Honda Malaysia has officially launched the 2020 Honda BR-V, three months after it began taking orders for the seven-seater MPV. Like before, only two variants are available, starting with the BR-V E at RM 89,900, while the range-topping V variant costs RM 96,900. Both prices are considerably higher than before. The BR-V E costs RM 8,911 (+11%) more than before, while the V is RM9,199 (+10.5%) costlier. This comes on top of the sweeping price hike the company announced in February, which saw prices for the City, Jazz and CR-V go up.

Keep in mind that the Civic facelift and 10th-gen Accord that were recently launched also carried higher price tags. That said, both variants of the BR-V now have better equipment, so let’s go over them. From the outside, the visual changes are fairly subtle. Standard for both cars are the bolder new front grille, revised front bumper with lower bumper garnish (only the range topper gets fog lamps), new 16-inch dual-tone alloys shod with 195/60 profile tyres, shark fin antenna, and a new rear bumper with vertical reflectors.


In terms of paint options, the 2020 BR-V is the first Honda model in Malaysia to get the new Marine Purple Pearl colour. The eixsting Modern Steel Metallic and Lunar Silver Metallic have been carried over, but the Dark Ruby Red Pearl and Taffeta White have been replaced by Passion Red Pearl and White Orchid Pearl.

Inside, new standard items include tweeter speakers, cargo lighting, cabin filter, automatic air-conditioning, keyless entry and push-start button. The V spec, on the other hand, gets a brand new seven-inch Display Audio system (upgraded from the older 6.1-inch unit), leather seats with red accents, shift paddles, and gear knob with red stitching. Existing features, such as the 60:40 one-touch tilt and tumble function for the second row and third row are retained.


No changes have been made to the powertrain. The seven-seater MPV is powered by a 1.5 litre four-cylinder SOHC i-VTEC engine, making 120 PS at 6,600 rpm and 145 Nm at 4,600 rpm, with drive sent to the front wheels through a continuously variable transmission (CVT). Unfortunately, the safety kit remains unchanged. It still gets dual SRS front airbags, ABS with EBD, electronic stability control, two ISOFIX mounts on the outer seats of the second row, and seven three-point seat belts.