Honda HR-V 2022 long-term review

Compact hybrid SUV arrives to face a grilling from our high-mileage photographer

*Why we’re running it: *To see if hybrid power can make the Honda HR-V mini-SUV into an efficient long-distance commuter car

-Month 5 - Month 4 - Month 3 - Month 2 - Month 1 - Specs-

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*The HRV, surprisingly, munches the miles - 17 Aug*

My HR-V’s economy is still hovering around 47mpg. That might be seen as poor when its WLTP ‘combined’ figure is 52.3mpg, but not so when you learn that its ‘extra high’ figure is 39.8mpg and I do a lot of motorway driving. However, it must be partly my style, too, as a more civilised colleague at What Car? is averaging 50.6mpg in his identical HR-V. 

*Mileage: *12,950

*We consider the Honda HRV's ranking in the crossover beauty contest - 3 August*

The new HR-V e:HEV achieves a distinctive SUV presence in a compact coupé-inspired design. It embodies the seamless, clean, modern design philosophy seen in other recent new Honda models that follows the key concepts of function and beauty.

So said Honda when it unveiled the third iteration of its compact crossover in February 2021. This was nothing unique: makers always make such statements about their new cars, ranging from the apt to often the laughable. However, the more time that I spend looking at the HR-V, the more I come to appreciate its understatedly handsome styling.

I can see the coupé influence, very slightly, in the shape of the rear. Shades of the fabulous Honda Sports EV concept from a few years back might be overstating things, but if you cut 25% out of its height, I reckon it could make a cool coupé.

A colleague recently told me that he thought the HR-V had slipped under the radar as the most attractive car in its class. Admittedly, this is a class that’s inherently always going to struggle to appeal to petrolheads, but as a corollary is one in which design matters most, while also among the most heavily populated segments. So let’s consider some of the competition to see if he’s correct.

Europe’s most-bought compact crossover is the Volkswagen T-Roc, and its look must be a significant contributing factor. It’s a neat bit of design, still looking fresh after five years – like the HR-V going for clean outlines but more angular, putting it more towards the off-roader end of the spectrum than the coupé end.

Second comes the Ford Puma. I remember first seeing it and thinking it looked like my deaf cat did when startled by my sudden appearance, and that impression has never left me. For that reason alone, I couldn’t buy one, despite it being the class leader when it comes to actually enjoying your driving.

I really like the shape and scalpel surfacing of the Peugeot 2008 (which I enjoyed running in petrol and EV forms back in 2020), and there’s a whole lot of good to be said about the new Alfa Romeo Tonale, of course. The Range Rover Evoque is undeniably impressive, too, albeit in a different way.

The most visually alluring compact crossover, though? I would put the HR-V in the top group, which is strong praise when it’s no exaggeration to say there are 30 or more candidates. I’m happy with the colour we chose, too, that being Meteorite Grey, especially having now seen a few HR-Vs in Sand Khaki (car makers would be well advised to leave that colour to the armed forces). Mind you, our sibling title What Car? has an HR-V in Premium Sunlight White, which better highlights the pleasingly unusual grille design.

You have to give credit to Honda’s designers – led by Daisuke Akojima – for the job they’ve done here, as well as on the new Civic and CR-V. In their previous generations, the SUV duo were wholly unremarkable, while the hatchback was overwrought to a frankly unpleasant extent.

Japanese brands seem to struggle with styling their mainstream cars to European tastes (unlike their more exotic machinery), often keeping it dull or going over the top. Honda seems to have found a good balance, and I would bet that it’s not entirely a coincidence (although there are other key factors) that the brand is enjoying a resurgence in the UK.

*Love it *

*Keeping cool*

During the recent period of temperatures in the high-30s, the air-con happily blasted freezing air in my face for hours on end.

*Loathe it*

*Back and forth*

This is far from unique to the HR-V but still worth noting: activating the electric handbrake produces a disturbing rocking motion. Why?

