Europe gets a cooler Honda HR-V than us now that it has a turbo

Usually when we find ourselves

pining for a European-market vehicle

, it’s some sort of

sports car

or station wagon. But in a rare moment, we’d actually like to get a little

crossover

. You see, Europe is now getting something called the

Honda HR-V Sport

, and it sounds legitimately fun with a turbocharged engine and even a manual transmission.

Under the hood is pretty much the same turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine you’ll find in a

Civic

or a

CR-V

. It makes 180 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque with the manual transmission, and 162 pound-feet with the CVT. Those are the same specifications as the engine in the Civic Sport Hatchback we get here. On top of that, the European

HR-V

Sport gets upgraded shocks and visual tweaks such as more aggressive bodywork, black wheels, and an interior in a sporty but sophisticated black and dark red upholstery with more supportive seats.

It all sounds like a pretty sweet combination, especially since

we already enjoy the Civic Sport Hatchback

, which offers the same power for roughly the same weight. Of course considering the power increase over the base

HR-V

, this model would probably need to be marketed as an HR-V Si here in the U.S. And we could certainly make arguments that any turbo Civic would be a better buy, but knowing the current automotive market, we definitely want to secure some fun crossovers as traditional sedans and hatchbacks become less popular.

Related Video: