2023 Honda ZR-V review: Australian first drive
Honda is bringing a second medium SUV to Australia, slotting in below the popular CR-V in both price and size. But it still has to beat the Toyota RAV4 and Mazda CX-5 to win consumers’ hearts and minds.
2023 Honda ZR-V
This could get confusing, so bear with me.
This is the all-new Honda ZR-V. It is a five-seat medium SUV that comes in four variations priced between $40,200 and $54,900 drive-away.
The ZR-V sits above the HR-V small SUV in size and price. It directly overlaps the 2023 CR-V medium SUV for both size and price. But it’s not a replacement for the Honda CR-V. And neither is Honda forging ahead with two medium SUVs.
That’s because, later this year, an all-new 2024 CR-V arrives that is bigger and more spacious than the current model. It will still be classified as a medium SUV, but its measurements put it towards the top of that class. It will also be offered in both five- and seven-seat configurations.
So if we just fast-forward to 2024, this will all make sense. Honda will have the small HR-V, mid-size ZR-V and upper-mid-size CR-V in dealerships, giving it a robust SUV range.
Honda’s rivals in this space include the Toyota RAV4, Mitsubishi Outlander, Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson, and the 19 other medium SUVs fighting for consumer attention.
The Honda ZR-V’s styling is quite different to the other SUVs in Honda’s range. It’s even different to the Honda Civic small hatchback. We’re not sure why Honda has avoided giving all its cars a ‘family resemblance’, especially when this can drive brand awareness in the market.
Externally, the ZR-V comes across as mature, if somewhat conservative. But that mouth-shaped grille doesn’t half look like the guppy grille on the Ford Escape.
How much does the Honda ZR-V cost in Australia?
Now, if you think Honda has a fetish for alphabet soup with its SUV names, wait until we delve into the ZR-V’s variant line-up:
- Honda ZR-V VTi X: $40,200
- Honda ZR-V VTi L: $43,200
- Honda ZR-V VTi LX: 48,500
- Honda ZR-V e:HEV LX: $54,900
Note: All prices above are drive-away.
Deciphering this is easy once you have the code. VTi refers to Variable Timing Ignition. Basically, it’s shorthand for contemporary internal combustion engine.
e:HEV is shorthand for Hybrid Electric Vehicle. In other words, a combination of petrol power and battery power working in concert.
These prices are all drive-away no more to pay. And because this is Honda, there’s no haggling either.
All four ZR-Vs share the same five-door SUV wagon body that is around 4.56m long, 1.84m wide and 1.62m tall. That’s a smidge less in all dimensions than the current CR-V, and comfortably more than the smaller HR-V.
The entry-level ZR-V comes with 17-inch alloy wheels, adaptive LED headlights with active cornering function, front and rear parking sensors, and a reversing camera.
All others get 18-inch wheels and tyres, power-operated tailgate, 360-degree cameras and heated wing mirrors.
Only the top two specs get body-coloured front and rear lower bumpers, and exhaust pipe finishers. Important, that.
| Key details | 2023 Honda ZR-V VTi LX |
| Price | $48,500 drive-away |
| Colour of test car | Premium Crystal Garnet |
| Options | None |
| Drive-away price | $48,500 nationally |
| Rivals | Kia Sportage | Mazda CX-5 | Toyota RAV4 |
How much space does the Honda ZR-V have inside?
The ZR-V’s cabin is an interesting mix of adventure and convention. The centre console, for example, is adventurously sculpted and has an innovative sub-level storage shelf ahead of the armrest bin, but the gear lever on non-hybrid models is a T-bar of the kind car companies have employed for decades.
Hybrid versions get a classier push-button gear selector that really should be fitted to all variants.
Standard features on the entry-level ZR-V VTi X include a 9.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster, cloth seat trim, dual-zone auto air-conditioning, eight-speaker sound system, proximity-key entry and push-button start.
More expensive model grades add partial or full leather upholstery, heated front and rear seats, power-adjustable front seats, satellite navigation, 12-speaker Bose premium audio, and a wireless phone charger.
The pick of the (non-hybrid) variants in terms of value for money is the VTi LX ($48,500) because the extra $8300 above base price brings a lot of additional equipment, as well as adding two must-have safety systems (blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert) that neither the X nor the L have but really should be standard across the range.
Compared to the L, the LX gains 18-inch alloys, a powered tailgate, 360-degree cameras, wing mirrors that tilt in reverse, 12-speaker sound system, satellite navigation, privacy glass, electrically adjustable and heated leather front seats, heated steering wheel and outboard rear seats, climate control with built-in air purifier, wireless phone charger, alloy pedals and those two safety systems.
Getting in and out of the front seat is easy. The door opens wide – but not to 90 degrees like the Nissan X-Trail – and the hip point is such that older folk won’t find themselves hopping up or sliding down into the seat.
The back doors don’t open anywhere near as wide as the front doors, and are shorter which results in a narrower opening, but is more of an issue getting out and not in.