*Mileage: *12,020

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*Back to the top*

-Life with an HR-V: Month 4-

*Bright solutions to modern problems - 20 July*

Almost every car now has not only a large infotainment screen but also a digital instrument display. Often I find them uncomfortably bright after dark, even when put into night mode, and usually reducing the brightness is an annoyingly convoluted process. Not so in my Honda HR-V. Behind the wheel is a button that I can press left or right to brighten or darken the two in unison. Perfection in simplicity. 

*Mileage: *11,790

*We’re enjoying the hybrid powertrain’s self-governance and urban electric running - 6 July*

"Are these electric? I haven’t seen one before.” I have to say the friendly question caught me off guard as I alighted from a grey compact crossover in a Sainsbury’s car park.

There really is a disconnect between the kinds of cars that would draw a comment from an enthusiast (I think my last one was a Jaguar XK120) and from those to whom driving is little more than a necessity.

This chap, he explained, needed to upsize from a Smart car and felt the need to go green. Instinctively, I went to say “ah, no, it’s actually a hybrid”, before stopping myself in order to explain in a bit more detail.

You see, the Honda HR-V often feels more like an electric car in town traffic, which is because it indeed acts as such. Other times, the 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine will share the work with the electric motor; and at higher speeds, the engine can do all the work alone.

You don’t choose the mode in which the HR-V operates, rather the e:HEV powertrain itself chooses which will be the most efficient in the prevailing conditions.

In most hybrid competitors – I’m thinking of the Toyota C-HR in particular – the driving experience is to a large extent like that of a regular petrol car with a CVT, because only at extremely low speeds will they ever drive on electricity alone.

In the HR-V, the electric aspect is more prominent (something that’s only becoming more common; look to the latest Nissan Juke and Renault Captur).

The electric motor makes 129bhp alone, which is, slightly confusingly, actually the same as the total system output; and this, in combination with the impressive smoothness of the drivetrain, prevents you from ever being overtly conscious of the mode-switching.

Actually, I’m rarely even aware of which mode the car in, unless of course I’m gliding forth virtually silently in slow-moving traffic or have the stereo turned down quiet.

Also, when necessary, the engine works via a second motor-generator to keep the small underfloor battery topped up, in order that the car is never left wanting for electrons when you reach an urban area, like a plug-in hybrid might be.

In town, then, you can glide around electrically, albeit sometimes with the incongruous accompaniment of a revving four-pot.

Floor it at the traffic lights and it will sprint like Kylian Mbappé away from Harry Maguire’s ICE equivalent, replicating that linear accelerative sensation of which EV owners will proudly boast.

Don’t get me wrong: the HR-V isn’t going to match a similarly priced EV, but it feels more than fast enough for what it is in that initial period, thanks to the electric motor. And once the engine joins in, it will reach 62mph in 9.2sec, which isn’t EV-quick but is still respectable.

Even though the HR-V’s powertrain seems to have been designed for urban-centric use, I’ve never considered it out of its comfort zone on my regular 70-mile motorway commute. It keeps abreast of traffic easily and is still averaging 47mpg.

I do have one fairly significant criticism, though, which concerns Honda’s e-CVT. Has there ever been a single application of CVT technology – even that experimental V10-engined Williams Formula 1 car of 1993 – that hasn’t badly degraded the experience?

The screeching engine noises that such devices produce are never pleasant, making it sound like you’re having to thrash it to merely climb a hill or merge onto the motorway.

Certainly in the HR-V, the information that your brain receives from your ears is totally conflicting with that received from your eyes and from your backside.

*Autonomy*

Whereas some car makers offer drivers seemingly endless settings, Honda simply makes the e:HEV powertrain do what its engineers know is best.

*Loathe it *

*Autonomy*

My rocky relationship with Honda’s Road Departure Mitigation system has been worsened by the partial resurfacing of a local main road. 

*Mileage: *10,900

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-Life with an HR-V: Month 3-

*Honda's premium speakers keep Culmer's bangin' tunes sounding sweet - 8 June*

The usual reaction to me revealing that I drive 70 miles to work is “why!? how!?”. The answer to the second is much simpler than the first: music. I therefore consider the stereo a vital element of any car, and the HR-V’s is a particularly enjoyable example. On the top trim, you get six ‘premium’ speakers, including a central one, and a subwoofer. Banging.

