The Honda Capa, short for "capacity", is a tall

wagon A wagon (or waggon) is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by Working animal#Draft animals, draft animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are i ...

produced by

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

between 1998 and 2002 for the Japanese market. It was introduced at the 1997 Tokyo Motor Show as the concept car "J-MW." It went on sale on April 24, 1998, with Honda series codes GA4 and GA6. On September 16, 1999 a four-wheel drive version of the Capa was released, using Honda's Full-Time 4wd system.

Brake Assist Brake assist (BA or BAS) or emergency brake assist (EBA) is a term for an automobile braking technology that increases braking pressure in an emergency. The first application was developed jointly by Daimler-Benz and TRW/ LucasVarity. Research c ...

was offered as standard equipment. Due to disappointing sales, the Capa nameplate was discontinued in 2002. It was available in Japan through the

Honda Primo commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer s ...

and Honda Verno dealerships.

General information

The Honda Capa was developed on the

Honda Logo The Honda Logo is a B-segment supermini car, supermini manufactured and marketed by Honda from 1996 to 2001, as a three-door and five door hatchback, sharing its platform with the Honda Capa and replacing the second generation Honda City#Second g ...

platform and is the first generation of the J Mover series. Its concept was based on a 'Small is Smart' way of thinking. Ease of use in everyday life, compactness, lightness and friendliness to the environment were some of the criteria built into the design. The proposal was that the Capa was to be 'joyful' however this translates better as 'fun'. It was one class larger than the kei-sized

Honda Life The Honda Life is an automobile nameplate that was used on various kei car/city cars produced by Honda: passenger cars, microvans, and kei trucks. The first series of the nameplate was built between 1971 and 1974, with the nameplate revived in 1 ...

, but smaller than the compact sized,

Honda CR-V The Honda CR-V (A variant model is called Honda Breeze in China By GAC-Honda since 2019，The CR-V is still manufactured by Dongfeng Honda) is a compact crossover SUV manufactured by Japanese automaker Honda since 1995. Initial models of the C ...

which based on the

Honda Civic The is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1972. , the Civic is positioned between the Honda Fit/Honda City, City and Honda Accord in Honda's global passenger car line-up. The first-generation Civic was introduced in July 1972 ...

platform, and reflected the growing popularity of MPV/ SUV/

minivan Minivan (sometimes called simply a van) is a car classification for vehicles designed to transport passengers in the rear seating row(s), with reconfigurable seats in two or three rows . The equivalent classification in Europe is MPV (multi-p ...

vehicles. The Honda Capa was designed with the intention of creating a car that was to be the best size for town driving. A car that could seat your family, with ample height for headroom and plenty of legroom considering its compact nature. To achieve this feat, Honda design the chassis based on a 'dual deck package.' The Honda Capa was equipped with a 1.5-litre, single-overhead-cam, four-valve inline four-cylinder D15B engine. It was initially offered only with Honda's Multimatic

continuously variable transmission A continuously variable transmission (CVT) is an automated Transmission (mechanical device), transmission that can change through a continuous range of gear ratios, typically resulting in better fuel economy in gasoline applications. This contr ...

(CVT), but following an update, a regular four-speed automatic transmission option was introduced as a lower cost option on front-wheel-drive versions.

Interior

The interior design incorporated a gray color scheme, with seat and door armrest upholstery available in blue or beige tones. The C grade featured jersey fabric, while the D grade used double-raschel fabric. Climate control was standard, offering an automatic

air conditioner Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...

for the D grade and a manual one for the C grade.

Engine

* Water-cooled, inline four-cylinder Honda D15B engine * Single Overhead Cam 16-valve * Power output of at 6300 rpm * Torque output of at 3500 rpm * Bore x Stroke: 75 mm x 84.5 mm * Compression Ration: 9.4:1 * Honda's PGM-FI Fuel Injection System * Fuel: Regular Unleaded * Fuel Tank size:

GA4/6 model updates

*1997 - Displayed at the

Tokyo Motor Show The , called (TMS) until 2023, is a biennial auto show held in October–November at the Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. Hosted by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), it is a recog ...

as the J-MW *1998 - Announced that sales would begin April 24, 1998 *1999 - Minor update, including minor remodelling of the bumpers, adding an AWD model to the line-up, 4-speed automatic transmission added to the line-up for the 2WD model only, Honda's Brake Assist system and Tachometer added as standard equipment. *2000 - Minor update. Front grille, bumper and seats were changed. Special Edition added to the line-up. *2001 - Honda Mobilio announced as the successor to the Honda Capa. Honda Capa production and sales continue. *2002 - February: Honda announces the end of production of the Capa due to slumping sales.

Origin of the name

Honda named the Capa based on the English word 'Capacity', referring to ability as well as spaciousness.

Gallery

File:Honda CAPA 002.JPG, Rear view of Honda Capa File:Honda-capa 1st-front.jpg, 2000 facelift

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20070106105628/http://www.honda.co.jp/auto-lineup/capa/2002/

References

{{Modern Honda vehicles All-wheel-drive vehicles Capa Mini MPVs Vehicles with CVT transmission Cars introduced in 1998 Cars discontinued in 2002 2000s cars