Honda goes back to the future

How Honda must rue the day it decided to kill off the HR-V.

It was 2005 and the market for compact SUVs was pretty humdrum. Although reviews for the three-door crossover were pretty good, the HR-V wasn’t selling in big numbers so Honda put it to sleep.

Just one year later Nissan launched the Qashqai and the world went bananas for it.

It was soon joined by the Kia Sportage and Ford Kuga, then the Skoda Yeti, Mazda CX-5, Nissan Juke, and premium cars like the BMW X3 and Audi Q3.

Fast forward to 2016 and SUVs are one of the biggest sectors in the car market.

Honda hung in with its respected CR-V but it was missing out on the lucrative lower end of the market.

Better late than never, it dusted off the HR-V badge and applied it to a new car.

Pitched against the Nissan Juke, Renault Captur and Mazda CX-3, it sits on the same platform as the clever Jazz hatchback.

That gives it an immediate edge in practicality over its rivals, particularly the Juke, which suffers from poor rear space, and the Mazda which has a small boot.

It won’t take me long to run through the engine range. There’s one petrol and one diesel option.

The petrol unit is 1.5 litres and puts out 128bhp with a claimed 54.2mpg and emissions of 120g/km.

My test car came with the 1.6 litre diesel Honda expects to be the bigger seller in the UK.

With 118bhp it’s not overly endowed but it works well with what it’s got. Economy is excellent too. Even if you can’t reach the official quoted figure of 71mpg, you should still be able to touch 60mpg in real-world driving.

Emissions of 104g/km mean it will cost just £20 a year to road tax – as long as you buy one and get it registered before George Osborne’s new bandings come in next April.

Honda has ditched any pretence the HR-V is a go-anywhere vehicle and offers it in front wheel drive only. Given that hardly any of its rivals sell high numbers in 4x4 guise that seems sensible. So what’s it like to drive? On a dual carriageway run from Dundee to Perth it sat at 70mph in sixth with little more than a whisper of noise from engines and tyres.

Instead of coming back on the A90 I took the scenic Tay Coast route from Newburgh to Wormit.

It handles as well as any of its rivals, staying flat through bends with a little bit of body roll coming into play only under the tightest of cornering.

Buyers with families will be pleased with the HR-V. It has plenty of rear room and the boot is a generous 470 litres.

It also comes with Honda’s “magic seat” system.

As well as splitting and folding like normal cars, the seats’ bottoms can fold upwards allowing you to stow tall items like plants.

All models come with climate control, cruise control and automatic lights.

SE level adds auto wipers and parking sensors, while EX gets full leather and a reversing camera.

Price wise, it sits at the higher end of its sector. The Renault Captur and Nissan Juke are cheaper, but it costs roughly the same as a Mazda CX-3 or Jeep Renegade.

That means you’ll pay around £18,000 for entry level S models and about £25,000 for the flagship diesel EX model I drove.

Although some rivals are cheaper, the extra outlay buys you more practicality and a higher quality interior.

Running costs should be fairly low too, and Honda consistently places among the best manufacturers for reliability.

Honda.

Pictures: Better late to the party than never. The HR-V is a very fine addition to the crowded compact SUV market.

The HR-V costs from £18,000-25,000.