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Honda Australia has gone through a bit of a transformation in recent years, shedding its top-10 sales ambitions for a new approach that focuses on slimming down the range with high-spec grades.
The first new-gen model to launch with that approach was last year’s Civic, but it’s the latest launch, the HR-V, which might make or break Honda’s new strategy.
And that’s because the HR-V is a small SUV – playing a space dominated by Toyota, Mazda and Kia – that also offers up a so-hot-right-now hybrid powertrain for the first time in Australia.
No doubt, the HR-V will prove more popular than the Civic in sales as the market shifts preferences, but is it any good?
This is all you need to know about the 2022 Honda HR-V.
The great downpour of electric vehicles hasn't hit Australia yet, but vehicles such as Peugeot’s 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is one of the big drops signalling that storm is about break. But should you wait until the EV ‘rain’ sets in or be an early adopter?
The range-topping 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is Peugeot’s first electric SUV to arrive in Australia. Electric in that it has electric motors, but also a petrol engine, making it a hybrid – the type you plug into a charger to fill the battery back up.
Peugeot gave me a 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid to test over three days and I quickly discovered what this mid-sized SUV was good at, and where it could be better.
You could look at the 2022 HR-V and think that Honda has taken a step back.
After all, there’s less space in the boot, there’s one less seat and the prices have – at first glance – gone up.
In reality though, the HR-V, especially in this e:HEV L form, offers up a genuine rival to Toyotas, Mazdas and Kias that dominate the small SUV space.
The 2022 HR-V is a properly handsome car, the hybrid powertrain is miserly on fuel, and the handling characteristics are honestly pretty fantastic.
Technology is supposed to make life better and easier, but I’m afraid this hybrid version of the 3008 falls short on that score due to its slow charging and limited range. Nor does this hybrid version make a great driving, practical and good looking SUV much better.
Then there's the price. A list price of $80K is too much, relative to class rivals and the petrol equivalent 3008.
For this money you could buy a Volvo XC40 Recharge Pure Electric, Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Tesla Model 3. All charge at (relatively) lightening-quick rates and deliver about 400km of range. And none of them require petrol, because they are fully electric.
The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid needs charging pretty much every moment it’s not being driven in order to make sure all of that 60km of range doesn’t run dry.
That’s a lot to ask from people in Australia who don’t blink at driving 500km for a family holiday, in a country which has far fewer charging locations than Europe.
If you close your eyes for a second and think of the best-looking Hondas of all time, I bet the likes of the first-generation NSX, S2000 and two-door Integra come to mind.
And while this new HR-V design doesn’t quite match the heights of Honda in the 90s, it’s certainly a significant step in the right direction compared to the car it replaces.
Gone is the slightly derivative styling and pudgy proportions, replaced with a much more taut, muscular and confident body.
The new grille design is of particular note, as it melds the intakes with the bumper and, when combined with the sleek headlights, makes the HR-V look like it could be from the future.
From the side, the new HR-V retains the hidden door handles of its predecessor, which pays homage to the three-door SUV shape available in the first-generation car.
The long bonnet, short overhangs and sloping window line also give this Honda a particularly athletic appearance, while the 18-inch wheels are also just about big enough to fill the arches, and feature an interesting enough design.
The rear end is dominated by the latest automotive design trend of connected tail-lights, but the relatively flat bootlid and clean aesthetic give the HR-V a really modern look.
The bootlid spoiler is also a nice touch, while this car’s contrasting kick plate adds to the illusion of its off-road credentials.
Inside, the HR-V also adopts a cleaner aesthetic – much like its Civic sibling – centred on a large 9.0-inch central touchscreen multimedia system, which thankfully features a physical volume control knob.
There are some cool design touches here too, like air vent switches with settings for open, close and diffusion, and touch-operated roof lights.
The best part of the interior, however, is fit, finish and feel. All the touch points are soft and there’s just a solid weight to everything. It’s probably no coincidence that all new Australian HR-Vs are now sourced from Japan.
To us, the new HR-V is a stunner. The styling is more mature and confident than before, and between this and the new-gen Civic, Honda’s design department seems to have rediscovered its mojo.
There’s never been a Peugeot that hasn’t been interesting in its design. That’s a big part of their appeal and the 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is intriguingly good looking inside and out.
Look at the grille with its chrome studs filling that monstrous grin like glistening teeth. And see how the headlights blend into the jagged design and notice the eyebrow-like ridges above them which extend into the bonnet towards the windscreen.
It’s a tough-but-pretty design that’s carried on down the side panels as they curve and crease towards the tailgate with its striking LED tail-lights.
