2018 Honda HR-V VTi-L

By Alex Forrest

Honda’s HR-V remains a spacious, well-featured small SUV from a brand consumers continue to associate with reliability and even a little aspiration. 

The HR-V still provides solid competition to the leaders in the fizzing small SUV market segment. In Western Australia, the top three are, in descending order, the Mitsubishi ASX, Mazda CX-3 and the Hyundai Kona. 

However, the HR-V remains behind these sales leaders. Reasons could be that it is slightly more expensive than the competition, and more conservative looking than the Kona or the CX-3. 

Where the HR-V does very well, especially in the higher spec VTi-L variants, is in the quality and practicality of its interior. The VTi-L models get leather seats and polished black plastic inserts which look better than that sounds. 

The HR-V’s practicality is class-leading because of both the size of the boot and the flexibility of the seat folding options. Honda calls this its “Magic Seats”. 

While not truly magical, such as being able to disappear as required or accurately predict lotto numbers, they are still intelligently designed to make the best use of the space available. 

It’s also worth noting that no HR-V is available with all-wheel drive – they are all front wheel drive.

Also, as part of a 2017 update, the HR-V now has sat nav as standard across the range. That can’t be had as a built-in feature in entry level versions of the ASX, Mazda CX-3 and Kona. 

This is something of a turnaround for Honda, which in several models has previously required drivers to bring their own sat nav in the form of a smartphone. 

Up front, the interior centre console, with its two parallel bars, is a dominant feature and it works well both stylistically and practically. The switchgear is angled slightly towards the driver. 

Also, with the driver’s seat adjusted for a 190cm tall driver, there was still ample legroom immediately behind it. You certainly can’t say that about all small SUVs.        

Pricing for the HR-V starts at $26,490 drive away, though for the $38,230 ask of the one we tested, you could also get a larger CR-V VTi-S. 

Specifications