Honda ZR-V Hybrid: Late but not last

What is it?

There’s a misconception that Toyota was the first manufacturer to launch a petrol-electric hybrid passenger vehicle on to the Australian market.

While the Prius name quickly became synonymous with the emerging powertrain technology, in fact it arrived about six months after the Honda Insight.

Insight didn’t live up to its name, leaving Toyota to dominate the hybrid (HEV) market to such an extent that it now offers hybrids in just about every model in its range.

Indeed, many of its most popular models, such as Camry, Corolla and RAV4 are only available as hybrids.

Honda has returned to the fray recently with all five of its current vehicles now coming with its advanced e:HEV technology.

What’s it cost?

Honda has three small to medium sized SUVs in its range.

The ZR-V, launched here in 2023 was the first brand-new Honda core model to be introduced here in 20 years.

It’s built on the same platform, and is around the same length, as the current Civic hatchback.

It sits between two well-established Honda SUVs — the smaller HR-V and larger CR-V.

ZR-V comes in three petrol-only grades (VTi X+, VTi L+ and VTi LX) ranging in price from $37,900 to $49,000 with, our test vehicle, the hybrid e:HEV LX, selling for $54,900. All prices are drive-away.

While brand ‘family’ grilles are very much in vogue at the moment, Honda has done the opposite with its SUVs.

The three designs are quite different, CR-V has the boldest of the three, HR-V gets a slimline full-width style with ZR-V adopting a more conservative look.

The small black grille sits below wide wraparound headlights with L-shaped daytime running lights.

The Honda badge in the centre has blue infill to identify its electric component.

The entry-level VTi X+ comes with 17-inch alloy wheels. All other models step up to 18s.

The 9.0-inch touchscreen is small by present-day standards and is located at the top of the dashboard, within easy reach for the driver.

There is a physical volume knob as well as home and back buttons.

Apple CarPlay is wireless but Android Auto is wired.

The 10.2-inch digital information cluster displays a good amount of driver information.

There are USB-A and USB-C ports at the front and two USB-C ports at the rear.

The e:HEV LX comes with a 12-speaker Bose premium sound system and a Qi-compatible wireless smartphone charging pad in the centre console area.

Honda ZR-V leads the class in passive safety with 11 airbags, including a front-centre and driver’s knee airbag.

Other standard features include adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, blind-spot monitoring, driver attention monitoring, lane-keep assist, rear cross-traffic alert, traffic sign recognition, tyre pressure monitoring, intelligent speed limiter, reversing camera, front and rear parking sensors and tyre pressure monitoring.

Note that the ZR-V only achieved a four-star rating due to a lower-functioning driver attention monitor and a absence of a Backover feature in its Autonomous Emergency Braking system.

Standard warranty on the e:HEV is five years with eight years on the battery, both with unlimited distance.

What’s it go like?

The cabin of the ZR-V has a quality feel with soft-touch surfaces and a full-width mesh grille that hides the normally exposed front air vents.

Controls are simple and generally easy to use as we have come to expect from Honda over the years.

Physical buttons are offered to the right side of the touchscreen for oft used functions, with other controls located lower down for the air conditioning.

The instrument panel can be configured as dials or bars and you can select to display detailed information, but it lacks the bells and whistles of competitor systems.

Standard equipment on the base model includes premium cloth upholstery, a 9.0-inch infotainment touchscreen, eight-speaker sound system, wireless Apple CarPlay, wired Android Auto, dual-zone climate control, eight-speaker sound system, 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster, auto-dimming rear-view mirror and rain-sensing wipers and parking sensors front and back.

The VTi L+ adds leatherette upholstery, heated front seats, heated front seats, hands-free power tailgate, rear privacy glass and metal paddle shifts.

VTi LX in both petrol and hybrid variants get leather-appointed seats, 360-degree MultiView camera system, and heated outer rear seats.

Boot size is a moderate 370 litres in the e:HEV with the rear seatbacks in place, expanding to 1302 when they are folded.

No spare wheel, just the dreaded a tyre repair kit.

The ZR-V petrol models are powered by a 1.5-litre VTEC turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing 131kW of power at 6000 rpm and 240Nm of torque between 1700 and 4500 revs.

It is paired with a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) and is front-wheel drive (FWD) only.

The e:HEV version combines a 2.0-litre Atkinson cycle naturally-aspirated four- cylinder petrol engine with two electric motors for total system outputs of 135kW and 315Nm.

It is also FWD only with transmission sent through an e-CVT electronically controlled continuously variable transmission.

Unlike the more common parallel hybrid system where the battery assists the engine to drive the vehicle, the Honda e:HEV setup has two self-charging motors.

The smaller of them is charged by the petrol engine and in turn charges both the battery and also feeds into the larger motor which drives the vehicle.

The system switches automatically between three driving modes, EV, Hybrid and Engine.

In EV Drive the main electric motor powers the car using energy from the battery.

In Hybrid Drive the petrol engine provides the energy to the drive motors as well as replenishing the EV battery.

Engine Drive directly powers the vehicle at high speed with a lock-up clutch directly connects the petrol engine to the wheels for maximum efficiency.

The tall roofline makes getting in and out relatively easy.

The driver’s seat is comfortable and supportive with excellent visibility to the front and sides although let down somewhat by the limited rear-window glass.

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While it does have the usual suite of warning signals and interventions they are nowhere near as intrusive as in many other new cars.

Indeed, throughout our two- week test we only rarely found it necessary to turn any of them off.

Starting in electric or hybrid mode provides the strong and smooth acceleration that we expect.

Likewise with the sharp acceleration into a motorway stream of traffic.

Wind and road noise are all-but absent, except in the last case on course surfaces.

Ride and handling are surprisingly good for a squarish mid-sized SUV courtesy of its shared Civic underpinnings.

Body roll on fast bends is minimised and road bumps were ironed out with ease.

Brake regeneration can be adjusted though steering wheel paddles.

What we like?

Controls are simple and generally easy to use
Tall roofline makes getting in and out relatively easy
Warnings nowhere near as intrusive as many other cars
Strong and smooth acceleration
Ride and handling surprisingly good

What we don’t like?

Price a problem
More conservative look
Android Auto is wired
Touchscreen is small by present-day standards
Only four stars for safety

The bottom line?

The Honda ZR-V is an excellent addition to the highly competitive small/medium SUV segment.

In hybrid mode it competes against vehicles ranging in size from the Toyota C-HR and Kia Kona up to Nissan Qashqai and Toyota RAV4.

At just under $55,000 it’s $6500 dearer than it’s similarly-equipped LX sibling and it will take quite a few years for its fuel savings to offset that extra cost.

The other issue is the lack of five ANCAP stars which is quite rare nowadays. We’d expect the AEB issue to be corrected in a future upgrade.