A SUBCOMPACT SUV THAT SURPRISED OUR FAMILY
My husband is “the” car person in our family. It’s part of why we got into sharing some car reviews here, which we are always thankful to have the opportunity to do so with Honda. Though there is a debate about the fact that if we were to one day win the lottery we’d need a 6 car garage for the classic cars I love… but that’s a whole other topic. This summer we were surprised by what the 2019 Honda HR-V Sport offers!
SPORTY BUT…
We realized quickly that the Sport model was sporty in mostly name and aesthetic appearance. Which is okay if you are wanting that sport look for a vehicle. It definitely adds visual appeal to the HR-V. The Sport model comes with black body trim and 18-inch alloy wheels, plus you have the option of the Orange Burst Metallic which our whole family loved on the test vehicle! The girls dubbed it the pumpkin mobile. You will also find it comes with the sports pedals, which are exclusive to this version.
For a sports model, we want to see more power! The Honda HR-V currently has 141 horsepower. Unfortunately, we could tell a couple of time that the vehicle felt a bit sluggish. My husband kept saying it needs a turbo to give it that extra something. Living in an area with hills, we noticed other vehicles rushing past as we were having to take our time up some hills.
The 2019 HR-V has a 50L fuel tank capacity and we were averaging 9L/100km which was a nice change to what we average in our older model Honda CRV. We always appreciate seeing improvements to fuel. Our piggy bank definitely notices the difference too!
Now despite being a bit sluggish to get up to speed, the Honda HR-V still surprised us with how much fun it was to drive. We all really enjoyed being in it. No one was uncomfortable, we all had plenty of room. Plus we really noticed the improvements to combat road noise inside the vehicle. Our kids also always request that we test-drive vehicles on the bumpiest road we know of in our area and this one wasn’t too shabby. It did a good job of handling the bumps with the suspension.
TECH INSIDE THE HR-V
We are often torn when it comes to tech inside vehicles, we either love it or hate it right away. The HR-V left us feeling lukewarm about it all. For a sports model, we’d rather not have so many touch screen options including having touch-sensitive “buttons” for changing things like the heat and fan speed. We’d rather see more knobs and actual buttons ina vehicle like this. All the tech actually makes us ponder what it would be like if it were to break down, what sort of cost are we looking at to repair it or even replace it in the future if it were needed?
It is really nice having the option to use Android Auto or Apple CarPlay in the vehicle. We both use Android devices so we are able to connect with Android Auto and play the music that we have on our own device or use our preferred map app. This is brilliant and changed the way we feel about the screen inside the vehicle. I do believe it’s still the older version of the Honda system, so we do hope to see this updated in 2020.
Having a camera pop up on the screen each time you turn right was something that wasn’t new to us with having seen it in the Clarity. There are also backup cameras. However, these need to be changed to ones with more clarity. We shouldn’t be having to second guess things due to how clear the visual is from the camera. If a camera is going in to add with safety, make it worthwhile!
OVERALL THOUGHTS ON THE 2019 HR-V
Considering this was our first time officially test driving an HR-V with Honda, we were surprised at how easily our family transitioned from our CR-V and into a smaller SUV. We weren’t sure if it would be able to keep up with our needs, but it did just fine. If anything it made me actually ponder this as a potential second vehicle if we were to ever get one in the future. In general, I have a personal preference for being higher in a vehicle which is why I love driving an SUV. I still have that in the HR-V, but I have better gas mileage. With today’s gas prices, that does make a big difference!
If you are pondering an HR-V definitely give it a look over and consider the different trim levels if a sporty appearance is a must for you. You’ll likely love this one. I may be so bold as to suggest you take a look at the Touring edition and check out what all it has to offer, as that would likely be the model I would go for out of all the HR-V options!
