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Ford Reveals the Maverick Lobo2025 Hyundai Kona vs Honda HR-V
The world of small SUVs has lots of great choices. We review the 2025 Hyundai Kona vs the 2025 Honda HR-V to see which is best for you.
Two World-Class Small Crossovers Duke it Out
As Americans, we have more choices in small crossover SUVs than most have time to ponder. That’s why we decided to hand-pick two of the very best to help make that final selection just a bit easier. In one corner, we have the plain Jane-looking but plucky 2025 Honda HR-V; in the other, there’s the contemporary-looking but no-less practical 2025 Hyundai Kona. In so many ways, these two crossovers have profoundly different methods of achieving a relatively similar package, so let’s break them down and see what’s what.
From the key perspectives of proportions, seating arrangements, drivetrain options, and cargo space, it’s almost scary how similar the specs and features of the HR-V and Kona are to each other. But at least visually, on first inspection, it’s clear the two went in very different directions stylistically. The Kona, with its signature LED front light bar headlight arrangement and uninterrupted LED touchscreen center display, is a vehicle styled to be a disruptor in its market segment.
Great Tech and Competitive Pricing
As for the Honda HR-V, or the ZR-V, as it’s known outside of the US and China, the exterior styling is equally reserved and designed to look stately and dignified rather than to stand out. Its signature wide-mouth front grille arrangement is sure to be polarizing. But to its credit, the HR-V manages to look unoffensive in a market segment where not looking offensive alone is often sufficient. But there’s so much more here with both the HR-V and Kona than looks. Starting off with the Honda, we can at least claim there’s a good deal of substance behind the ostensible lack of style.
From the most bare-bones HR-V LX starting at $25,100 to the mid-range Sport model at $27,200 and the range-topping EX-L, the features available for the HR-V platform can be catered to give exactly what you want and nothing you don’t. A simple cloth interior comes standard for the LX and Sport trims, and the EX-L benefits from plush heated front leather seats for the driver and passenger, plus a nine-inch center infotainment screen and seven-inch driver information interface that serves as the gauge cluster. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability is standard equipment across the range with wireless connectivity, something people simply can’t live without at any price point nowadays.
Regardless of the trim package, each HR-V benefits from a competitive suite of safety-minded driver aides. Items like the sensor-guided Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), Road Departure Mitigation (RDM), Traffic Assist, and Traffic Sign recognition software might feature on models from other manufacturers. Still, seeing so many of these as standard equipment via the Honda Sensing suite when such tech was the domain of luxury cars even a short time ago is pleasing. Add on the optional one-touch moon roof, dual 3.00-Amp USB-C charging ports to match the same on the Kona, top-notch Bluetooth streaming capability, and the easy fold-down 60/40 split rear seat, and this is a remarkably practical vehicle that happens to be a nice place to spend a trip.
But so too is the interior of the Hyundai Kona awash with technology and bold styling cues inside and out. It’s safe to call the 2025 Kona lineup a touch more “padded” than the H-RV. In other words, you have six trim levels to choose from instead of just three with the HR-V. Starting at just $24,350 for the most spartan Kona SE up to $31,900 for the range-topping Limited, you can’t argue there isn’t plenty of variation between the low-end and high-end with Hyundai’s bread-and-butter small crossover.
Comfort and Interior
Cloth seats adorn each 2025 Kona model up until the sporty N Line and N Line S, both of which sport black Alcantara lined seats for an extra unique interior space catered to a more exuberant driver than would normally drive a vehicle of this size and form factor. Suppose the maximum infotainment screen size is your kryptonite. In that case, the 12.3-inch center display in the Kona will tempt you more than the HR-V, doubly so because the nav screen blends so seamlessly into the accompanying digital gauge cluster.
With a Bose premium audio unit in higher-end Konas, starting with the N Line, this goes far towards making these range-toppers feel more special compared to the HR-V, which just adds an additional two speakers to its 180-Watt stereo the higher you go in the range. Hyundai’s Smart Sense suite of driver assistants is roughly on par with the competition and championed by a nifty Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist with Pedestrian Detection (FCA-Ped) system that comes standard starting with the N Line.
As far as interiors go, it’s clear that Honda went a more conventional route, while Hyundai opted for something a bit bolder and more futuristic. People’s tastes in either will indeed vary.
Driving Experience
In terms of the drivetrain, it’s clear one has a distinct advantage. On the Honda side, you’ve netted a two-liter, dual-overhead-cam four-cylinder engine with VTEC that jets 158 horsepower, regardless of the trim package. On the Kona side, the first five models in the range find a two-liter, four-cylinder Atkinson cycle engine jetting 147 horsepower. It’s only when you jump to the N Line S, N Line, and the range-topping Limited that you find a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-pot under the hood with 190 horsepower to play with.
In terms of fuel economy, you only lose three combined MPGs by opting for the turbo engine over the lower-end two-liter engine, or 31 combined MPGs compared to 28 if configured in front-wheel drive. If optioned with all-wheel-drive, the figure drops to 26 combined MPGs for the turbo engine and 28 for the base SE, while the SEL and SEL Convenience net 27. That’s not too shabby for a non-hybrid these days, but what about Kona’s rival from Honda? Well, that’s a bit more cut and dry, a total of 28 combined MPGs regardless of the trim in front-wheel-drive configuration and just one less at 27 for the optional Real Time AWD option.
A Tough Choice to Pick Between
In real-world conditions with variables in play, the Kona and HRV will probably be dead even in fuel economy. This leads to a few of other factors being the dealbreaker between the two for the average consumer. These are practicality, reliability, passenger comfort, and very subject styling preferences. With 98.7 cubic feet of passenger volume in the HR-V compared to 101.2 in the Kona, it’s doubtful whether a few cubic feet here and there would make much difference to the end-user experience. Cargo volume of 25.5 cubic feet with the rear seats up and 63.7 with the seats down in the Kona just beats out the 24.5 and 55.1 cubic foot cargo metrics of the HR-V.
But again, is a few cubic feet in one direction or another really a dealbreaker for most people? In practice, the HR-V and Kona are almost frustratingly neck-and-neck in almost every metric pertinent to daily life. Only in raw reliability does the Honda begin to distinguish itself from the Hyundai. Less than a year ago, 10,984 Konas were recalled in December 2023, citing fire concerns. Further woes came later that summer when a number of Hyundai/Genesis vehicles were named as part of a recall related to potential fuel pump failure. Only time will tell if these recalls remedy the issues. If nothing else, this could wind up being the deciding factor between the two. Even so, having to make a definitive choice would make anyone sweat.
In the meantime, Honda’s decades-long public perception of total reliability remains intact. That’s despite two recalls to the HR-V line’s name this year: one for a faulty airbag sensor on 2020 to 2022 models and a software glitch affecting 2019 to 2022 examples. In the end, the empirical data and figures surrounding both the Kona and HR-V are so neck and neck it’ll ultimately come down to subjective factors determining which crossover the individual prefers.
Do you prefer reserved and demure or flashy and futuristic? In the end, this only speaks to the world-class nature of both vehicles. Now that’s the kind of competition we love to see.
