Our Fleet Test Drive: Honda HR-V – 2nd report

As representatives from various car companies will be well aware, it’s not exactly unknown for me to clamber onto my soapbox on the subject of car media, climate and other control systems. I’m a hoot at dinner parties.

Honda will soon be well aware of this too, as having rattled though nearly 2000 miles in less than a month with the car, I’m frustrated with the functionality of the systems. Fundamentally, and this is a point I last made regarding the otherwise excellent Peugeot 308, things have gone too far in loading all the systems onto the touchscreen.

If I want to retune the radio in the Honda, not only is it a rather user-unfriendly experience, but it takes a flurry of clicks on the screen, where most cars don’t.

At least the climate control is on a separate panel, but that’s all touchpad rather than buttons,
which means taking eyes off the road longer than is comfortable to adjust the ventilation, as your fingers can’t work their way across the familiar pattern of buttons to the required one.

Overall, I’m loving the Honda HR-V’s space, combination of performance and efficiency and its compact dimensions, but that doesn’t make it perfect. New technology is fine and great, but it has to work better than what we had before.