As soon as you’re in you’ll discover that the floor is quite high in relation to the seatbase, which reduces underthigh support and can result in leg soreness for adults on longer journeys. It’s likely Honda has done this to maximise interior headroom, which is adequate for six-footers but can become challenging if you’re taller than that.
Back seat occupants have all the usual comfort conveniences, including seatback pockets, fold-down centre armrest with built-in cupholders, bottle holders in the doors, two air vents and two USB-C charging ports. Beyond that, the Honda ZR-V doesn’t introduce anything new to the game.
The ZR-V X’s boot lid is the old-fashioned lift-it-yourself kind, whereas the other three variants get an electrically operated boot that works via a button or a simulated kick to the rear bumper.
Once inside you’ll see that there’s 380L of space to the back seat, or 370L on LX variants equipped with a subwoofer. The back seats fold flat in a 60/40 split, liberating 1312L or 1302L of storage, again depending on your trim level.
Under the floor is a space-saver spare tyre, except on the hybrid because it stores the battery back here and so only gives you a tyre repair kit for emergencies.
The ZR-V’s floor lifts in two parts, and can be used to divide the area to restrain groceries or other cargo items.
| 2023 Honda ZR-V VTi LX | |
| Seats | Five |
| Boot volume | 370L seats up 1302L seats folded |
| Length | 4568mm |
| Width | 1840mm |
| Height | 1620mm |
| Wheelbase | 2655mm |
Does the Honda ZR-V have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto?
The Honda ZR-V has wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto, which proved reliable during our two-hour test drive.
It also has Bluetooth smartphone connectivity and integration, AM/FM and DAB+ digital radio, a trip computer and energy flow meter on the hybrid variant. The top three variants also get built-in satellite navigation.
There are two USB ports up front (one USB-A and one USB-C), and two USB-Cs in the rear seats.
The 9.0-inch infotainment touchscreen is not integrated into the dashboard design. Instead, it looks like an afterthought. The screen is clear and the graphics are crisp, albeit chunky. That may not make them look elegant, but it does make them easy to read even for far-sighted humans like me who don’t need glasses to drive but do to read.
The home screen is customisable so you can put your most used features at your fingertips.
The system is easy to use and generally quick to scroll and update. We did find it consistently slow to move to the phone’s recent calls screen, presumably because it’s going to the phone for the latest data every single time.
The 10.2-inch integrated driver instrument display shows speedo and tacho (or power meter), and there’s a multi-function display in the middle that displays things like vehicle speed and lane keeping, phone status, music track and more.
It ticks all the basic boxes, but doesn’t do anything particularly impressive or amazing, apart from changing background colours when the driver chooses a different powertrain drive mode: Eco, Normal, Sport.
On the connectivity front, buyers will gain access to Honda’s Connect app, which includes remote locking and unlocking, climate control pre-conditioning, an SOS function, and the ability to set speed thresholds for other drivers, like teenage offspring.
Over-the-air updates are baked into this system, but Honda Australia says there are no plans to use this for Features on Demand, yet.
A five-year subscription to Honda Connect is part of the purchase price, after which there is a fee, presumably covering the cost of the car’s mobile sim connectivity.
Is the Honda ZR-V a safe car?
The Honda ZR-V is yet to be independently tested by ANCAP, but Honda expects that to happen in the next few months.
The Honda ZR-V has been crash-tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the North American equivalent of ANCAP and Euro NCAP. IIHS doesn’t award stars, instead naming the car – which is sold in North American markets as the HR-V – a Top Safety Pick Plus.
The Honda ZR-V has a class-leading 11 airbags, including a front-centre airbag and driver’s knee airbag.
| 2023 Honda ZR-V VTi LX | |
| ANCAP rating | Untested |
What safety technology does the Honda ZR-V have?
Every ZR-V has autonomous emergency braking, lane-departure warning with lane-keep assist, road-departure mitigation, active cruise control, traffic sign recognition, driver attention monitor and adaptive high-beam lighting.
Only the most expensive LX grades get blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert. None of the ZR-Vs offer active assist versions of those two functions, in which the vehicle intervenes to stop you changing lanes into another car, or reversing out of a park into the path of another car.
The Nissan X-Trail, Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tucson all have higher levels of active safety fitted standard than the ZR-V.
How much does the Honda ZR-V cost to maintain?
The ZR-V comes with a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty that also includes five years of 24/7 roadside assist, which is competitive.
What’s not competitive is Honda’s decision to stick with 10,000km servicing intervals, which is considerably less than the 11,800km national average for private vehicle use in Australia.
Honda’s data says that the majority of its owners do not exceed 10,000km per year, so this is not an issue.
Honda’s servicing costs are capped at $199 per visit, which makes it among the cheapest in the entire auto industry.
At the time of writing, a comparative comprehensive insurance quote was not available from our usual supplier.
| At a glance | 2023 Honda ZR-V VTi LX |
| Warranty | Five years, unlimited km |
| Service intervals | 12 months or 10,000km |
| Servicing costs | $597 (3 years) $995 (5 years) |
Is the Honda ZR-V fuel-efficient?
