2023 Honda HR-V Grows Up, Starts at $24,895

Can new styling and an upgraded engine make the Honda HR-V more desirable?
2023 Honda HR-V Sport

The outgoing Honda HR-V was a spacious, practical, clever, and affordable people mover but withered due to its sloppy ride quality, econobox interior, and coarse engine. For the new 2023 Honda HR-V unveiled Tuesday, they’ve read our letters and dressed up the HR-V with a little style and more interest.

To do both, Honda drastically updated the HR-V’s exterior and interior styling. This new design borrows some of its looks from the new Honda Civic, especially inside, and it works—the new HR-V’s design is a big improvement over the outgoing car’s design. There’s even a whiff of Honda Crosstour in the new HR-V when you look at it from the rear three-quarters.

The most dramatic changes happen inside the car, though. Previously, the HR-V’s cabin was a place you spent time because you had to—if it was your mode of transportation—not because you wanted to. This new HR-V’s cabin looks like one you might actually want to spend some time in, thanks to its Civic-inspired dashboard, larger infotainment screen (7-inch touch screen as-standard, optional 9-inch touch screen), and a gauge cluster that doesn’t look like it’s from 2005. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both standard, even on the 7-inch display.

Honda also made improvements to how it rides and drives, addressing the outgoing car’s penalty-box driving experience. The 2023 Honda HR-V is built on a new platform—Honda’s global architecture, the same one the underpins the new Civic although they don’t share similar dimensions—that gives it a longer wheelbase to help stabilize its ride. New fully independent rear suspension, with MacPherson front struts, should improve ride comfort, too.

A 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine replaces the outgoing 1.8-liter engine, and bumps power from 141 horsepower to 158 horsepower. Torque is up too, from 127 pound-feet to 138 pound-feet. That engine still gets paired to a CVT but it’s been revised for better power delivery and refinement. Front-wheel drive is standard but all-wheel drive is available on all models. All models also come with Honda Sensing advanced safety systems as-standard, which include a front wide-view camera, a traffic jam assist, and traffic sign recognition.

However, despite the meager power output and CVT, the new Honda HR-V isn’t particularly fuel efficient. Not a single model gets over 30 mpg combined, even though all models reach 30 mpg or more on the highway. Front-wheel-drive models get 26/32/28 mpg (city/highway/combined), while all-wheel-drive models get 25/30/27 mpg.

The entry-level HR-V LX FWD starts at $24,895, including mandatory destination fees, which bumps to $26,395 after adding all-wheel drive. The HR-V Sport FWD model starts at $26,895, with all-wheel drive bumping it up to $28,395. The top-of-the-line EX-L FWD starts at $28,695 and jumps to $30,195 with all-wheel drive.

Honda is positioning the HR-V’s new design and improved engine to compete with cars like the Mazda CX-30 and Toyota Corolla Cross. It looks much better than before but it still isn’t as efficient or as powerful as its two aforementioned competitors, while also being more expensive.

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Nico DeMattia

Staff Writer

Nico DeMattia is a staff writer at The Drive. He started writing about cars on his own blog to express his opinions when no one else would publish them back in 2015, and eventually turned it into a full-time career.