2023 Honda HR-V gets a new look, but performance still doesn’t dazzle

2023 Honda HR-V AWD EX-L vs. 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross XLE AWD: Tiny rivals.

This week: Honda HR-V.

Price: $30,590 as tested. $395 fancy green paint was the only option.

Conventional wisdom: Car and Driver likes the “newfound driving verve, comfortable seats, excellent outward visibility,” but not the “wimpy four-cylinder engine, joyless CVT transmission, slightly less cargo friendly than before.”

Marketer’s pitch: No real tagline.

Reality: A better little package from Honda? Well, it definitely looks nicer.

What’s new: The little HR-V gets a redesign for the 2023 model year. Marketing materials focus on the power, the interior and tech upgrades, and a better look.

Competition: Even more crowded than last week’s small SUV segment, the extra-small sect includes Buick Encore, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Hyundai Kona, Kia Seltos and Soul, Mazda CX-30, Subaru Crosstrek, and Volkswagen Taos.

Up to speed: The HR-V is not a bad little guy to take you places, provided you’re in no real hurry. The 158-horsepower 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine has gotten a serious boost in power over the 2016 debut model — more than 10%.

Yet somehow it’s slower than before. Motor Trend reports an early test with a stopwatch took 11 seconds to get to 60 mph, which would be 1.5 seconds slower than the previous model tested by Mr. Driver’s Seat.

Previously, the acceleration could be hit or miss, but Honda has cured that issue by making it all miss. The HR-V just took forever to build up momentum, pushing the noisy power train to the red line, and then the power would come just after I let off the accelerator.

The HR-V’s slowness is a detriment on small hills and for getting onto limited-access highways; usually, one function may be weak while another is strong, but no such luck here.

Shiftless: I’ve said horrible things about the continuously variable transmission (CVT) in the HR-V before, and I hoped to offer some hope with the redesign, but, alas, it is not to be. It feels like a rubber band not quite making contact with the wheels.

On the road: That said, the HR-V is surprisingly pleasant for tooling around the burbs and in town. I didn’t mind zipping on country roads or actually being on the highway; the HR-V conducts itself well. But not having the power for quick passing or maintaining speeds easily always stayed in the back of my mind.

The Sport mode in the transmission shifter made the vehicle a little quicker and made the turns slightly more sporty, but only by degrees.

Driver’s Seat: The HR-V is not a bad place to sit, at least in the EX-L version. Leather seats are firm but comfortable, and the gauges are Honda’s standard dials, with clear information available in a serviceable package.

The AC vents are tucked into a dashboard-width strip that looks straight out of the ‘70s, but it’s not a bad look. Overall, the interior package is much nicer than the Corolla Cross.

Friends and stuff: Rear-seat legroom, foot room, and headroom are all generous in the corners; the hump and console make the center seat less enjoyable.

A cubby under the central console is a nice touch, adding space for some extra things in the small SUV.

Cargo space is 24.4 cubic feet in the rear and 55.1 from the front seats to the back.

Play some tunes: I was hoping there might be an Odyssey-level sound system to take our minds off the acceleration woes, but no such luck. The upgraded HD stereo sound is not bad at all, maybe a B+ or A-, with crisp reproduction and decent sound.

Operation is not bad, with a dial for volume and a clear nine-inch touchscreen for everything else. The fine tuning can be a multistep process to access, depending on where you start the search.

Keeping warm and cool: Nice, big dials control temperature and fan speed while a button controls the air source.

Fuel economy: I averaged a fairly disappointing 25 mpg in a modest round of testing around Chester County.

Where it’s built: Celaya, Mexico.

How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the HR-V reliability to be a 3 out of 5.

Next week: How this HR-V compares with the Toyota Corolla Cross.