HR-V MPG LOL

The proverbial feathers were well and truly ruffled by my crossover-contempt editorial on TTAC today, but it wasn't until I took some time to read what else the site has featured irecently that I came across the One Fact(oid) To Rule Them All.

Tim Cain's hit piece on the HR-V, published yesterday, contains this fascinating snippet:

In our week-long tests, a CR-V Touring AWD on winter tires achieved 23.8 miles per gallon on the U.S. scale during a cold week at the end of January 2015. Almost exactly one year later, the HR-V EX-L Navi AWD did 23.5 mpg on all-season tires.

Well, that is, uh, fucking horrible! My lifetime average MPG in my Accord Coupe --- a car that has literally TWICE THE POWER of the HR-V and is substantially larger --- is 24.7 MPG. In the past thousand miles, with winter blend fuel and no freeway trips of any note, I've averaged 24.3.

Keep in mind, that's not the mileage that the average driver could expect to see from a V-6 Accord. It's the mileage that I get while beating the piss out of the thing, running it to redline repeatedly, chirpin' in second and third, rarely dipping below 80mph on any limited-access road. When I consciously drive it for economy, short-shifting and keeping speeds reasonable, I've seen as much as 31.4 mpg over long trips and 27.2 in city driving. Of course, versions of this car with a four-cylinder and CVT can average 34-35 mpg in daily use, but let's just stick to the car that runs a 13.9@101 compared to the HR-V's 17.4@82.

The Accord weighs 3,397 pounds against the HR-V's 3,109, has an underrated 270hp (more like 260 at the wheels, which would indicate 295-305 at the crank) against the 141-hp 1.8L four in the HR-V, and is a full twenty inches longer. So what's going on? Only this: the unnecessary "features" of crossover body profile and small-car AWD might satisfy customers, but they are criminally inefficient.

Would-be HR-V purchasers should know that Honda made a better HR-V about fifteen years ago. It was faster, roomier, and far more efficient. Do we have a picture? Yes we do.

There's one on eBay for under five grand. You can probably get 100,000 more miles out of it before parting it out for two or three grand.

Don't say I never did nothing for you. And stay away from crossovers, you hear?