The Mud Life - Issue #9

What is it? Being 2WD, the HR-V has never been on my radar in recent times, but parking next to one a few weeks ago, its sporty styling tweaks and 180bhp 1.5ltr VTEC engine caught my attention.

On the road Being quite enamoured by the looks of the HR-V Sport, did its good looks translate to on-road performance? I think so, yes.

Around town it feels perfectly docile, its new performance dampers doing a fine job at ironing out the holes. Find an empty B road and the HR-V Sport will bring a grin to your face.

The first thing you’ll notice is the super-slick manual 6-speed gearbox and how smooth it is to use, it makes for both a relaxing and fun-filled drive, depending on your mood.

The steering is worthy of a mention too as it feels precise and nicely weighted. (I’m dangerously close to sounding like a proper road-tester here!) The dampers that I mentioned earlier also keep the HR-V Sport in check around corners which in turn gives you quite a lot of confidence.

With a 0-60mph time of 7.8 seconds and a top speed of 134mph, it’s certainly no slouch, and the engine pulls strongly from around 2,500rpm to 5,500rpm. You can have quite a lot of fun in the HR-V Sport.

On a 200-ish mile trip to the Lakes driving at normal motorway speeds it was all quite civilised with decent road noise levels. Put your food down and the engine gives a rorty response, though not too loud to be hooligan, but just right I found.

Drinking wise, after the aforementioned trip it achieved 45.6mpg, which I thought was rather good.

Off road Unlike its predecessor, the current HR-V is only available in 2WD, and despite its ground clearance and stance I didn’t venture too far away from the beaten track.

Interior I’ve moaned about other vehicles like SEATs, Skoda and even Cupra on how bland they are, they’re just dull and don’t make you feel special, but jumping into the HR-V always made my smile.

It wasn’t necessarily the switchgear and general layout that made me happy, which incidentally is good, rather the red wine coloured leather trim. The front seats deserve a special mention for comfort and excellent lateral support, though they could do with being a bit longer in the leg, but liveable.

I also like the speedo for being quite fancy, it reminded me of my old Lexus LS400 which had a ‘floating’ dash. Overall it gave me a wry grin as I hurtled home after a particular stressful day at school.

My only problem I had was that no matter what I tried I couldn’t get it to connect to my iPhone 6s which I suspect was a software glitch.

Standard equipment on the Sport includes Intelligent Speed Limiter, cruise control, reversing camera, Traffic Sign Recognition System, LED headlights and Heated Front Seats and door mirrors.

Conclusion

I really liked the HR-V Sport, it’s a lovely car to drive both around town and on the open road. Faults are so minor they’re verging on the irrelevant, like when you close the doors they feel and sound a bit flimsy, but I could live with that.