So I finally got the chance to take the HR/V for a run this weekend. Saturday was a whole melange of short journeys here and there with a good opportunity to get used to the auto-handbrake and start playing around with some of the toys in the car. As an urban runabout, it is doing a great job, with the parking aids and reversing camera making parking a real pleasure. The engine warms up reasonably quickly, with warm air reaching the cabin after about a minute, which is important on these cold winter days.
The car was supplied with a full tank of fuel, so, not knowing whether they 'brimmed' it or not, and given it has less than 1,000 miles on the clock, I am just going to go off the car's own miles-per-gallon display for now. So my first 50 miles or so were short journeys from cold in and around my hill town, and the car was showing 30-32 miles per gallon. Yesterday, I was able to zero the display and take the car on an 80 mile mostly motorway with some A roads trip into North Yorkshire. I must admit I was driving quite aggressively and pushing well beyond I should on the motorway, and still that car showed an average consumption for the journey of 52mpg.
I fully expect that, when properly run in, and driven sensibly, I should be approaching a real world reading of 55-60 mpg on a country run, rather than around town. I have always had a heavy right foot and never really got near the mythical consumption levels I have seen people on here get with their Jazz's. However, when the car is glowing a green dashboard reward for eco-driving, when you are doing 90mph in 6th gear, it does give me a wry smile.
The HR/V overall feels like a really well put together package. It has a similar stance to my CR/V, with massively more space inside than my Jazz. The feels confident on the road, and has all the power I need from a car right now. Noise is noticable but not intrusive and the ride is very comfortable. I have missed leather and it is great to have it back, along with the heated seats. The driving aids will take some time to get used to. Lane-assist is annoying but there is an off button - the thing is, I want to leave it on as it is only telling me to do what I should have done. It strikes a fair balance in sensitivity, not always going off when you cut a corner on a fast bend.
My only niggle so far is the complicated Audio / Sat Nav interface. When you are in the Garmin mode it is fine, looking just like my old Garmin Nuvi system and my son's newer one. The Android functionality is just pointless as far as I can see. I don't believe I would ever use it, nor would anyone who had a decent smartphone. Why would you want to browse the internet on your car's screen? Or watch video? It's the audio functionalty that bugs me. The User Interface is reasonably simple to use - if you are stationary. But it is just too simplistic, and some of the touchpoints are just too tiny. I think Honda should have engaged the services of a professional user interface designer to properly lay out the screen and reduce the number of levels you need to dive down to achieve a basic function. There is no off button, pause or mute button, that I have found yet, for example. So If I am listening to something and then I pick up a passenger, I have to hold the volume minus button down, or change to a source which is not connected, e.g. bluetooth, to be able to get silence and have a conversation. I sure familiarity will come with time.
In summary, I am really pleased with my purchase and am looking forward to many miles of driving in this car, by the end of which, I expect I will have figured the radio out.