The cabin is stunning with its black leather upholstery, metallic and faux wood trim, and Peugeot oddities such as the small angular steering wheel, the elongated gear shifter and high-placed instrument cluster.
From the outside, aside from the styling, the 2022 Honda HR-V doesn’t seem like its changed all that much – it’s still a practical five-door small SUV, right?
And from the front seat, the new HR-V paints a very familiar picture.
There is plenty of room for the driver and front passenger, the seats have plenty of adjustability, and there’s storage for your water bottle, wallet and phone.
There’s even an underarm storage cubby that’s deep enough for you to lose some spare change or throw a charging cable or two into.
However, from the second row, the story really starts to change – especially compared with the outgoing model.
Whereas the old HR-V was classed as a five-seater, the 2022 version has seating for only four.
This is due to the middle ‘seat’ fouling Australia’s unique design rules for what can be classified as a seat, and does not have a seat belt.
How much would you’d actually use the middle seat if there was a seat belt there? That’s for you to decide, but it’s certainly a deal-breaker for some families.
Regardless, the two outboard seats offer heaps of leg- and shoulder-room, and our head can just about squeeze in comfortably without hitting the roof.
It’s certainly comfortable enough, and there’s a bottle holder in the door and air vents here to keep you comfortable, while the lack of centre seat means second-row passengers can have a full-time armrest with extra cupholders.
There’s also USB ports and backseat map pockets with a handy phone sling, so you don’t have to go reaching all the way down to get your mobile.
One saving grace for the rear seats, however, is the inclusion of Honda’s versatile ‘Magic Seats’, which allows you to fold the base of the rear seats up to accommodate taller objects like house plants.
The rear seats can also fold flat, creating a 1274 litre boot space, which measures just 304L with the rear seats upright.
This makes the 2022 HR-V’s boot smaller than the outgoing model, which could accommodate about 100-130 litres more, and even smaller than rivals like the Toyota C-HR and Mazda CX-30.
In fact, so small is the new HR-V’s boot, it’s even smaller than the Jazz light hatchback that was discontinued in 2020 – so don’t expect to see this small HR-V hauling timber from Bunnings or flat-packed furniture from Ikea.
I think we can all agree leather trousers look tremendous, but aren’t very practical. And there are some SUVs where form is favoured over function, too. But not this one... in most cases.
The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is spacious for a mid-sized SUV with great cabin storage and a big boot.
Up front there are huge door pockets that are more like buckets, a large split opening centre console storage box and two cupholders.
The second row has smaller door pockets and two cupholders in the fold-down armrest.
The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid’s boot is big compared to its rivals at 591 litres with the second row up, and 1670 litres with the rear seat folded.
For people space, there’s more than enough room for me at 191cm to sit behind my driving position.
For charging there are USB ports and a 12V power outlet.
You might be shocked to see the new-generation HR-V kicks off with the Vi X grade for $36,700 driveaway, while this top-spec e:HEV L is positioned at $45,000.
With the previous-generation car kicking off from $31,300 and topping out at $41,000, it would seem like the new HR-V has jumped up quite substantially in price, right?
Well, Honda Australia’s new strategy is to slim down the range, and offer a few, highly-specified grades that it knows are more popular than others, hence the number of options for the HR-V going from five to just two.
Also keep in mind that these are driveaway, no-more-to-pay prices, whereas its rivals, like the Toyota C-HR, Mazda CX-30 and Kia Niro that all start at around $30,000, are quoted before on-road costs.
Once you do the math, you’ll find the cost of all these small SUVs to be surprisingly close.
Honda Australia has tried to offset the increased pricing with a boat load of equipment though, with standard features that include automatic headlights, 18-inch alloy wheels, fabric interior, LED daytime running lights, rear privacy glass, push-button start and a 7.0-inch drive display.
Handling multimedia duties is a 9.0-inch touchscreen that allows for wireless Apple CarPlay. Unfortunately, for Android users, you’ll need a cable to make use of Android Auto.
The multimedia set-up in the base car also features satellite navigation, but there are only four speakers throughout the cabin.
Stepping up to the more expensive e:HEV L nets buyers a powered tailgate, heated steering wheel, leather-accented cabin, automatic wipers, heated front seats, dual-zone climate control, active cornering lights and an extra two speakers to better pump the tunes.
Of course, it’s the hybrid powertrain that makes the top-spec HR-V jump up so much in price, but we’ll go into more detail about this in the powertrain section of this review.
While the equipment list is long and extensive for the Vi X, there are some notable omissions on the top-spec e:HEV L that make its $45,000 pricetag a bit harder to swallow.
Namely, where are the cooled seats, wireless smartphone charger, head-up display, sunroof and electronic seat adjustment?
