Honda HR-V Hybrid review

Combining petrol and electric power, the HR-V balances both power sources well – particularly around town. The 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine develops 107hp and 131Nm torque on its own, while the dual electric motors develop 131hp and 253Nm. The rather unique hybrid setup means the petrol engine acts like a generator in hybrid mode to charge the battery rather than drive the wheels.

Accelerating from 0-60mph is claimed to be 10.6 seconds, but as it combines both petrol and electric power, the HR-V does feel faster than that. Top speed of the HR-V is 105mph – not exactly quick,, but you won’t really use that in this.

Honda claims it’ll return 52.3mpg. But in mixed driving conditions, we only managed 48.5mpg. If you drive around town more often, you’ll use the electric power more to help with efficiency, but the way the hybrid setup works means that long motorway driving means you’ll be using the petrol engine more often – using more fuel in the process.

If you’re in the market for a family SUV, then you want comfort and space in spades, and thankfully the Honda HR-V delivers on both. It’s not quite class-leading in either, but it certainly performs well.

Around town – where the HR-V is likely to be used most – it feels light and relatively easy to manoeuvre. Although the long bonnet looks good from the outside to provide a sporty look, it can hinder your sight of the front slightly – but not enough to cause major concern.

Thanks to large windows all around, visibility is good. The sloping roofline may cause some to find the rear window a little small, but it’s large enough to see traffic and obstacles out the back. The wing mirrors also offer a good view of traffic around, while the blind spot monitoring helps even further.

As you get two power outputs in the e:HEV system, you get a mix of zero-emission performance at lower speeds and petrol power to cruise for longer distances. The switch normally happens when you reach around 40mph, and you barely notice the change unless you look at the instrument display and see the ‘EV’ symbol disappear.

However, under harder acceleration, the engine sounds incredibly strained. Although it can get you up to speed at a reasonable rate of knots, it sends a lot of vibrations through to the cabin as it pulls its weight and sounds pretty unpleasant, particularly compared to the otherwise refined drive.

Comfort-wise, you’ll find the HR-V performs well, even though you get 18-inch alloys. During a cruise, the suspension soaks up most of the bumps very well, and only at slower speeds do larger bumps and road imperfections get transferred into the cabin.

You get the choice of three driving modes – Econ, Normal and Sport. Although it’s not that sporty, changing it to Sport mode does make throttle response slightly faster and steering a bit heavier so you can have a tad more fun down a country road. Just remember it’s a taller car.

Another place where the Honda excels is in assistance equipment. As part of the Honda ‘Sensing’ safety setup, you get adaptive cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, a rear-view camera and lane-keep assist. Traffic sign recognition, collision mitigation and road departure mitigation are also fitted.