Mileage: 9245 

-Life with an HR-V: Month 2-

*A curious method of turning off the car - 18 May*

Sometimes I’d stop the HR-V, put it in park and press the engine on/off button, only for the touchscreen to stay lit and the dial display to offer me ‘accessory mode’. I couldn’t work out why it did this very frustrating thing. Eventually I realised you must release the brake pedal for the car to turn off. Counterintuitive when you must depress it to turn it on. 

Mileage: 8078

*Back to the top*

*We evaluate its practicality by loading a bike and riding in a rival - 4 May*

Bringing my bicycle out of winter hibernation is always great for the soul, signalling the start of long summer evenings and invigorating rides through the cool breeze. It’s also, more pertinently, the perfect opportunity to test the practicality of long-term test cars.

I have a large mountain bike with 29in wheels, so manhandling it into any car’s boot is difficult, and I can’t remember ever having managed it without needing to utilise the quick- release function for the front wheel and perching this atop the frame.

My breath was bated as I pressed the HR-V’s boot-close button once I had pushed my bike (and its wheel) right up against the front seats, but it just about managed to latch shut, albeit with barely the width of a Rizla between the upper end of the handlebar and the tailgate glass.

It’s inherently a tad harder to load awkward cargo into an SUV, due to the higher aperture, but the HR-V is more of a crossover than a 4x4, so it wasn’t too bad, plus it didn’t make my life any harder with a high loading lip. It also has a cool ‘outdoorsy’ tough plastic tray on the boot floor, so I won’t even really need to bring a tarpaulin when I head for the forests.

Practicality is a major concern with compact crossovers, them having stolen the role of family favourites from hatchbacks and estates, and here the HR-V stakes another claim – indeed, one unique to the class – with Honda’s Magic Seats in the rear.

Releases on the 60/40-split rear seats’ shoulders allow you to push their backrests forward to lie almost flat, as usual, but there are also handles underneath that enable you to fold their bases up, like in a cinema, thereby creating large storage areas in the rear footwells. If you’re a regular at garden centres, this could be a game-changer.

Another practical benefit of the HR-V is the commodiousness of its rear, thanks to good head and leg room for passengers, a neat folding- down centrepiece containing two cupholders and large windows.

I certainly heard plenty of nice things about it when driving to a football match with two men back there, if not about our team’s performance on the way home...

It might sound a bit daft to comment on the size of the windows, but this really does make a difference for children, in terms of both boredom and carsickness. 

This was something that became apparent even to me when enduring a long journey in the back of my dad’s Toyota C-HR hybrid – perhaps the HR-V’s most obvious and popular direct rival.

Its supposedly coupé-inspired design includes a sharp kinking up of the window line, meaning you feel like a prisoner back there. It says it all that I most appreciated having little light and a large plastic surface (rather than cold glass) to rest my head against for napping.

While I’m in the mood to compare, the REEEEEEEEE of the engine caused by the C-HR’s CVT the moment you so much as look at the accelerator pedal sounded worse to me than the REEEEEEEEE of the engine caused by the HR-V’s unusual eCVT (which isn’t technically a CVT, confusingly). It’s still much too loud and totally out of kilter with your actual accelerative rate, but it’s not quite as grating.

It actually drops the revs now and again to simulate shifts between cogs that don’t really exist, weirdly, but perhaps this helps with that reduction in aural annoyance. 

*Love it*

*Internal peace*

The more time I spend in the HR-V, the more I like its interior. It looks great, it’s roomy and airy and the driving seat is properly comfy.

*Loathe it*

*Interference*

I’m still being irked by the ADAS, particularly the road departure warning and adaptive cruise control. Just let me drive...

*Mileage: *7296

*Chunky SUV is a style icon - 13 April*

With the necessarily thick pillars and small windows of modern cars, light- coloured interiors make a world of difference. Okay, cream leather is a bad idea for parents, but for the rest of us it’s lovely. The all-black gloom of our Puma ST made me appreciate the HR-V’s design even more. It only comes on the Advance Style top trim level, though, which is £2000 more than the black leather Advance. 

