2023 Honda Hr-v Sport Awd Suv – Home » 2023 Honda HR-V Looks like a pretty cool way to leave one place and go somewhere else
The 2023 Honda HR-V looks like a pretty cool way to leave one place and go somewhere else
2023 Honda Hr-v Sport Awd Suv
Happy birthday guys, how are you guys? Want a grumpy subcompact crossover that’s good for hauling stuff and going places? You will definitely do that! Say hello to the new 2023 Honda HR-V, it’s like a Civic but bigger. Mark my words, you will see these things absolutely everywhere, regardless of your demographics.
From the front, the new HR-V looks completely unimpressed, as if it hates the very concept of being a vehicle. He’s scornful of his purpose: throwing IKEA’s Lack tables indoors after his owner’s flatmates had a disaster in Marinara. He knows the odds of getting an ugly state-mandated front license plate, and approaches such a possible fate with the cynicism usually reserved for deeply desperate optimists. On the side, things get a little better — think of the five-eighths scale Acura MDX, if you’re not quite nailing the scale on the vertical axis.
While the HR-V’s tread design is comfortable enough, things take a turn for the worse when your eyes wander to the ground. Is it just me, or are the wheel designs on this thing awesome? The Sport trim drowns its wheel design in a bath of black paint, and the EX-L’s convex five-spoke design with five thin machined strips looks downright boring. These EX-L wheels look like an HR-V water buffalo on skates. I’m not going to say better wheels would make it an incredibly sharp vehicle, but hey. Fortunately, the background is cleaned up nicely.
Ah yes. See that unadorned panel between the taillights? That’s pretty neat. Clean and minimalist, a real breath of fresh air in today’s sea of excess car styling. The HR-V’s taillights are pretty good too, a bit nostalgic. Altezza-style taillights, rather than overwhelmingly pleasing, with lots of nice touches. The small LED strip under the red swoosh appears to be for backup lights or turn signals. I keep my fingers crossed for the Amber Loopers.
Also, let’s talk about using gloss black plastic fairings instead of unpainted Tupperware on the EX-L deck. Sure, it’ll get scratched like DJ Lethal, but it should age a lot better than plain textured plastic. Mind you, the lower fairings don’t have much plastic wrap on the sides and are good for Honda to try and trim down the fairing a bit.
There are some cool things going on in the new HR-V. Make sure the center console’s USB charging ports are conveniently located, allowing you to store your devices in a small box under the center console’s bank of switches. It’s just a great design, like the very nice ribbing on the lower door panels and the plastics in the cargo area. As for the rest of the interior, Honda’s ‘simplicity and such’ design ethos (yes, that’s a real name) comes into its own here, with a very Civic-esque wide grille covering the dashboard vents, along with three good ones looking door handles. for the HVAC controls and some nice stitching on the center console. Honestly, this interior is much nicer than that found in small car crossovers. The Mazda CX-30 is a combat-ready cab.
There’s decent tech on board too. While Honda’s native infotainment interface looks like a $40 head unit you bought on Wish, the available wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are pretty cool, and Honda’s active safety suite is packed with a wide-angle camera, traffic sign recognition and a Wide-angle camera is traffic jam assist to relieve commuting fatigue. Also, hey, a physical adjustment button on 7-inch infotainment systems! This is definitely a dying feature and it’s really cool.
As for the cargo space, it looks pretty good. 690.9 L (24.4 cu ft) behind the rear seats, 1,560 L (55.1 cu ft) with the rear seats folded. The Kia Seltos is actually roomier, with 753 L (26.6 cu ft) of cargo space behind the rear seats and 1,778 L (62.8 cu ft) with the second row folded down, but it feels relatively cheap. Looking at the new Civic, the new HR-V should feel pretty good, a lovely cocoon of firm, soft-touch plastic and pleasant controls.
The power comes from a decent two-liter four-cylinder engine with plenty of horsepower. Actually 158 hp and 138 lb-ft. There is enough torque to propel such a vehicle, but not enough to really matter. Like getting Cs in school, the HR-V’s engine will do you good. The only transmission available is a CVT, which can send power to either the front wheels or all four. Look, if you really care about speed, buy a Hyundai Kona N or something. The HR-V’s engine is here to get the job done without much discomfort and on a modest fuel bill. The EPA rates this thing at 26 mpg city, 32 mpg highway and 28 mpg combined for the front-wheel drive version, while all-wheel drive models lose one mpg city, two and one mpg combined on the highway. That’s certainly not hatchback territory, but it’s not terrible either.
Much better than “not terrible” is the HR-V’s overall underpinning. It’s based on the new Civic, so it has a nice stiff frame, independent rear suspension and a much more useful footprint than older models. More importantly, there’s a wonderful nerdiness about it. The roof is laser-brazed to avoid rubber rain gutters, and the windshield wipers are largely hidden for a stylish look. Beautiful things
Pricing for the new HR-V ranges from $24,985 for the base front-wheel drive LX model to $30,195 for the loaded EX-L four-wheel drive model, including a $1,245 destination fee. It’s not ultra-cheap, not expensive, right in the middle of the compact crossover market. In all honesty, the new HR-V looks like a very nice improvement over the old one. Mind you, I maintain my disdain for the old HR-V – I went in for a test drive with nothing and was still disappointed. On the contrary, this 2023 model looks pretty decent. It says all the right things on paper and should be perfect for what small car crossover owners want from their vehicles.
However, Honda seems to think they will sell this thing to the youth. The marketing team also used the term “GenZennials” in the press release for the HR-V’s new marketing, which aims to make eyes light up with a rusty bowler hat. Speaking of “GenZennial,” whatever Cinnamon Toast Fuck means, I can tell you this: young people aren’t going to buy much of this stuff. You’ll go into Honda dealers instead of looking at the Civic hatchback’s fuel economy numbers and buying one of them.
Who can blame them? The Civic hatchback is practical, economical, well equipped and slightly cheaper than an HR-V. I’m not saying this like a young man in cars, I’m saying it like a young man. Small cars generally fit my demographic well. You know who’s going to buy a ton of HR-Vs? Our parents and grandparents. Empty nesters who want to bring Home Depot mulch bags home because they have the time and energy to keep their yards beautiful. People who welcome a higher driver’s seat because the back isn’t the same anymore. You know what? That’s perfectly fine. A small crossover SUV with a pleasantly designed interior is absolutely perfect for this target group and overall definitely a good option on the market. Expect the all-new HR-V to hit showrooms this month and hit every major parking lot coast-to-coast soon after.
Thomas is the nu rave, the maple syrup blender, chassis geeking, junk parts hauler, limp hair, auto writer since college. His current vehicle is a 2006 BMW 325i with a six-speed manual transmission. Instagram: @thomas.hundal Twitter: @thomashundal
You may have bought a car with a rally legend and Oh Boy – Tales From The SlackHonda’s smallest SUV is getting a much-needed redesign. As it’s scheduled to arrive at dealerships, Honda has released more details on the new 2023 HR-V, including pricing, engine specs and features. Now we know that the new version is significantly larger than before, gradually approaching the compact CR-V and becoming one of the biggest entrants in the sub-compact crossover segment. Starting at $24,895 and up to $30,195 for a loaded model, the new HR-V is also a little more expensive than before.
While the previous model has since shared its underpinnings with the Fit hatchback, the new HR-V rides on the same platform as the 11th generation Civic. Its wheelbase grows by 1.7 inches and is 9.4 inches longer than before, 2.3 inches shorter than the CR-V (a
