Honda HR-V

While the Honda HR-V manages to look visually striking with a stunning and distinctive design on the outside, the interior cabin of the crossover feels a bit archaic by the car’s standards.

The three-spoke multi-functional steering, as well as fully analog instrument console, are a direct liftoff from the Honda City, which feels dated by today’s bars set higher by other cars. The rest of the dashboard feels as if it is tilted towards the driver, with offset vertical AC vents and a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system encased within a contrasting silver centre panel in the otherwise all-black interior cabin.

While the cabin design feels a bit uninspiring, the features list of the Honda HR-V is impressive with bits like sunroof, leather upholstery, multi-angle reverse camera, push-button start with keyless entry and height adjustment for driver’s seat. Space levels too are quite good, with the limited headroom being the only slight issue at the back. Even the boot space is quite adequate for a crossover of this size.

Honda tried to follow a different approach with the styling of the HR-V, with a rounded profile giving it the styling and stance of a coupe. It might not have the upright stance of a traditional SUV, but then, its stylish is sleek and aerodynamic enough to give it a fresh appeal.

At the front, the Honda HR-V comes with the face of all modern Hondas, with a wide chrome bar stretching over the angular LED headlamps on the sides. The headlamps do come with daytime running LEDs within them, and they do make way for the large grille below the chrome bar at the centre. 

The sloping bonnet complements well with the rounded roofline, giving the Honda HR-V a coupe-like stance, which is unique to it in this category of compact crossovers. The slim body cladding running downwards on the entire side profile is the only SUV-ish character element here, as the sharp uprising character lines and rounded roofline make it look very different from SUV perspective.

At the rear, the Honda HR-V manages to look visually big and sharp with tooth-shaped big wraparound tail lamps and angular windscreen, with the roof-mounted spoiler adding to its sporty appeal.

The Honda HR-V not only has a sportier design, but it actually has sporty underpinnings too. Complementing the athletic design and potent engine performance is the stiff suspension setup, which makes the driving appeal of the Honda HR-V quite involving. 

The Honda HR-V shares its 1.8-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine with the previous iteration of the Honda Civic, which here comes paired with CVT gearbox as standard in all the variants. The engine is good enough in producing a maximum power output of 142 PS and a peak torque output of 172 Nm.

The Honda HR-V is decently equipped with safety essentials for its segment like the front, side and curtain airbags, ABS with EBD and Brake Assist, vehicle stability assist, traction control, emergency stop signal, electric parking brake, hill start assist and traction control.

The Honda HR-V is not your traditional upright compact crossover but offers the slight might of road presence of an SUV with the design and driving dynamics of a car. The curvy silhouette and sporty design might not look as if it is meant to tower over anything, but then, it has got the road presence and dynamism of a proper big and premium vehicle. Wish the interior cabin too had the same level of glitziness as that of the exterior design, but the HR-V manages to make up it with its good combination of performance and handling.