*Mileage: 6772 *

*Back to the top*

-Life with an HR-V: Month 1-

*Honda's camera tech is great for the price - 23 March*

It hasn’t the highest-resolution camera, but the HR-V’s reversing system has a useful extra that’s not typically seen at this price point. A graphic displayed over the camera feed warns you if a vehicle is approaching from the side, along with an audible alert. It’s particularly useful when I’m trying to exit a tight space where visibility is limited.

Mileage: 5927

*Adaptive cruise control and road departure mitigation cause trouble - 30 March 2022*

Benevolent soul that I am, I’ve agreed to exchange my new Skoda Kodiaq (which you will meet soon) for Luc Lacey’s Honda HR-V. A high-mileage photographer with a penchant for extreme sports and camping with his friends clearly has more need of a capacious 4x4 than I do. Compact crossover for me it is, then.

I must be honest: the HR-V hasn’t made a great go of ingratiating itself. That’s not because it’s bad to drive, ugly or nasty inside. In fact, it’s the opposite of those things. Instead, it has irked me through its technology. My struggle to get the infotainment system to accept my iPhone for Apple CarPlay set the tone (I did manage it eventually, but I haven’t any idea what I did different on the fifth try).

I was driving home from the office on the adaptive cruise control when I suddenly felt myself slowing, but this time not to match the vehicle in front. Huh? I looked down at the digital dial display and saw the system was off. Perhaps I had accidentally knocked the button on the steering wheel. So I tried to reactivate it, only to be met with a bong and ‘OFF’ by the cruise symbol. This weird self-cancellation has occurred several times since, and in perfect conditions – so surely not due to obscured sensors. To test this theory, I pulled over and restarted the car, at which point it let me use cruise again.

Another disappointing application of ‘driver assistance’ tech is the road departure mitigation. It’s a welcome guard on the motorway, but it often springs into action when I’m driving in town, often for no apparent reason.

A particularly scary instance occurred when I had to manoeuvre around two parked cars. I felt no need to indicate, as I was only marginally crossing the centre line, leaving room aplenty for oncoming traffic (not that there was any). So the HR-V actively tried to steer me back into the path of the parked cars. Can you imagine? “I swear, officer, it was the car’s fault…” It’s so sad when positive aspects of any car are pushed down the order of discussion by frustrating electronics.

While I’m in the mood to complain, I might as well get this said: 20 miles isn’t enough warning for a required refuelling. Yes, I know I should keep note of the gauge at all times, but I’m rightly used to the fuel light coming on with 40 or 50 left. Fortunately, I was 17 away from the next service station this morning and not 21.

*Love it:*

*Lounging around *There are shades of the Honda E to the interior. It’s nicely laid out and looks great in cream and light grey.

*Loathe it:*

*Vexing vexillology *Those with any knowledge of flags will know why the white, blue and red horizontal tricolour motifs of the Sport Pack feel inappropriate.

*Mileage: 5927*

*Back to the top*

*Seeing clearly in reverse - 23 March 2022*

It hasn’t the highest-resolution camera, but the HR-V’s reversing system has a useful extra that’s not typically seen at this price point. A graphic displayed over the camera feed warns you if a vehicle is approaching from the side, along with an audible alert. It’s particularly useful when I’m trying to exit a tight space where visibility is limited.

*Mileage: 5732*

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*Welcoming the HR-V to the fleet - 2 March 2022*

Well, this is a result. Put the aggressively muscular Honda Civic Type R and adorable Honda E electric supermini to one side and I wouldn’t have pegged Honda as a particularly style-oriented brand, yet the HR-V crossover I’ve just taken delivery of is actually something of a looker.

It’s certainly a major departure from the old Honda HR-V (2015-2020), which to me seemed to appeal mainly to an older generation of customers – albeit not quite to the degree of the old Honda Jazz (2015-2020).

Not even the HR-V Sport and its 180bhp VTEC powerplant seemed to do much to change its image. But this new generation? This Honda HR-V is unrecognisable from the car it replaces, with a lower roofline, widened haunches and an elongated bonnet that conspire to give it real road presence – even in our arrival’s optional Meteoroid Grey paint, which can be a little anonymous in a crowded car park. The slightly sloping rear end gives the car a bit of a Polestar 2 vibe, too, which can only be a good thing.

