Car review: Honda HR-V – thanks for the unwanted parting gift

The Japanese firm ends four decades of manufacture in Britain next month, bowing out by asking slightly too high a premium for slightly too old a design, says Sean O’Grady

Sean O'Grady
Friday 03 January 2020 14:23 GMT
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The latest facelift brings some welcome cosmetic improvements, like a big piano-black grille
The latest facelift brings some welcome cosmetic improvements, like a big piano-black grille

One of the saddest of news announcements in the year just gone by came from Honda, who I think we came to look upon as a bit of a friend. After a long association with the UK and a substantial investment in our manufacturing industry from the 1990s on, the company has decided that it was going to end production of the Honda Civic in Swindon, and close all the facilities by July 2021. Soon it will entirely cease its involvement in the British motor industry after some four decades of production, both in its own right, and in cooperation with Rover Group.

It is not much of an exaggeration to say that Honda’s collaboration agreement with Rover (reached at Christmas 1979, as it happens) and the success of the various cars that resulted from it kept the “indigenous” industry alive for far longer than many thought possible. Now it is over.

So that is a shame, and I’ve little doubt Brexit didn’t help. Neither, though, did Honda’s fading fortunes in the Europe including the UK market, traditionally one of the strongest for the make. Where once Hondas and Honda-derived Rovers – Rondas – were a commonplace on the roads, today you see far fewer. The profile of the marque feels lower, the cars seem to have lost appeal. That applies as much to the sensible pensioners who used to buy them new for their reliability and lightness of controls, as to their boisterous grandkids who used to slam and customise them and try to thrash their smooth high revving motors to death (though the Hondas usually stood up well to any amount of abuse thrown at them from either key demographic).

Which brings me to the Honda HR-V, which you’re probably not as familiar with as you ought to be. This is a very well designed mini-SUV, which is a fashionable sector, but the HR-V, despite having been around for a while, seems not to be very fashionable itself. It has much going for it, as it is based on the clever and capable small Honda Jazz hatch; but it doesn’t seem to have made its presence felt. In the old days, when Honda was more of a player, it’d be everywhere. Now it’s invisible.

Why would this be?

Price and age, and a bit to do with its rivals catching up. The HR-V is just a touch pricier than most of its close competitors, and doesn’t quite justify it. It is just a little bit, well, old. Not seriously so, I mean, but maybe not quite state of the art either, this model having been introduced in 2015.

The spec

Honda HR-V 1.5 EX CVT​

Price: £27,775 (as tested, range starts at £19,560)​  

Engine capacity: 1.5-litre petrol; 7-speed auto​ 

Power output (hp@rpm): 130@6,600​  

Top speed (mph): 116 

0 to 60 (seconds): 11.4 

Fuel economy (WLTP): 52.3​​​​ 

CO2 emissions (g/km): 121   

The latest facelift brings some welcome cosmetic improvements, like a big piano-black grille, and there’s also a much-needed upgrade for Apple and Android users. Yet the main screen in the dashboard, for the satnav, audio and connectivity, gives the game away, as it looks rather previous generation – even to me, as an avowed techno-sceptic.

Both petrol and diesel units are very fine and efficient, though I’d avoid the “continuously variable” automatic gearbox and opt for the manual – it is just a bit too whiny, unresponsive and frustrating. What is missing of course, is any pure electric option, or even a petrol or diesel hybrid, Prius-style – look to the rival Hyundai Kona for the full suite of power options. There’s also no four-wheel drive option. So Honda are basically asking slightly too high a premium for slightly too old a design, and with a limited choice; and that’s never going to shift many units.

Despite that, it is no bad buy. It has neat and contemporary styling, not as dull as the equivalent offerings from the VW group, say (VW T-Roc, Seat Arona, Skoda Kamiq) but not as outrageous as the new Nissan Juke or the wacky Toyota C-HR. The forthcoming Ford Puma will, at least in theory, also prove a formidable rival, based as it is on the excellent current Fiesta.

The HR-V still has merits, you see. It also boasts the same highly adjustable “magic seats” feature as the Jazz, meaning that you can turn the cabin of your HR-V into a van or a bedroom or lounge. In a car world which pays far too little attention these days to space efficiency, the HR-V also makes an excellent job of packaging its passengers and their luggage – so the space for both is relatively generous and versatile inside a compact shape.

And yet… the Honda HR-V has just been languishing for years, with not even motoring hacks giving it much of a second glance. It need not be so. Some 20 years ago the first Honda HR-V arrived. It really was eye-catching – a medium-sized three-door model that didn’t fit into any given category at the time – neither proper SUV nor estate car. They said that HR-V stood for “hi-level revolutionary vehicle”. The stylists gave it a big grove down its flanks like it has been got at by a T rex, and it looked like it might be fun to own. The current model? Not so much, it must be admitted.

Maybe the retreat of Honda also has something to do with the fact that the other makes, the European ones, have managed to close some of the quality and reliability gaps with the Japanese. That, in turn, had a lot to do with the Japanese concerns – Nissan and Toyota too – establishing themselves with factories in the EU – with Britain their preferred base. That was in the days when the UK seemed a permanent member of the EU, of course.

Not any more. Goodbye, then, Honda, and thanks for all the cars.

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