First Drive: 2021 Honda HR-V Review

Nearly a year after the second-generation HR-V was axed, struggling to keep up with the latest emission regulations, the new HR-V, or HR-V e:HEV to give it its full name, is finally here. And as you might have guessed from the ‘e’, this new car has been electrified, with a powertrain developed from the hybrid in the latest Jazz lurking beneath the bodywork.

Not everyone got on with the old HR-V, which is why as well as cramming the third-gen machine with hybrid tech Honda has made it stronger, safer and cleverer, all in the hope of appealing to more people.

The new HR-V looks exactly that: new. The previous HR-V wasn’t just getting long in the tooth in terms of powertrains, but its design was outdated; alongside the 2015 Honda Civic all was well, but see it next to a Honda e and you’d know it was getting on a bit.

With this, at the front you get a pair of slim headlights up top, a busy, body-coloured grille with a Honda badge at its centre in the middle, and fog lights in the bottom corners, with another smaller intake jutting out at the car’s chin. It’s less sleek, with a boxier, more American look at the front than its predecessor, but at least it’s fresh. At the side, meanwhile, there’s a strong shoulder line running front to back down the car’s flanks that wasn’t there before.

The roofline has been lowered by 20mm, the front overhang cut by 20mm and the rear overhang extended by 20mm – you’ll only notice the latter, with a pronounced behind that gives this latest HR-V a very different look to its predecessor. See the car in the metal and the rear end doesn’t look quite right, somehow – like it’s too tall, with too much space between its rear wheels and arches, and too much tyre on show.

There is a sport pack available on the HR-V but, as you might imagine, it has nothing to do with the car’s performance. What it does give you is a more conventional-looking black grille, a black splitter and rear diffuser rather than chrome, tinted rear windows and black mirror caps. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for a bewinged HR-V Type R…

Forget standalone petrol or diesel, the HR-V is hybrid only, with a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine, a generator and two electric motors at the front, and a 60-cell battery at the rear. If it sounds familiar then that’s because the new Jazz runs a similar system, but the HR-V’s engine and motors are all more powerful, while the battery pack is 12 cells stronger and the generator smaller and now cooled by water rather than air. Honda was keen to point out how there’s a clutch between the wheels and engine, which means it can be disconnected and situations where energy is lost turning the engine over when it’s off can be avoided, something that unnamed Japanese competitor hybrids are not set up to do.

All in all you have 131PS (96kW) and 253Nm (187lb ft), with power going to the front wheels via a single-speed transmission. The HR-V can be driven on electric power, as a hybrid, either with power from the engine heading to the generator, battery, motors and then wheels or in tandem with the motors et al when you put your foot to the floor, or with the engine only, if you’re cruising on the motorway for example. And as you might expect, lift of the accelerator or brake and the batteries are given a gentle recharge – the HR-V is not a plug-in hybrid.

Performance? Zero to 62mph is over in 10.6 seconds and the top speed is 105mph, but as you might imagine this isn’t a car that particularly encourages speed; bury your foot to the floor and the engine is incredibly loud, and from a powertrain perspective, thanks the single speed ‘box, there’s no joy in attacking a corner-packed road, as the engine revs rise and fall without much rhythm. What the system does for the most part is encourage you to drive with a measured right foot, lifting off and coasting where you can and therefore recharging the batteries, and easing on the gas gently to stop the engine from revving too high or turning on at all. Not everyone will enjoy the challenge, but the system does what it’s supposed to do seamlessly – not once in our time with the car was there a lurch or bad timing from the engine or motor in terms of power delivery.

What Honda has nailed in terms of enjoyment is pretty much everything else. The steering might lack communication but it is responsive, while the suspension, although lacking a degree of wheel control, holds the HR-V’s body more confidently than with the previous car and with a better ride quality. The brakes, meanwhile, are entirely consistent – where the braking systems of some hybrids sap confidence, owing to poorly configured regen systems, you get exactly what you’re asking for from the brakes every single time.

For years Honda has talked about its ‘Man-Maximum, Machine-Minimum’ philosophy, and for years it’s been a phrase I’ve written off as a cheesy marketing line. But as many car interiors become more and more complicated, with more touchscreens, haptic feedback buttons and the like, it’s a phrase you can actually see working through the HR-V’s cabin. There are buttons for the climate control, for example, and a real volume knob as part of the infotainment system. It’s a simple car to operate, a refreshing change where many other interiors are getting more and more complicated. The driving position is decent, as is the positioning of the pedals (Honda has made the brake pedal larger and moved it 15mm closer to the throttle for an easier transition from one to the other). All that really lets the interior down is a hazard light in the middle of the dash that strikes as an afterthought, and the gear lever material feels like the sole of a shoe.

The interior might be simple but there’s plenty of tech to speak of. Wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto (cabled) and Bluetooth are standard, as are heated front seats, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, Hill Descent Control, Hill Start Assist, keyless entry, traffic sign recognition, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning (a much more gentle system than that of say Volkswagen), automatic headlights, daytime LED running lights, and 18-inch wheels. The middle Advance and top Advance Style grades include a power tailgate that’ll shut automatically as you walk away, two USBs in the back of the car as well as in the front, plus plenty more, too, while a heated steering wheel, 10-speaker sound system and active cornering lights are included in the top spec cars.

There’s a 7-inch TFT screen in the instrument binnacle alongside a traditional speedometer, a curious hybrid, while the infotainment system runs through a 9-inch central screen, and it’s a system not too dissimilar from that of the Honda e’s, or, to put it simply, it’s one that finally feels appropriate for a brand new car. Honda will offer you Wi-Fi through a subscription service, while the car can receive over the air updates through the My Honda+ platform. Pay for the app and you can plan routes for the car from your phone, locate the car, receive an alert if the car moves beyond a predetermined area, and lock or unlock the car.

A funky system is the ‘air diffusion system’. Look up at the vents at the corners of the dash and you’ll see a second, L-shaped vent next to it. Send air through it rather than the standard vents and, rather than being directed at you, the air will be sent around you, creating a gentle breeze, or something similar. Put simply, on a hot day you’ll have cooling air between you and the heat of the side windows, and in the chillier months you’ll have a warm air between you and the cold windows. A fun system.

The HR-V’s powertrain certainly doesn’t thrill but all things considered there’s an accuracy and precision to everything that makes it a relatively solid drive compared to some of its competitors. The whole range is well-specced, too, and it’s important to stress just how nice it is to have a gimmick-free interior. Prices range from £26,960 to £31,660, a good offering considering what’s included.

Is it better than its predecessor? To drive it’s about equal, but it feels up to date in ways the old car just didn’t, and given how many SUVs are being sold around the world and just how competitive a marketplace it is, for Honda, it couldn’t have come soon enough.