Honda ZR-V e:HEV LX

Honda zrv – It starts with a Honda Euro 2005 ,I bought it in 2017 with 191k in odometer with a sticker on windscreen ( chek up front brake at 193k) I drove the car from 191 till now 414000 km not a single part changed from the car only tires and oil and filters and 1 time I change coil plug for 20$,I bought pads set but didn't change them even after more than… Read more

200000km, super reliable brand ,that's why we got a Honda zrv , they all made in Japan U can't go wrong with Japan made,it's not pricey more dearer than Chinese brand but U got what U pay for

Loving it – After just 2 weeks these are my initial impressions Love the car so far. Very comfortable, not noisy, can run in battery powered EV mode even at 100kph if the system decides to and there's plenty of power on tap for acceleration and overtaking. Certainly quicker than my previous 2.4L sedan. Done 483 km so far including suburban traffic, 100kph… Read more ·  1

highway and up over Mt Glorious near Brisbane and it's averaging 5.0 lt/100 so far according to the trip computer. First refill will reveal if this is accurate. Current range to empty is 662 km so it looks at the moment like I'll easily make over 1000km out of the first 57 litre tank full. And guess what, it can be recharged from 5% to 100% in less than 5 minutes. None of this 10%-80% in 20minutes or so then who knows how much longer to get to 100% :)

[After 920km the car took 49lt to fill giving 5.3 lt/100 which is quite close to the 5.1 lt/100 the car computer showed. Driving over the distance was about 50/50 urban/highway] Second fill after 773km between fills was 5.5 Lt/100 with nearly 100% very short urban drives of 5 to 10 kilometres or so.

Lots of safety tech but it's not all useful. The active cruise control works well although it tends to brake a bit too hard when coming up behind a slower car and slows down too much. I find myself pressing the accelerator to get back up to following speed as the car takes a bit too long get back up there. Otherwise it's great. Lane keep assist works a great and you can feel it moving the steering wheel to stay in the centre of the lane.

Speed sign recognition is extremely dodgy (as it is in most cars, not just Honda). It doesn't know when school zones are inactive and shows the slow 40kph as the speed limit 24/7. It also reads yellow advisory speed signs as if they are speed limits so if you're in say an 80Kph zone and come to a corner with a 50Kph advisory speed that's what it reads and there it stays until the next sign is reached and that may be kilometres away. Thankfully the speed limit exceedance warning is just a flashing icon for a few seconds and no annoying beeps or bongs. There is a driver aid called Intelligent Speed Limiter. When turned on it reads speed limits and will not let the car exceed them. This should save your licence. BUT, it accepts those previously mentioned school zone and advisory speeds as well and the limiter will not allow the car to exceed the last speed sign. Aargh! Useless You can select the user adjustable speed limiter though and this can be manually set when the car reaches the speed required and can be adjusted up and down manually using the steering wheel mounted up/down switch on the right hand side.

When Adaptive Driving Beam is on (which it is by default) the auto high beam feature changes between low and high beam automatically as you drive. It's good but the blue high beam indicator remains on continuously which is a bit off putting to me. I'd rather it went off when in low beam. Turning lights come on at suburban speeds when the indicators are used to light the area you're turning in to.

Other small gripes Miss a top storage tray under the centre armrest. It has an excellent big bin under the armrest but small items (pens, cards etc) get lost down there. I’ve resorted to keeping pens in the overhead sunglasses storage bin.

Would have liked voice control for more purposes as is fitted to UK cars. Here it's strictly for phone only and even then only for personally pre recorded “name tags”

HUD would have been nice as well

A wheel brace and Jack would also be handy even if the hybrid has no spare wheel but all you get is the cut outs below the boot floor where they would be. Come on Honda.

The wireless phone charger is very hit and miss but I expected this before I ordered the car. It only charges for a short period (maybe 10min) then the green light comes on to say the phone's charged. I have an iPhone 14 Pro and unfortunately this charging glitch seems to be confined to Apple iPhone 12 and later in all manufacturer's cars not just Honda. At least a long press on the charger power button turns it off and the phone can sit there being charged via cable. And Bluetooth Apple CarPlay connects and operates seamlessly as well so far.

Front and rear cameras and 360 camera along with front and rear parking sensors are excellent for parking either nose in or reversed in. Pressing the end of the wiper stalk turns on the front camera at low speeds if you don't want to wait for it to automatically come on when the front sensors detect something.

If it's raining the rear wiper will work when in reverse using, I think, the rain sensor on the front windscreen.

Rear cross traffic warning is a boon when reversing blind out of shopping centre parking spaces.

Keys are numbered 1 and 2 and will position the driver's seat to memory 1 or 2 position when unlocking the car. Love the way the driver's seat moves rearward when getting out and then moves back to the previously selected memory position next time the power button is pressed.

We definitely appreciate the auto rear tailgate opening with just a kick of the foot under the bumper. And the walk away closing and locking is worth its weight in gold if you have both arms full.

I have Honda Connect activated and can use the app to check the car's location, lock/unlock the doors and start the aircon system up to cool or heat the car before coming back to it. I can also set a geofence to a set radius (as small as 40 metres) which will give me an alarm if the car goes outside that boundary and I can also set a max speed limit and get a warning if that speed is exceeded. Only downside to this app is that Honda insists you verify ownership of the car every month. It's done via the app but you have to know the odometer reading so you need to be in the car to get that….. sigh.

But all up even though it's early days, I'm really enjoying this ZR:V hybrid, it's very nice to drive.

8 MONTHS AND 5500km LATER

Still love it. So nice to drive. Fuel consumption over 5500km has averaged 5.5 lt/100 with about 60% urban 40% highway. The car's computer would have you believing it was 5 lt/100 but fuel used over distance travelled shows the car's computer is consistently deceiving you into thinking it's 10% better than it really is.

Oh and by the way this vehicle does not have a CVT transmission as stated in the Details list below. The electric motor has its fixed unchanging set of reduction gears and the ICE has a single overdrive gear that an engage when cruising above 60kph and that's it. And it works perfectly.