Inside, it’s a similar story, with a spacious layout and modern styling, although not quite to the same tech-led minimalist standard as the Honda E. There are perhaps a few too many beeps and bongs for my liking, which spoil the mood somewhat with their tinny quality, but the driving position, exterior visibility and perceived quality of materials make it an otherwise pleasant place to spend time.

Things have also changed under the bonnet, with Honda ditching diesel engines altogether and selling the HR-V as a hybrid only. The e:HEV powertrain combines a 1.5-litre petrol four-pot with an electric motor for a combined 129bhp and 187lb ft, but either power source can drive the vehicle in isolation.

Our road testers tell me that when driven sensibly, it does a good impression of an EV, right down to the fine-grain control over regenerative braking available via paddles on the steering wheel.

On motorways, the petrol engine takes over for maximum efficiency, but the system blends the two power sources on intermediate routes. Given that I can clock up the miles at an impressive rate travelling between photoshoots, I’m hopeful that the overall economy figures will match Honda’s claims – and that the noise created by the e-CVT gearbox’s penchant for revs won’t prove irritating over long distances.

I’m also looking forward to running a hybrid that doesn’t require plugging in. Although the public charging infrastructure has improved greatly around my corner of the south-west, my typical workday rarely afforded me the time to top up the Cupra Formentor PHEV that I ran previously.

Our HR-V is in top-tier Advance Style trim, with no added extras bar the £550 paint, as it’s equipped very generously as standard. A powered tailgate, parking sensors with a reversing camera, adaptive cruise control and wireless smartphone charging are all welcome inclusions, and the heating for the seats and steering wheel has already proved its worth after a recent series of long outdoor photoshoots.

So far, I’ve found the 9.0in touchscreen easy to navigate and responsive to use, to the point that plugging in my phone and swapping to Apple CarPlay hasn’t become the first thing I do every time I get behind the wheel. It’s also a relief to have actual physical dials for the heating controls, which I find much less distracting than on-screen icons.

The active safety systems seem to err on the side of caution, sounding the alarm whenever an object gets within the general vicinity of the car. But I’ve noticed that with other new cars, too, so the Honda doesn’t feel too jumpy in this respect.

Given that I rarely leave the house with anything less than three flight cases stuffed with camera equipment, I wasn’t sure if a compact crossover like the HR-V would manage to swallow it all, but Honda’s rear ‘Magic Seats’ really do help with stowing luggage. They can fold down for a flat load area, or fold up like a set of cinema seats, meaning there’s even room for a pair of mountain bikes when I’m not travelling for work. The plastic boot liner also helps keep mess to a minimum.

First impressions? The HR-V has so far been perfectly pleasant to drive. It feels a little softer through the corners than the Formentor, but that was an undeniably sportier proposition, and I actually prefer the Honda’s more relaxed nature. The steering is light, but it can be rewarding on the right roads, which I wasn’t expecting.

I’ve largely stuck to the Eco driving mode and let the car decide how best to use the hybrid system, which has so far delivered 48mpg, but it’s early days. We will see if I can improve on that figure as the months roll on.

*Second Opinion*

How much Luc likes the HR-V will almost certainly depend on how he drives it. In Sport mode, the e-CVT loudly holds high revs but doesn’t deliver the acceleration to match, which makes it feel slower than it is. With a light foot and the electric motor doing much of the work, it should be much more relaxing.

*Tom Morgan-Freelander*

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-Honda HR-V E:HEV Advance Style specification-

*Specs: Price New* £32,310 *Price as tested* £32,760 *Options *Meteoroid Grey paint £550

*Test Data: Engine* 4 cyls, 1498cc, petrol, plus 2 electric motors *Power* 129bhp at 6000-6400rpm *Torque* 187lb ft *Kerb weight* 1380kg *Top speed* 106mph *0-62mph* 10.7sec *Fuel economy* 52.0mpg *CO2* 122g/km *Faults* None *Expenses* None

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