Browsing the optional extras, at least one of these things can be added in, but the wireless phone-charger kit will add another $640 to the pricetag. Come on, Honda!
Peugeot offers the plug-in hybrid version of its 3008 exclusively in the top-of-the-range GT Sport grade for a list price of $79,990. That makes it the most expensive Peugeot offered in Australia.
This hybrid is $20,000 more than the petrol version, in the same GT Sport grade, with identical standard features.
Electric cars are currently more costly to produce than their petrol counterparts, but expecting consumers to fork out $20K is hard to justify. Particularly when prestige rivals to the 3008 Plug-in Hybrid cost less. The Volvo XC40 Recharge Plug-in lists for $66,990.
But if you're determined to own the GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid you’ll be treated to the full banquet of 3008 features.
Coming standard is a 10.0-inch media display, a 12.4-inch digital instrument cluster, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, digital radio, sat nav, a 10-speaker Focal stereo*, dual-zone climate control, power adjustable and heated front seats, and Nappa leather upholstery.
*UPDATE: Peugeot advised on 5 May 2022 that Australian-spec MY22 models will temporarily omit the Focal premium audio system due to a manufacturing irregularity. See your Peugeot dealer to confirm when this feature will return.
There’s also a panoramic sunroof, 19-inch alloy wheels, aluminium roof rails, LED headlights and running lights, adaptive cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, auto parking, proximity key, and tinted rear windows.
Under the bonnet of the HR-V e:HEV L you’ll find a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, but Honda has also thrown in two electric motors to make this car a hybrid.
In total, there is 96kW of power and 253Nm of torque available, making it competitive against its rivals for potency, but the bigger benefit of this hybrid set-up is in its lower fuel consumption figure.
Meanwhile, the Vi X forgoes the electric motors and is powered exclusively by a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine.
The entry-level HR-V manages to muster up 89kW of power and 145Nm of torque – and if that sounds a little underpowered, it’s because it is.
Compared to rivals like the Toyota C-HR and Mazda CX-30, the cheapest HR-V is well down on power and torque as all its competitors make use of larger engines or a turbocharger for a bit more grunt.
Whichever HR-V engine you end up with, both are paired to a continuously variable transmission that sends drive to the front wheels.
The all-wheel drive (AWD) 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is powered by a 81kW/320Nm electric motor on the front axle, an 83kW/166Nm motor on the rear axle, and a 147kW/300Nm 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine driving the front wheels.
The total combined output is 222kW/520Nm, which makes it one of the most powerful mid-sized SUVs for the price. Acceleration is impressively quick with 0-100km/h coming in just 5.9 seconds.
Officially this HR-V e:HEV L will return a fuel consumption figure of just 4.3 litres per 100km, helped by its petrol-electric hybrid powertrain.
This figure not only beats out the petrol-only Mazda CX-30 line-up, but also matches the Toyota C-HR Hybrid for frugality.
In our time with the HR-V e:HEV L, we actually managed to match the 4.3L/100km claim with a healthy mix of inner-city and freeway driving.
Very rarely do fuel consumption claims translate to a real-world setting, so it's heartening to see that the Honda HR-V living up to what’s promised on the box.
The petrol-only Vi X meanwhile, wears an official fuel consumption figure of 5.8L/100km, but having not yet driven that car, we cannot comment on the accuracy of that claim.
This sounds obvious but plug-in hybrids need to be plugged into a charger. And I mean they need to be charged every time you’ve finished driving for the day.
Otherwise, you’ll run out of charge and your fuel use will rocket past that of a petrol-powered 3008 due to the extra weight in batteries and motors you’re lugging around.
The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid has an electric range of 60km, although I went through the entire charge in less than 50km. Then I had to hunt down a fast charger and discovered it would take about four hours to stuff the batteries full of power again.
The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is extremely slow to fill up due to a small 3.7kW onboard charger. If the inverter unit was larger (as in BEVs like the Tesla Model X or Hyundai Ioniq 5) charging time would be much faster.
Charging overnight each day you use the 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is the scenario you’ll have to adopt if you want to get the most out of this SUV.
I found that after starting with a full charge and driving it for a day of mainly urban usage the trip computer was reporting an average consumption of 1.4L/100km.
If you plan on adding motorways and open roads into the mix Peugeot says you can expect to use 1.6L/100km.
That’s outstanding fuel economy, but let the charge run out and you’ll start seeing 9.5L/100km, and higher, as I did.
In that scenario the petrol engine needs to lug 1.8 tonnes around, a decent chunk of which is heavy batteries and motors, which aren’t doing anything.
