All generations and engines together · 32,017 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 52k
Split by first-registration year. Cars registered in a changeover year can belong to either generation.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 22,365 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
The most persistent complaint across HR-V generations is creaking, clonking or rattling from the front suspension and surrounding trim. Some owners report it within weeks of buying a used car, others see it develop after 60,000 miles or more, and in a few Honest John cases it went unresolved despite repeated dealer visits. This lines up with the measured MOT data, where suspension is the stand-out fault category for small SUVs as a class, so a knocking HR-V front end is worth taking seriously rather than dismissing as loose trim.
A handful of owners on the 1.5-litre petrol Mk2 report a whine or hesitation from the manual gearbox just after a cold start, which some dealers initially wrote off as normal characteristic noise. In at least one documented case the cause turned out to be a missing piece of body insulation rather than a transmission fault, so it is not clear this is one single issue rather than several unrelated ones. Worth a listen on a cold test drive, but do not assume the worst from noise alone.
Some owners find the automatic stop-start system won't switch the engine off at lights, usually traced to the 12V battery sitting below around 75% charge rather than to a battery that's actually failed. Honest John reports cases resolved by a dealer software update and system re-initialisation rather than a new battery, so it's worth ruling this out before paying for a replacement battery. No formal recall or TSB has been reported for it.
The 1.6 i-DTEC diesel fitted to the Mk2 HR-V is shared with the Honda Civic of the same era, where owners report DPF regeneration failures (one documented replacement around the £1,000 mark) and early clutch or dual-mass flywheel wear, sometimes with morning judder from moisture on the flywheel. Because this is drawn from Civic owner reports on the same engine rather than HR-V-specific cases, treat it as a real risk on diesel manuals rather than a confirmed HR-V pattern. Ask for diesel-specific service history including any DPF or clutch work.
On the original Mk1 HR-V's CVT automatic, owners and Honest John both note a rough or thumping engagement when selecting Drive, plus a need for fresh transmission fluid roughly annually to keep it smooth. Honda addressed this with a warranty replacement clutch starter kit at the time, which counts as a manufacturer-acknowledged fix rather than folklore alone. These cars are now well past 20 years old, so this matters mainly to buyers looking at cheap early automatics.
Buyers of the Mk2 HR-V have reported Garmin-based sat-nav that was already several years out of date from new, missing current speed cameras and limits. On the current hybrid HR-V, reviewers note the Honda Sensing lane-departure system can intervene when it isn't needed, which owners find intrusive rather than dangerous. Neither issue is a mechanical risk, but both are worth checking on a test drive since map updates and driver-assist tuning are easy to miss at a viewing.
Built from the two sections above.
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