Review of my first impressions of the HR-V e:HEV in the HR-V section of this forum.
My first impressions of the superb Honda HR-V e:HEV
My overall rating. 9/10.*
Following an 80 mile round trip at the weekend.
One must bear in mind that I have owned it less than a week and am still coming to terms with a fairy steep learning curve with all the ‘gizmos’. I have not gone very far into all the ‘Honda Sensing’ kit yet.
Gizmology, (so far)
LKA is gentle and not intrusive. RDMS has lit up once or twice but hasn’t apparently done anything apart from a gentle tug on the steering wheel to guide the car away from the N/S verge?
As in Jazz & Crosstar, if you don’t want it you have to turn it off, as default is ON. Blind spot monitor works well. Used to beep, but doesn’t now, Have I turned something off by mistake?
ACC, Turned it on but traffic too light to see it operate as far as distance and stopping is concerned.
Economy,
Outbound. 52mpg including some 70mph A35 in eco mode. Inbound 63mpg on slower A roads. Using varying regen levels, depending on circumstances. In Eco all the time. 24th Jan 71.8mpg on 2 mile trip round Poole this morning. Very impressive!
Performance,
Excellent, Certainly as good as the Karoq, although i have yet to actually time speeds 0-62 and through the gears. overtake-abiity very good even in ECO if ‘kicked down’. I would say better than Karoq.
Ride,
Very comfortable, suspension set up/tyre size well sorted. No crashing on uneven surfaces, copes very well with the usual rubbish British roads.
Roadholding,
Excellent. Very ’surefooted’. Just as good as any other of the 7 SUVs I have owned.
Seating/seat heating.
Very comfortable. In spite of no lumbar support and my very bad back. All the Hondas I have owned have always had excellent seats. Honda very stingy in not having passenger seat height adjustable, although in our case is completely irrelevant. Seats heat up very quickly, which is just as well as the ICE takes longer to heat up than a pure petrol engined car. A good thing is that once turned on, they stay on the next time you start the car.
Boot and interior size,
Although listed as a rather stingy 315 litres (due to the battery being under the boot floor) it is exactly the same horizontal (WxL) dimensions as a Karoq Sportline. I can only assume that it is quoted at less due to the sloping roof line of the HR-V.
More importantly for me the boot floor is completely flat, including when the back seats are put down. Quite big enough for a 25Kg Lurcher girly.
‘Magic’ seats are a brilliant idea. Leg room for rear seat passengers is HUGE. I am 6’ and can ’sit behind myself’ with the driver’s seat adjusted for self. Front passenger leg room good, I can sit with straight legs with seat right back. Drivers leg room not so good (obviously!). Left foot MUST be kept on foot rest as brake pedal a bit too close if left foot extended on the floor. (size 10!)
Noise,
Around town brilliant! On some tarmac surfaces at high speed slightly intrusive, on others ok, Obviously depends on the actual surface. Car shod with 225/50R18 Michelin Primacy4.
HOWEVER! Wind noise is quite intrusive at speed. For some reason worse in the front passenger seat than the driver’s (Yes I did let SWMBO drive it this morning!)😱.
Nearly all the YTube reviewers have moaned about the CVT type (many even that it HAS a CVT, which it does NOT!) ‘mooing’
on hard acceleration. Take it from me, they are talking absolute rubbish. Unless the car is driven by an idiot (like many reviewers) The noise is no worse than an ICE powered car at full chat and in an overtake manoeuvre doesn’t last long enough to be of any annoyance.
Heating with heater off.
As above, slower than an ICE car, but even in the freezing weather we have had of late, is of little importance, since the seat heaters are excellent and speedy, coupled with the heated steering wheel. Once the ICE is hot you can get a quite useable amount of hot air without actually turning the heater on, over 40mph the airflow over the car is good enough to give a decent amount of heat. (outside temp 5c).
General jottings.
STEERING. Turns in well. nicely weighted with no signs of over or under steer. Gives one a very confident feeling.
E Driving. As long as the battery has 4 bars of charge, on a level road, the car will generally stay in E mode up to about 40mph. 5 bars will enable nearer 50mph. As soon as the battery drops to 3 bars the ICE will kick in, either to drive the car with E assistance, or pure petrol, again depending on speed and upward incline.
Some not so good points*. Starting with the most important/annoying and some suggestions for Honda.
1. Heavy condensation inside rear window. A real pain! I have had this before on a PHEV. Could the traction battery give off heat after a drive which then causes the back window to condense as the outside temperature drops? Bearing in mind the HRV battery is under the boot floor. Presumably will go away as the weather warms up.
2.The chime when your bum hits the driving seat. Thank you Honda, but I am aware I have just got into the car!
3.The warning screen which seems to be common on Japanese & Korean cars and has to be cancelled, or wait for it to cancel itself. WHY do the Asian manufacturers love their ‘bongs’ so much. Perhaps it connected to their love of revolting orange pseudo wood interior finishes.
Suggestions for Honda.
1. You fitted an excellent full width light bar at the rear, Why ON EARTH did you not instal sequential indicators to match the front, instead of the stupidly small indicators that the car has?
2. I haven’t had a car without a leather gear knob for at least 15 years.YEN pinching or WHAT? Rubber one fitted to the HR-V is not nice!!
3. More sound deadening required. For wind noise and engine. I have never heard a Honda engine running on any of those I have owned, but you can just hear this one although it is not intrusive.