2023-06-20 07:00:00
AND BREF
SUV compact
Hybrid engine
From €47,450
The Honda ZR-V is new in Europe but not in North America and China where it has been marketed since 2022. Produced by Honda in one of its Chinese factories, this ZR-V is coming to France on the crowded but buoyant SUV market. compact. It shares its platform with the highly successful eleventh generation Civic.
dailymotion
Video test – Honda ZR-V (2023): the return of Japanese ambitions
A global car
Marketed under the name HR-V in the United States, this SUV arrives in our regions under the name ZR-V for “Z Runregarding Vehicle”, in reference to generation Z. All this makes a lot of consonants at once. Remember that with a length of 4.56 m, it is located in the range of the Japanese manufacturer between the small urban SUV HR-V and the large SUV CR-V which will be renewed at the start of the school year. This one having to undergo a crisis of growth, a place is freed up for this ZR-V. He comes to face the big names of the category which are the Peugeot 3008, Renault Austral, Nissan Qashqai or Volkswagen Tiguan to name but a few.
An arrival that allows Honda to display new ambitions in France. If for a few years, a sometimes shifted offer, and the closure of the English factory of the mark made it possible to doubt the will of Honda to invest in Europe, the speech changed. The arrival of three new SUVs this year allows the brand to display new, much more ambitious objectives. The ZR-V will indeed be followed by a new CR-V at the start of the school year and an e: Ny1 (pronounced “Anyone”) 100% electric, derived from the HR-V.
Who says global car also often says consensual style. Not always easy to please the average American, Chinese and European buyer. This ZR-V takes no risks, fairly skillfully compiling market trends.
The dashboard is similar to that of the Civic.
Inside, we find the main lines of the dashboard of the last Civic with its horizontal design, tidy and its original ventilation grille running over the entire width. The finish takes a leap forward despite plastics that are still very Japanese, while the assemblies are still of an excellent level.
To live up to the SUV category, the ZR-V must rhyme with practicality. Up front, there are two cupholders, an induction phone charger and a storage box in the center console with a good volume. In the back, knee and elbow space is on par for the category.
The loading volume is lower than the competition. No problem with space in the back.
The main gain compared to the Civic is in the more generous headroom. On the safe side, it’s the cold shower. The trunk volume offers, with only 370 litres, one of the lowest capacities in the segment, far from a Qashqai or a Sportage, which greatly exceed 500 litres. This does not prevent it from being rather well designed with a wide opening and a fairly low loading threshold. A clever partition wall can be installed in a jiffy and there is space under the floor. Note that the automatic tailgate is standard from the Sport level.
By recovering the platform of the excellent Honda Civic, as well as its completely revised hybrid system, this ZR-V seems to be starting on solid foundations. Solid assets that we went to check on the road, around Barcelona, driving a ZR-V sport, one of the two finishes available in France.
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