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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.
Ever since the current Suzuki Jimny was launched here five years ago, Zook enthusiasts have been nagging the company for a five-door version.
Well, the arrival of the five-door Jimny XL is proof positive that nagging works.
The XL is longer and heavier than the standard Jimny, but it has no mechanical or driver-assist tech advantages over its smaller stablemate.
So, is this juiced up Jimny worth your consideration?
Read on.
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.
The Suzuki Jimny XL is still very much a Jimny, just stretched.
It’s pretty ordinary on-road, it’s on the wrong side of small – especially in terms of its cargo-carrying ability – and it’s still an exercise in driver-adaptability because it’s so basic, bouncy and requires so much effort to keep it driving in a straight line.
But if you’re willing to fully embrace the fun and cop a few of those compromises along the way, you won’t be disappointed.
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.
The standard Suzuki Jimny is 3965mm long, 1645mm wide, 1725mm high and has a kerb weight of 1185kg.
The Jimny XL is 340mm longer than the three-door Jimny (so it’s 3985mm from end to end if you need help with your maths) and its wheelbase is 2590mm (up from 2250mm), but it remains the same width and height, 1645mm and 1720mm, respectively, as the three-door Jimny.
In terms of appearance, it looks like what it is: a stretched and heavier Jimny with a couple of extra doors. It retains that distinctive retro-cool boxy shape of its smaller stablemate.
The interior is seemingly a homage to the basic but functional cabins of 4WDs of yesteryear.
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.
The Jimny interior is basic but comfortable, erring on the side of practical rather than anything that could ever be accused of being posh. And that spartan approach gels with the Jimny’s off-road orientation.
The cabin of the XL is the same as the smaller Jimny’s – cloth seats, hard, durable plastics – and it all feels as if you could hose it out if you got the urge, although I wouldn’t recommend that, of course.
Everything, including the controls, is really practical. The buttons and dials are big so you can find them and operate them even during particularly bouncy 4WDing.
The cabin is simply a very usable and user-friendly space.
One of the more important things to note in the XL is the fact that it is longer. There is a bit more room inside the cabin, in general, with plenty of head, shoulder and legroom in the two-seater rear pew.
In other good news, you get a tiny bit more space in the rear cargo area than you would in the three-door Jimny. Not a whole lot, but enough to give you some more flexibility in terms of what, and how much, you can pack back there.
With the second-row seats in use, boot space is listed as 211L. With the second row stowed away, there’s a claimed 332L of cargo space.
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!
The Suzuki Jimny is a four-seater wagon with a price-tag of $34,990, excluding on-road costs.
It’s available with a five-speed manual gearbox or four-speed auto transmission. We have the manual.
Standard equipment includes a 9.0-inch (up from 7.0 inch) touchscreen multimedia system (with wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto), AEB, adaptive cruise control (on auto variants), rear parking sensors, a rear-view camera, LED headlights and 15-inch alloys.
Exterior paint options include 'Arctic White Pearl', 'Chiffon Ivory Metallic' (plus optional Black Pearl roof), 'Bluish Black Pearl', 'Granite Grey Metallic', 'Sizzling Red Metallic' (plus optional Black Pearl roof), and 'Jungle Green'.
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 five-door Jimny has the same 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine as the three-door – and that produces 75kW at 6000rpm and 130Nm at 4000rpm.
The Jimny punts along simply because it is so small and light, even in XL form, but the engine is a little bit wheezy for this bigger Jimny.
It has a part-time four-wheel drive system with high- and low-range and off-road traction control.
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.
The Suzuki Jimny has an official combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 6.4L/100km.
I recorded 11.6L/100km on this test which seems a bit steep but, as always, I did a lot of high- and low-range 4WDing and, as mentioned earlier, I did have to sink the right boot in quite often to maintain momentum to get through the more challenging sections of terrain.
The five-door Jimny has a 40L fuel tank, so, going by my fuel figures, a full tank should give you a driving range of about 345km.
However, if you use the official fuel figures in your calculation, a full tank should give you a driving range of about 625km.
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 Jimny XL, though longer, and heavier than the three-door Jimny, is still so small, light and nimble that those characteristics are a help and a hindrance.
