It was designed with its home market in mind and is thus a masterpiece of squeezing a lot of interior space into a small footprint. Two-door and four-door versions were available, while the later generations all had four doors. As you’d assume, the second- and third-generation HR-Vs that have appeared in American Honda showrooms (for the 2016-2022 and 2023-up model years, respectively) are both bigger and more truck-shaped than the first-generation versions. Today’s Junkyard
Scrapyard Gem has a curb weight of 2,381 to 2,557 pounds, while the current (Civic/CR-V-based) U.S.-market HR-V scales in at 3,159 to 3,333 pounds.
The engine in this one is a VTEC-equipped 16-valve D16W5 straight-four, rated at 122 horsepower. The transmission in this car is a five-speed manual.
According to information about its final auction, it was a runner with 126,659 miles and some body damage at the end of its road. The doors were all locked and/or frozen shut (it’s very cold and damp in Yorkshire in January), so I couldn’t get inside to photograph the interior.
Would this car have been a sales success in North America, or would it have just cannibalised sales of the CR-V?
Honda hired Southern California ska-punk band Save Ferris to perform for this JDM commercial. Apparently, the “HR” part of the car’s name stood for “Hi-Rider.”
You’d think it would have been impossible for the Netherlands-market HR-V commercial to out-frantic its JDM counterparts, but you’d be wrong.
This four-door HR-V commercial got a Fatboy Slim remix.
In Australia, first-gen HR-Vs were driven by demonic Honda salesmen who tuned into 666 FM during test drives. It turns out the price of one’s soul in 1999 was 23,350 Australian dollars. The Down Under adverts for the second-gen HR-Vs were quite entertaining, too.
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