2001 Honda HR-V Pricing and Specs

This car was not universally panned for its poor ride quality, but comfort is a very subjective thing and if you’re felling the bumps, then you’re feeling them. And you’re not alone, because many owners of SUVs have experienced the very same thing.

By raising the ride height of a hatchback to create an SUV or cross-over, manufacturers suddenly find themselves with a vehicle that has a higher centre of gravity. That means that the car tends to roll more heavily in corners. The solution to keeping the car a tidy handler is to make the springs (suspension) stiffer and, therefore, reduce the amount of body-roll that is felt. But that’s often at the expense of ride quality. And that’s probably what you’re feeling in your Honda.

You can change the springs for a softer set, but you’ll be dramatically changing the car’s dynamic responses and could even find this change throws up all sorts of ABS and ESP anomalies as well as making the car technically unroadworthy. But all is not lost.

The other thing that has a dramatic affect on a car’s ride quality is the wheel and tyre package fitted. As manufacturers charge more for each hike in trim level, they also tend to fit tyres that are wider and have a smaller sidewall profile, for a sportier appearance. But here’s the problem: The smaller the tyre’s sidewall (it’s profile) the fewer bumps that tyre can absorb before it passes that bump on to the suspension and, ultimately, into the base of your seat. I’m tipping your car is an up-spec HR-V with 18-inch wheels and tyres and these, in fact, are the cause of the choppy ride you dislike so much.

The solution might be to fit the 17 or even 16-inch wheels and tyres from a lower-spec HR-V. You might find a Honda dealer who will swap your wheels and tyres for another set or even another HR-V owner who wants to upgrade to your 18-inch tyres in exchange for their 16-inchers. Opting for a smaller tyre with a higher sidewall is where we’d always start when attempting to improve a vehicle’s ride quality. 

Inertia-reel seat-belts have saved lots of lives by ensuring that they’re always adjusted correctly on whoever is wearing them. They work by being able to mechanically detect sharp forces (such as would be expected in a crash) and locking instantly, limiting the movement of bodies in the process. In the meantime, they offer a huge degree of convenience by allowing you to move around in your seat without being squeezed by the belt.

But they can suffer problems with the inertia mechanism which can jam and lead to the problem you currently have. This is often because the car is parked on an angle, causing the mechanism to `think’ that the car has pitched violently and locking the belt as a precaution, even though it’s standing still. So test the seat-belt with the car sitting on flat ground. To be honest, inertia-reel belts are more likely to refuse to unravel to allow you to fasten them than they are to fail to wind-in or retract, so maybe there’s a small manufacturing flaw in the belt in question.

The good news is that your car is still under its factory warranty, so a trip to a Honda dealership should be able to sort the problem quickly and simply and at zero cost to you. The quickest, safest fix would be to simply replace the whole seat-belt unit and that’s probably what a dealer will do.

ZS pros include cheap pricing, an easy driving experience and a comparatively spacious interior compared to other direct rivals like a Mazda CX-3. The dash is pleasant, there is a decent amount of equipment and the controls are all simple to use. It should also be fairly inexpensive to run and service, though earlier ZSs like yours require six-monthly rather than 12-monthly service intervals.

There are two engine options - a 1.5-litre four-cylinder model with a four-speed auto on the base Excite, or a 1.0-litre turbo three-cylinder version on higher-specification Excite Plus and Essence grades with a six-speed auto. Note that the latter powertrain is more expensive to service.

Plus, there's still a fair chunk of the manufacturer's warranty left, which is seven years, while capped-price servicing is also offered.

But the ZS does not offer AEB Autonomous Emergency Braking, so only rates a four-star ANCAP crash-test rating.

Additionally, the ZS's suspension is on the firm side in terms of dealing with road bumps, which might upset some occupants, yet there is not much of the 'fun factor' in regards to steering and handling finesse that rivals like the CX-3, Suzuki Vitara, Honda HR-V, Hyundai Venue, Holden Trax, Ford EcoSport and Hyundai Kona offer in spades.

We've also heard complaints about the interior's perceived quality being sub-par, cabin storage isn't generous and Android Auto isn't supported (though Apple CarPlay is).

Finally, the ZS' resale value trails all of the aforementioned competitors by a significant margin, meaning it's on track to be worth less when the time comes to on-sell it.