A help because the XL is easy to steer anywhere – city streets, shopping centre car parks and suburbia. And more importantly, it’s one of the easiest 4WDs to manoeuvre into a parking spot.
A hindrance because it is so small and light that it takes countless minor steering corrections while driving to keep the XL steering in a straight line. And that can be very tiring.
It’s also easily unsettled by irregular surfaces, strong wind and large passing trucks.
You’d think because the XL is 90kg heavier than the three-door Jimny it wouldn’t exhibit those characteristics quite so much, but while it’s marginally better at managing all of those challenges than the standard Jimny, it’s by small increments.
The Jimny XL feels underpowered and vulnerable, especially on highways. Hit 100km/h or so and it feels like the Zook shouldn’t be pushed any harder.
Ride is firm and jittery via a light narrow body on a ladder-frame chassis and coil springs.
However, the Jimny is fun and highly manoeuvrable off-road. Not because of any mechanical or off-road traction control systems, but because it's so small and light.
The Jimny has part-time 4WD (with high- and low-range 4WD) and an 'AllGrip Pro' system of driver-assist tech that includes hill descent control, hill hold assist and more – all adequate in terms of performance.
This is a real 4WD with a full ladder-frame chassis and rigid axles front and rear. It exists in a vehicular realm occupied by other purpose-built 4WDs such as the Ford Ranger Raptor, Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series and Land Rover Defender.
And because of its size, offering up plenty of visibility and with a wheel at each corner, the Jimny is, as mentioned, very easy to steer through rough terrain, because the driver knows exactly where the tyres are at any time.
The Jimny XL has decent off-road angles. Approach is listed as 36 degrees, departure is 47, ramp-over is 24, but this 4WD is not as naturally suited to off-roading as the three-door.
Ground clearance is 211mm and wading depth is unlisted but likely around 300mm.
In 4WD 'High' or 'Low', the Jimny simply keeps on trucking through rough terrain. It doesn't have a diff lock, but because it's so small and light it still manages quite nicely without one.
You have to use plenty of throttle, keeping the revs up and wheels spinning in order to get the most out of that traction control, but that's part of the fun.
However, for the exact reasons it is such a lively drive on-road and such an engaging drive off-road, the Jimny faces a few substantial challenges on tough terrain.
This 4WD demands its driver be fully dialled-into the experience, fully committed, and, while that’s a characteristic I really like, it will exhaust some people.
The Jimny requires constant micromanagement of the steering, transmission and the vehicle itself simply to keep it on track. And that can quickly become tiring, especially if you're not used to it.
Because it's so small and light, the Jimny can be unsettled by corrugations, shallow and deep, skipping around lightly as it attempts to maintain traction and momentum.
Also, while low-range 4WDing, any dramatic changes in the terrain or driving conditions – an abrupt wheel drop into a deep rut, or a shift in onboard load, or a wind gust while driving up a rocky hill – can create instantly tricky, even serious, issues for the Jimny to overcome.
As always, standard tyres (Bridgestone Dueler H/L 195/80 R15) are fine for sealed surfaces and some light-duty off-roading but if you’re planning to drive on anything more than well-maintained formed trails then invest in a set of decent all-terrains.
It has a full-sized spare wheel mounted on the rear door.
On a minor niggling note, there's a lot of in-cabin noise on any track surface, and a noticeable transmission whine.
In terms of weights and practicality for packing, gross vehicle mass (GVM) is listed as 1545kg, 110kg more than the three-door Jimny . But the vehicle weighs 90kg more than the three-door, so there’s that…
Payload is listed as 360kg. Towing capacity is 350kg (unbraked) and 1300kg (braked).
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 Suzuki Jimny XL does not have an ANCAP safety rating, because it has not been assessed yet.
As standard it has six airbags (dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting curtain), AEB, lane departure warning, a rear-view camera, hill descent control and more.
It has two ISOFIX child-seat attachment points in the back seat as well as two top tethers.
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 Suzuki Jimny has a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty.
Servicing is scheduled for every 12 months/15,000km.
Over five years you'll be in for a high of $589 and a low of $349 for an annual service, the average being $453 per service over that period. Not outrageous, but not exactly cheap.