The ‘small’ SUV category is booming and the Honda WRV is the latest entrant in the segment and it does surprise
It has become difficult for someone who loves motorsport to feel kindly towards Honda right now. No matter if you are a Fernando Alonso fan or not, you have to feel for the Spaniard’s constant breakdowns this season, more often than not due to breakdowns of his Honda engine unit. Even when Alonso crossed to the United States to race in the Indianapolis 500, almost predictably his Honda engine gave up just a few laps from the end while he was making a concerted effort for the win.
Even in India, Honda has been in somewhat of a funk with relatively limp sales figures. The cars they have launched in the recent past have been mediocre at the best. Not the new Accord, which is a spaceship on four wheels, but the BRV for example. A dolled-up version of the Mobilio, it tries too hard to be something that it is not. So, when I got to drive the new WRV, expectations were, well, limited.
The ‘small’ SUV segment the WRV fits in is the brightest shining spot in the Indian car market. The sales success of the Ford EcoSport first and the Suzuki Brezza later have marked this segment out as one as carmakers are desperate to enter into. But the WRV betrays no sign of that desperation, like say the Hyundai i20 Active does. While the WRV does share a lot with the Jazz, and looking at both cars side-by-side one can make out the resemblance, the WRV does look different enough from the front and back even though both cars share the same raked shoulder line.
When it comes to the interiors, it is the same story. The WRV shares the same interiors as the Jazz and frankly that is not a bad thing, as the Jazz has excellent interiors. One of the standout features is the brilliant bright high-resolution touchscreen that forms the centrepiece of the infotainment system. It is a pity that Honda has not integrated Apple CarPlay, but that should happen soon enough now that the system has been integrated into the Accord.
So similar but different enough. But is the WRV different enough to justify the premium that Honda charges over the JazzIJ There are couple of things to be noted about the WRV before one answers that question. The first is that it does not palpably handle any differently than the Jazz despite the additional ground clearance, and like the interiors, that is a good thing. The second thing to note is that Honda only sells the WRV in two variants — the base S specification and the top-end VX specification — unlike the Jazz which has five different specification levels. Additionally, Honda does not offer an automatic variant as yet.
So at the same specification level, the WRV costs just under a lakh less, at the showroom, than the Jazz. For those who want the additional ground clearance and appreciate the chunkier looks of the WRV, it does not seem like an unreasonable premium, the top-end VX specification diesel costs Rs 10.23 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) but a similar specification Brezza costs a quarter of a lakh less. Then again, you will get a WRV delivery in much, much less than the six months you will have to wait for a Brezza. But the WRV might face a problem in the updated Ford EcoSport coming later this year.
Yes, the WRV surprises, primarily by not being disappointing. Indeed, once you spend a little bit of time with the WRV, you begin to enjoy this car. Now if Honda was to put in a smart automatic option for the WRV and can figure out a diesel automatic, it might have a problem of plenty (or orders).