Autoblog Managing Editor Steven Ewing drives the 2016 Honda HR-V in Miami Beach, FL.
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STEVEN EWING: Hi. I'm Senior Editor, Steven Ewing. And I'm here driving around in beautiful Miami Beach, Florida, which being a tropical paradise and all, you might expect is sort of a great place to have a drive. But that's not actually the case. It's a lot of straight, flat roads, not a whole lot of turns, and you're stuck in traffic a whole lot of the time.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Because I'm not here to drive a sports car. I'm here to drive the new 2016 Honda HR-V crossover. The HR-V is Honda's smallest crossover. It slots below the CRV in the lineup. And it's sort of the entry level into what Honda calls their new light truck division.
This is a really popular and important class right now. And Honda has a product here that really checks all the right boxes for this segment. The target customer is sort of this young, urban-lifestyle person, who likes to hang out in the city, and then venture off into the country on the weekends. But Honda also says that this is gonna be really great for Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, the folks who want something a little higher off the ground to step up into than a sedan, and who like and appreciate the space of a compact crossover.
It's powered by a version of the 1.8-liter four-cylinder found in the Civic, with 141 horsepower and 127-pound feet of torque. You can get a 6-speed manual transmission, or the CVT that I have in this car. I've driven both. And while the manual is kind of fun, it doesn't feel as appropriate in the HR-V. It's a little slow off the line. You kinda have to rev it up in each gear. But the CVT keeps things right in the power band, so you've always got a good amount of power.
Despite the small size, it's actually really roomy in here. Honda's got the magic seat system in the rear that helps with lots of different cargo needs, and shapes and sizes. The interior's well-appointed. It's got a lot of onboard technology. It's small, so it's easy to park, easy to maneuver.
The steering is relatively light, but it doesn't feel twitchy or over-boosted. The suspension is pretty nicely tuned. It offers a smooth ride, but you don't really feel completely isolated from what's going on up the road. Really, it's sort of everything that you've known about the CR-V crossover, just in a smaller package.
This certainly isn't the most dynamic vehicle I've driven, but that's not the HR-V's mission. It's meant to be hustled around in cities, taken out into the country on weekends. And for those purposes, I think this thing is a total home run. For Autoblog, I'm Stephen Ewing.
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