by Kelly Fisher
There’s a launch review of the Honda HRV that goes into great detail on the pros and cons of the Honda HRV. You can read all those details there. What I’d like to talk about is what the HRV is like to live with. We had it for a week and we used it for various family trips, work trips and everything in-between. Here are my three takeouts.
- That CVT takes some getting used to
Over the space of one week, I just could not get used to the drone of the CVT ‘box. I am not one to scoff at a self-shifting transmission. I’ve long gone over to the dark side and lauded the benefits of an automatic. And I don’t even hate CVTs. I just dislike this one. It always sounds as though it’s working far too hard and we genuinely had to speak louder to hear each other over the drone under acceleration. That being said, it’s not a deal breaker and owners who live with it for a lot longer than one week will most likely get used to it.
- It turns heads
This one came as a bit of a surprise, although I suppose it shouldn’t have. The HRV makes use of Honda’s new design language and quite honestly I like it. The refreshed look makes this HRV stand out in a way that Honda’s have struggled to do recently. The sharpness of the lines, the sleekness of the overall look – it all comes together to create a good-looking medium-sized SUV.
- It’s a great family car
We used this vehicle for all the family outings, the school trips and the shopping. For context, we are a family of five made up of mom, dad, an adult son and two teenage sons. Every single child is about as tall as their dad, who is around 1,8m tall. So, to say that we struggle to find a vehicle that fits us all comfortably is not an exaggeration. The HRV did so with ease and managed to swallow the shopping and various school paraphernalia easily too.
In a nutshell, the Honda HRV will please those Honda-loving families out there who have perhaps struggled to find something in the stable that they would like to upgrade into. The biggest problem for the HRV has little to do with the vehicle itself. It’s the market it finds itself in. It competes with the likes of the increasingly popular vehicles from China – the Haval H6 and the Chery Tiggo 7, as well as market-favourites such as the Kia Seltos and Volkswagen Taigo. It’s a tough decision to make when shopping in this segment. There are so many options – each one almost as good as the next.
My recommendation is that if you are looking to buy in this segment, set your price point and then test all the ones that fit that. From there, you can choose the one that impressed you the most. And if that ends up being the Honda HRV, with Honda’s strong aftersales and general overall reliability, I doubt you will regret it down the line.