Honda claims the non-hybrid variants consume between 7.0 and 7.2L/100km of regular unleaded fuel on a city/highway combined cycle. The hybrid is said to average 5.0L/100km.
We test-drove both the hybrid and non-hybrid variants over about 80km of urban and country roads each, bettering both those figures. We saw 6.5L/100km from the non-hybrid and 4.8L/100km from the hybrid.
These numbers suggest that the Honda is one of the more affordable medium SUVs when it comes to fuel costs, especially as it only requires 91-octane regular unleaded.
The drive route was not representative of everyday driving, however, because it favoured flowing arterial roads and sparsely trafficked country B-roads. It’s likely that both these readings would be higher in more typical everyday driving. A more accurate fuel figure will have to wait until we put the cars through a seven-day real-world test.
Fuel Consumption – brought to you by bp
| Fuel Useage | Fuel Stats |
| Fuel cons. (claimed) | 7.2L/100km |
| Fuel cons. (on test) | 6.5L/100km |
| Fuel type | 91-octane regular unleaded |
| Fuel tank size | 57L |
What is the Honda ZR-V like to drive?
Let’s deal with the VTi variants first as they’re non-hybrids whereas the e:HEV LX is a hybrid.
The VTi’s standard powertrain is a 131kW, 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine that drives the front wheels through a continuously variable transmission.
Honda claims peak torque of 240Nm is generated between 1700 and 4500rpm, which partly explains why the ZR-V is an easy car to drive in everyday traffic.
The powertrain is a smooth combination, so smooth that it at times feels like it lacks punch (especially noticeable when you want to make a fast getaway from the lights). But speed does build when you add pressure to the accelerator, and the ZR-V has no troubles keeping up with the flow of traffic in all conditions.
It’s no surprise that the ZR-V’s hybrid powertrain is both a stronger and more economical performer. It has 30 per cent more torque, which gives it more urgency when you need it, and helps it build momentum more easily in pretty much any real-world situation. It can also be driven in a pure EV mode, but the driver does not get to dictate when and where.
This all raises the question: is the ZR-V Hybrid’s $6400 tariff worth it for an easier driving experience that saves around 2L/100km on fuel? The answer is: you’re not buying it for financial reasons. You’re buying it because you want a hybrid.
While we’re evaluating the Hybrid’s raison d’etre, let’s not forget that Toyota charges just $2500 for its hybrid variants in the RAV4 range. Toyota also offers a hybrid version of every RAV4 variant.
Honda hopes to add more hybrids to the ZR-V range in the future but cannot say when.
The ZR-V’s powertrains both come with three driving modes – Eco, Normal and Sport – which adjust the vehicle’s throttle response and gearing choice. (It is a CVT and doesn’t have gearsets as such, instead it selects from an infinite range of ratios within its operating range.)
Eco is unresponsive and highly efficient, but hillclimbs will have you pressing harder on the throttle. Sport, on the other hand, gives the powertrains a pep that is lacking in the other modes, and makes them feel more responsive to driver inputs.
The ZR-V’s CVT means it is a very refined car to drive, and it is quiet too. Neither wind noise, tyre noise or engine noise penetrates the cabin in any major way on good road surfaces, but common coarse-chip bitumen did raise a racket from the Yokohamas fitted to our test cars.
The steering weight is consistent with just a touch more heft and substance that gives the car a solid, dependable feel on the road.
A relatively compact turning circle of 10.4m (to the wheel centres) makes it easy to park, as do the good quality 360-degree cameras on high-spec variants.
| Key details | 2023 Honda ZR-V VTi LX | 2023 Honda ZR-V e:HEV LX |
| Engine | 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol | 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol hybrid |
| Power | 131kW @ 6000rpm | 135kW @ 5000–6000rpm combined |
| Torque | 240Nm @ 1700–4500rpm | 315Nm @ 0–2000rpm combined |
| Drive type | Front-wheel drive | Front-wheel drive |
| Transmission | Continuously variable transmission | Continuously variable transmission |
| Power-to-weight ratio | 86.8kW/t | 85.1kW/t |
| Weight (kerb) | 1510kg | 1586kg |
| Spare tyre type | Space-saver | Tyre repair kit |
| Tow rating | 1500kg braked 700kg unbraked |
1500kg braked 700kg unbraked |
| Turning circle | 11m | 11m |
Should I buy a Honda ZR-V?
Overall, the Honda ZR-V is an impressive mid-size SUV that measures up well against its main rivals, particularly for value for money and running costs.
It seems to be aimed at families with young kids or retirees who won’t use the back seat much, because that high floor in the back compromises comfort for adults.
Other than that, and Honda’s decision to reserve some safety features for more expensive models, there’s a lot to like with the new ZR-V.
And, once the new and larger CR-V arrives later this year, Honda will have a strong three-pronged SUV portfolio that should win customers with its fuss-free motoring promise.
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