Yahoo Autos 2023 Honda HR-V First Drive Review: Competitively contradictory
STEVENSON, Wash. — When the Honda HR-V arrived on the scene, you only needed one hand to count its subcompact SUV competitors. In fact, it helped establish the idea of the subcompact SUV in the first place. Since then, the number of competitors has swelled so much that it spawned a new subset of “midcompact” choices sized in between subcompacts like the HR-V and compacts like the CR-V. These include the Kia Seltos, Mazda CX-30, Volkswagen Taos and now the second-generation 2023 Honda HR-V.
Its length swells from 170.4 to 179.8 inches. That’s enough to eclipse all those midcompacts while still staying clear of the CR-V and other compacts. It’s also a considerable 2.6 inches wider. These aren’t incremental gains – they’re indicative of a vehicle moving up a class. When you look at the first and second generations together in profile, it’s obvious how much of a change has occurred.
When you look at the interior dimensions, however, things get weird. That’s because the vehicle it replaces was weird. The previous-generation HR-V shared the Honda Fit’s unique packaging, which located the gas tank under the front seats, thereby lowering the rear floor. That increased cargo space and versatility, and created a tall, chair-like rear seating position. Basically, you’d have plentiful legroom even though you’d be sitting awfully close to the front seats. That’s no longer the case. The specs may say the old HR-V had more legroom than the new one (and than a RAV4, for goodness’ sake), but that’s deceptive. The new HR-V, with its longer wheelbase, has a back seat that feels larger and that offers class-competitive legroom at 37.7 inches. The seat is lower to the ground, though, meaning you have less under-thigh support.
The weirdness continues in the cargo area. The specs say the volume is effectively the same at 24.4 cubic-feet, but this time, the real-world nod goes to the old HR-V (above, left). Yes, the cargo area is wider now, but the higher floor and a more sloped roofline are likely to reduce overall usefulness. Some clever engineering, at least, allows the new HR-V’s back seat to fold flat still (an extra set of hinges moves the seat bottom forward and down into the footwell).
Basically, to wrap this up, the 2023 HR-V is a more conventional crossover SUV that may not squeeze as much interior space and versatility out of its footprint as its predecessor, but it’s actually one of the more spacious in its midcompact segment. And by no longer sharing its underpinnings with the Fit, the new HR-V is moving up in the world in other ways.
Its multi-link rear suspension is effectively borrowed from the current Honda CR-V as opposed to the more rudimentary torsion beam rear of the old HR-V/Fit. This improves the ride, settles down the back end while cornering and provides a more substantial, sophisticated driving feel. Increasing the amount of interior sound deadening makes a big difference on that front as well, putting interior noise levels on par with the current CR-V. That’s not the quietest car on the planet, however, and neither is this HR-V.
Much of the front suspension and steering is brought over from the new Honda Civic, along with numerous other elements. Key dimensions are curiously similar as well, including length, legroom and hatchback cargo space. To say that the new HR-V is “based on the Civic,” as I admittedly do in the accompanying video, is not entirely accurate. While it certainly shares components, there’s just as much of the current CR-V in there, and there’s definitely less of a similarity with the Fit than the outgoing HR-V had. Why does this matter? It probably doesn’t, but the Civic connection at least speaks to the HR-V more clearly aligning with Honda’s time-honored compact car. Much as the Mazda CX-30 is the taller, SUV-ish version of the Mazda 3, so too is the HR-V now the taller, SUV-ish version of the Civic.
