Honda Indonesia launches the 2022 HR-V with a turbocharged engine

Honda Philippines recently announced that the new 2022 Honda HR-V will be launching in the local market on April 19, 2022. While it was smiles all around especially as the new HR-V looks good, Honda Indonesia had something else interesting in-store when it launched the new crossover.

Over in Indonesia, the Honda crossover launched with an interesting powertrain that may have come from the Honda Civic. Under the hood of that new HR-V is a 1.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder gasoline engine. While this new motor is only available in the RS variant of the vehicle, it generates 174 hp and 240 Nm of torque. It gives the new HR-V very close figures to that of its sedan sibling the Civic. Speaking of the Civic, the new motor of the crossover is only 1hp shy of its sedan counterpart. Regardless it is still a big improvement over the 1.8-liter naturally aspirated engine that is currently in the local version of the Honda crossover.

Something to note, however, is that in the lower variants of the Indonesia HR-V, they are made available with a naturally aspirated 1.5-liter motor. While unconfirmed, this might be the same engine that is available in the Honda City as its power figures are very similar. The 1.5-liter naturally aspirated engine produces 119 hp and 145 Nm of torque. While it may not seem like a lot on paper, it should be enough for the new HR-V. Similar to its turbocharged counterpart, this 1.5-liter engine will also send power exclusively to the front wheels via a CVT.

As Honda Philippines has remained tight-lipped about the possible specifications of the upcoming HR-V, it is now a waiting game to see what the Japanese automaker will have in store for the local version of the crossover. Adding a 1.5-liter turbo to the crossover could change the game for Honda, especially since its competition has steadily been leveling up as well.