If you don’t have access to power at home to charge a car, then you’d be better off with the type of hybrid which charges through the engine and regenerative braking, such as a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.
The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid has received such a low score here because of its extremely slow charging time and limited range.
A larger inverter would solve this issue. It's possible consumers will end up using a lot more fuel than the pure petrol variant unless they are vigilant in always charging this car (nearly) every time it is not being driven.
How do you think a small SUV should drive on the road? To us, I want something that is easy to use with great visibility and a minimal number of rattles and squeaks.
And this Honda HR-V absolutely delivers.
Let’s start with the powertrain. On paper this HR-V e:HEV L’s outputs are nothing to write home about, but out in the real world, there is plenty of gusto to come off the line briskly.
Don’t get us wrong, it’s not going to blow away hot hatches or even most turbocharged cars, but accelerating up to 60km/h isn’t an exercise in testing your patience.
The powertrain is also a smart one, able to switch EV, hybrid and engine mode depending on what is required in any given situation.
The switchover from EV to petrol power is also smooth and seamless, there’s no jerkiness or clunkiness here, it all just works exactly how, and when, you want it to.
In fact, if you had your music pumping at head-bobbing levels, we’d wager you wouldn’t even know whether the petrol engine or electric motors were at work, save for the ‘EV’ indicator light on the instrumentation.
The CVT in this HR-V also does a fairly decent job, and for the most part fades into background of the driving experience – which is a good thing.
When flat-footing it, the HR-V does get a bit revvy and harsh, but for the most part, and especially during inner-city journeys, this car is a delight.
The steering is also very nicely weighted, and there’s a connection between the wheel and what’s happening underneath that’s rare to see in this class of car.
It means the HR-V is genuinely fun to pilot, whether ducking into an on-street park or navigating a series of S bends on a country road. What a pleasant surprise!
The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is an excellent SUV to drive. The ride is composed, the body feels nicely controlled and the handling is good.
Add great acceleration, thanks to the torquey motors, and this SUV is well above average when it comes to the driving experience.
Any downsides? There always are. Visibility is compromised by thick, long A-pillars and the steering wheel’s odd shape and tiny size are a letdown. So too is not charging regularly, causing this SUV to suddenly have to lug its 1.8-tonne weight around under petrol power alone.
Each third-generation HR-V comes fitted as standard with Honda’s Sensing suite of driver-assist technologies.
This means advanced driver assist technologies like autonomous emergency braking, forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control, a reversing camera, traffic sign recognition and lane departure warning are included.
However, buyers will need to step up to the e:HEV L grade for rear cross-traffic alert and blind-spot monitoring – two features that should really be included across the range, especially because some rivals, like the Mazda CX-30 and Toyota CH-R include them as standard.
At the time of filming, Honda’s new HR-V is yet to be tested by ANCAP, but Euro NCAP has handed it a four-star crash-test rating.
While scoring a respectable 82 per cent in the adult occupant protection test, the HR-V scored less in the child occupant, vulnerable road user and safety assist categories.
While a four-star rating certainly doesn’t make the new HR-V unsafe for you and your family, it lags behind the five-star safety of rivals, such as the Mazda CX-30 and Toyota C-HR.
The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid comes with all the safety tech in the 3008's arsenal.
There’s auto emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane keeping technology, blind-spot monitoring, a camera system, and front and rear parking sensors.
There are some gaps though. No rear cross-traffic alert or reverse AEB. These things are now common on new cars.
For child seats there are three top tether anchor points across the second row along with two ISOFIX mounts.
The Peugeot 3008 was given the maximum five-star ANCAP rating in 2017, but in the past five years safety tech has come a long way and this SUV has fallen behind.
Please be aware, too, that the plug-in hybrid version has yet to be given a ANCAP score.
Like all new Hondas sold in Australia in 2022, the HR-V comes with a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.
Scheduled service intervals are every 12 months or 10,000km, whichever occurs first, which is a bit less mileage than the industry standard of 12 months/15,000km.
However, all of Honda’s vehicles now fall under its ‘5 Low Price Services’ scheme, which means each service for the first five years will only cost $125.
This means that the first five years of ownership should only set buyers back $625 – and this price applies to the hybrid and non-hybrid engine of the HR-V.
What’s even better, however, is that this makes the 2022 HR-V cheaper to maintain than the CX-30, C-HR and Niro.
The 3008 GT Sport Plug-in Hybrid is covered by Peugeot’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. The battery is also covered by an eight year warranty.
Servicing is recommended annually or every 20,000km. Service prices are capped, and you can expect to pay $3108 over the course of five years, for an annual average of $622.