Discovery lust discovered
First ride in the new Honda HR-V
The entry-level SUV segment, which experts also like to speak of the B-SUV segment, has been booming without any major interruptions since 2006. Analysts are still far from seeing the end of this trend. Understandably, the Japanese brand Honda wants to get involved in the course of its realignment and modernization of the vehicle range.
The new Civic, the sporty one Steam hammer Civic Type R, but also the City-speed jazz are fresh or will come to the showrooms of Honda dealers in a timely manner. According to in-house market research analyzes, especially younger vehicle buyers, singles, but also younger couples without children want a car for all purposes.
It should be spacious, but not bulky from the outside, sturdy, in appearance and a little sportiness would be great, in the end you ride as a modern man yes on the trendy health and fitness wave. Gladly the vehicle may show this too.
Combining all these features was the job of Honda engineers. And what looks almost like a paradox, Honda has pressed into beautiful metal, placed on the platform of the new Honda Jazz and missed this urban crossover the name "Honda HR-V".
Honda HR-V will not only ask car connoisseurs, this nomenclature has been in the Honda portfolio before. Right, from 1999 to 2005, there was a kind of high-edged angular station wagon, at a time when the word "SUV" was not really invented yet.
The new Honda HR-V is based on the big brother CR-V, which was refreshed at the beginning of the year and sold over all model generations over seven million times. Honda is not wrongly talking about a world car here!
Which place would be better suited for this new era than Lisbon? There are numerous institutions dedicated to the Portuguese navigator Vasco Da Gama. And just as he set out to explore the world earlier, we're launching Honda's new "Dynamic Cross Solid" SUV. From Vasco da Gama Square, past the architectural highlights of the waterfront, to match the modern lifestyle SUV, which is only available with front-wheel drive and therefore, like most SUVs, will seek home in the city. The new expressive Myriad by Sana Hotels, a visual highlight right on the sea, is behind us.
We drive the familiar from the model range diesel engine version with 120 PS, which already meets the new Euro 6 standard. The second engine offered for launch is an 1,5 liter -i-VTEC petrol engine with 130 PS. Both gasoline and diesel are available with six-speed manual transmission, which has been extensively revised for the new HR-V.
Exclusively the petrol engine is reserved also the modernized CVT transmission. A completely new CVT control logic was developed specifically for the European market to convey the direct and linear feel of a manual transmission.
This is achieved by a new and exclusively in Europe available control software, which simulates seven gears and offers an optimized allocation of the gear change. Two additional new programs offer situation-tuned improvements. We will soon discuss this with our gearbox version.
The manual 6 gearbox is easy to handle, the slightly too minimalistic gear knob would be even better in a thicker version in the hand. In the city, but also on our short stretch of highway to reach the picturesque west coast, the diesel detains itself pleasantly. At normal city speed and if you are not on the hunt to pole position, he even has the sound of a gasoline, so almost inaudible. This is not only due to the engine, but also to numerous insulating materials installed. The Honda technicians have not even stopped in front of the wheel arches and installed insulation material there as well.
The inmates should be able to comfortably reach their destination, or as Honda engineer Yamamoto says, "Humans are at the heart of Honda, not the machine!".
The interior shows European, it lacks the playfulness of the cockpit, which used to look like a tin with switches and buttons exploded and where they hit the dashboard in the pre-sound model, there they stayed. For some it was innovation, something special, for others it was a punishment for the eyes. We belong to the second category and therefore feel understood with the new dashboard layout and just good in the tidy interior.
Every button is where you suspect it, the instruments clearly readable, even glare-free despite the Portuguese sunlight. This is not the case with any non-European model. However, the arrangement of the three air vents on the passenger side seems to us to be a reminder of old days, which seems to stand under the credo "We do something different than the others". Practically yes, the three nozzles are individually controllable and controllable, but visually an affront to the eyes, as they visually can not close.
Honda's own invention of putting the fuel tank under the front seats creates room for the rear "Magic seats"That you already know from other models. Even the normal trunk volume of 453 liters is disproportionately large, for this class, but can be extended to up to 1.240 liters. Even a surfboard can be stored in the car, the annoying transport on the roof is eliminated.
Through numerous packages, the HR-V can be individually equipped and upgraded. Those who put people at the center of life are also worried about their safety most of the time. Honda is already equipping the new HR-V with the City Emergency Brake Assistant (CTBA) as standard. The system has been developed to avoid or reduce the consequences of low-speed accidents. Using laser radar technology, the assistant monitors the road ahead and automatically initiates braking when a collision threatens. The assistant works up to a maximum speed of 32 km / h. In the event of a collision, the system emits an audible and visual signal to warn the driver and initiates the braking process and, if necessary, fully automatic emergency braking.
We approach "Cabo da Roca", the westernmost point of mainland Europe. Where one used to cast last glances at Vasco da Gama before his fleet disappeared on the horizon. The HR-V is probably the other way around. He comes with his charming rugged look from September to the buyers of the SUV market that they can discover him rightly.
Text: Bernd Schweickard | © Photo: Bernd Schweickard