A few weeks ago, Honda revealed full UK specifications for the Honda HR-V, and now it has been announced that you can buy the car online from a virtual showroom. Allowing, says Honda, you to explore the new SUV from the comfort of your home.
You can take a 360-degree digital tour of the car in three different themes, called Seamlessly Connected, Ultra Responsive and Cleverly Packaged. Each theme highlights features of the car that are ideal for urban, rural or family buyers, says the company, and you'll be able to experience a close-up look of both the interior and exterior of the car through various "content hotspots" (video and image galleries).
The showroom is an opportunity to see the car before it arrives in brick-and-mortar showrooms at the end of the year.
Rebecca Adamson, Head of Automobile, Honda UK commented: “Our brand-new HR-V is a truly unique car. It offers a perfect blend of sports coupe-style SUV looks, with a dynamic and efficient driving experience through a clever e:HEV powertrain inspired by F1 technology.
"Like the product, we also wanted to take an innovative approach to its launch and make the car really accessible. In an age where there is an increasing trend of customers opting for online car-buying at their convenience, our aim is to tailor this journey to the demands of our customers with an up-close and personal experience through an immersive digital platform. The digital experience provides unrivalled access to our latest automotive launch and conveniently bridges the gap between our customers’ digital research stage and visiting a dealership for a test drive”.
If you like what you see in the virtual showroom, the Honda HR-V is on sale now and new owners can expect their cars to be delivered towards the end of 2021.
Prices start from £26,960 for an Elegance model which comes with kit like LED headlights and 18-inch alloy wheels on the outside, while inside you get heated seats and according to the press release “seamless smartphone connectivity” having experienced other Honda infotainment systems, we’ll believe that when we see it.
Advance models are the next step up and cost from £29,210. Standard equipment includes an electrically operated tailgate, heated steering wheel and a synthetic leather and fabric filled interior.
Next up is the £31,660 Advanced Style model, which gets a contrast paint job on the outside, orange details on the inside and a premium stereo.
Tom Gardner, Senior Vice President at Honda Motor Europe Ltd, said: “The launch of the all-new HR-V is a major milestone for Honda in Europe, setting new benchmarks for interior space, versatility and comfort in the compact SUV market. Available later this year, the next generation of hybrid-only HR-V will appeal to modern consumers, reflecting their active and connected lifestyles, with a desirable blend of efficiency and responsive performance."
The Honda will compete with cars like the Nissan Juke which starts from £18,840. The Juke comes as standard with LED headlights, a DAB radio, Cruise control, lane departure warning system and a traffic sign recognition system. The basic motor is a 114PS 1.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine that turns the front wheels through a six-speed gearbox to return fuel economy of up to 47.9mpg. It gets from 0-62mph in 107 seconds and has a top speed of 112mph.
Like the model that came before it, the Honda HR-V is a crossover personified – it blends coupe-like looks with a raised ride height that is 10mm taller than the old model and it has cleaner design than the car it replaces.
The full-body crease that stretches across its flanks, the raked A-pillars around the windscreen and the long Kangol-hat style bonnet adds dynamism and the rear door handles that are hidden in the C-Pillar make it look like a sportier three-door. The car is also 20mm lower than before despite its taller ride height and 18-inch alloy wheels.
The blunt front end adds an SUV flavour and the flush coloured grille gives a car the contemporary look and it's flanked by LED headlights (actually you get LEDs as standard all around including a light bar that stretches across the boot lid that helps make the car stand out at night).
Honda claims a number of aerodynamic improvements including a slit in the front bumper, a roof-mounted spoiler and slim rear lights that reduce turbulence and make the car more aerodynamic.
The 2021 Honda HR-V's interior has a simple design that makes it feel light and airy and you can choose to add a bit of colour in the form of orange stitching, orange herring bone seat upholstery and orange trims.
