still looks light on daily driving. The 1.8 version is very agile and light, and almost all Honda cars are easy to drive, and the Binzhi is no exception.
 
The XR-V has the largest body size in its class, and with a 2610mm "crossover" wheelbase, it has an overwhelming advantage in its class. Honda is a master of handling space, so it's no surprise that the Honda has the most relaxed and comfortable rear seat experience among small SUVs. The tail compartment capacity of Binzhi is also the most impressive in the same level, and the tail compartment platform is very low, it is very convenient to move things on and off the car, and in terms of applicability, Binzhi can get full marks.
 
But the shortcomings of the Binzhi are also obvious, noise is an old problem of Honda's small car, the engine noise and road noise of this car are easy to enter the cabin, plus the stiff suspension makes the feedback to the road surface also very direct, and when you study it carefully, it does not give people a strong sense of quality.
 
Binzhi is a very extreme product, like the Fit, it will be easy to use, easy to drive to the ultimate in the same level, but don't expect anything from its off-road ability because of its shape, it basically just raises the chassis to increase passability.
 
In terms of quality and reliability, the Fit 1.5L direct-injection engine used to be prone to carbon deposits due to oil quality problems in China, but the problem has been solved after Honda revised its calibration.
 
本田缤智在安全性方面没能继承飞度的全优表现，其美版车型在2015、2016年的美国IIHS碰撞测试中，正面小角度重叠碰撞和侧面碰撞为“可以接受的”。其余项目（正面中度重叠碰撞、顶部碰撞、头枕&座椅）均为“优”。在欧洲E-NCAP碰撞测试中，缤智也拿到了五星安全评价，其成人乘员保护得分86%实际上是一个同级较高的分数，因为缤智是在2015年参加测试，E-NCAP在2014年大幅提升标准，所以缤智的安全得分实际上高于斯柯达yeti、福特翼博、标致2008等之前测试与它得分相近的车型。在中国的C-NCAP碰撞测试中，缤智也以55分的成绩拿下五星安全评级。
 
China's C-NCAP crash test is nicknamed a five-star wholesaler because of the backward test standards and too many bonus items, and the vehicles submitted for inspection can basically get a five-star safety evaluation, but we will still use it as a reference. Because if a car can't even get a five-star rating for C-NCAP, then it means that its safety is still too far from the passing line. However, it should be noted that due to the controversy over the weighting of the bonus items, the overall score of C-NCAP is not very comparative, and a car with a score of 58 may not do better in terms of safety than a car with a score of 54.
 
We once ranked the Fit first in the class in the small car rankings, but the Fit's low ground clearance meant it wasn't a suitable car to recommend to urban and rural Chinese mainland – until the Binzhi came along. With the same quality and low fuel consumption performance as the Fit, the practicality of the Fit is better than that of the Fit.
Honda Binzhi丨XR-V evaluation report