A 9-inch LCD centre touchscreen and 7-inch TFT instrument display stops the interior from looking too fussy. The larger screen controls most of the car's functions and is designed to be 50% quicker to navigate than the old H-RV's system (not hard to do, incidentally) and has somewhere to rest your fingers when you're operating it.
It comes with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto so you can mirror the screen of your smartphone, you can have a wireless hotspot to keep connected on the move and there are also four USB plugs.
Honda's avoided making the H-RV too infotainment heavy, though, so you still get traditional knobs and buttons for the things like the ventilation system and stereo.
The former adds to the Honda's feeling of airiness thanks to its diffuser style L-shaped vents on either side of the dashboard. They direct a stream of air up the side windows and into the roof creating a vortex that keeps the air around you fresh without directing the flow straight into your face.
So it's literally more airy, but the interior also feels lighter thanks to the H-RV's large windows and exterior wing mirrors which are now located further down the door so you don't get a blind spot where the doors and A pillar meet. You also sit 10mm higher than you did in the old car and the seats now feature a mat-structure which is apparently more supportive than old-school springs.
While the 2021 Honda HR-V is roughly the same size as the old model, rear-seat legroom has increased by 35mm and the back seat reclines an extra two degrees to improve comfort.
Flexibility is the name of the game, so the HR-V retains Honda's Magic Seats – which fold up like cinema chairs – so you can carry tall items in the car's footwell. They're the same seats that were dropped from the current Honda Civic.
The same seats also fold completely flat to give you a huge load bay capable of carrying two adults' mountain bikes upright with the front wheels removed. Honda has yet to release seat up or down litre capacities, however, the load opening is huge, there's no load lip and you get an electrically opening boot that closes automatically when it detects you (or the key on your person) walking away from the back of the car.
In terms of smaller storage spaces, you get a cubby between the front seats, pockets on all four doors and a storage compartment in the dashboard. The interior lights illuminate when you touch them and you can also have up to four USB plugs and a wireless charging pad. Finally, you can upgrade the sound system for a stereo with an external amplifier.
The 2021 Honda HR-V is powered by a version of the petrol-electric hybrid powertrain found in the new Honda Jazz, it produces 131PS and 253Nm of torque courtesy of the 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine and two electric motors hidden under the bonnet.
Honda has yet to release figures but, based on the Jazz, you can expect it to return fuel economy of more than 50mpg and get from 0-62mph in under 10 seconds.
It has three automatically selected driving modes, so when you pull off the car uses electricity only, at higher speeds it splits power between electric and petrol – the engine operating as a generator – while on the motorway when electric power is at its least efficient, only the engine runs.
The drive select has the usual options for Eco, Normal and Sport but you also get a drive mode B, which allows you to adjust the force of the regenerative brakes using a Deceleration Selector behind the steering wheel. You should be able to drive the car on one pedal when the regenerative brakes are on their most powerful setting.
The 2021 Honda HR-V gets the latest self-drive technology which falls under Honda's SENSING umbrella that includes a new forward-facing camera that means the car's automatic emergency brakes can detect other vehicles and cyclists during the day and at night.
As well as stopping the car in an emergency, the camera can apply the brakes when it detects a vehicle or cyclist crossing the Honda's path. The camera also clears the way for collision mitigating steering that can steer the car around an accident.
The adaptive cruise control has also been improved to perform overtakes more quickly and safely, as well as being able to deal with slow-moving queues of traffic.
You also get a blind-spot warning system that flashes so you know there is a car in your blind spot – it now has a 25m range to the old car's three meters – while the car's Cross Traffic Monitor will warn you if you attempt to reverse into the path of another. As a result, a five star NCAP safety rating seems highly likely.
With a new Honda HR-V inbound, heycar has some great deals on the old model. Prices start from around £9000 which is enough to get you a basic 2015 S model with less than 70,000 miles on the clock and plenty of life left in it, or spend £12,000 and get a 2018 version of the same model with less than 40,000 miles. At the other end of the scale, £27,000 is enough to get you a stylish 2020 Sport model with less than 10,000 miles.