GRR garage: Honda HR-V – we've already got it dirty

Now we've got that out of the way let's introduce our HR-V. This is the top-of-the-range EX model, in Honda's rather fetching pearlescent Morpho Blue paint. That means that for the £26,780 on-the-road price you get heated seats, 17" alloy wheels, automatic lights and windscreen whipers, bluetooth, start/stop, parking sensors, reversing camera, and a panoramic glass roof.

Under the bonnet, we've opted for the 1.6-litre diesel engine, producing 120PS through the front wheels, and mated to a six-speed manual gearbox. The official stats claim a fuel mileage of around 70mpg, but in our first few drives we've found a figure of 52mpg is probably closer to a real-world number.

On first impressions, the engine is not short of power for what is a small crossover and the interior feels of a higher standard than the £26,000 pricetag might lead you to expect, although the touch sensitive buttons may prove less agreeable when driving tired. Outside, we're quite keen on the looks of the HR-V. It's more sober than the quirky original, but the design is clean and modern and makes the HR-V feel a bit bigger than it is, making it feel less like driving a jacked-up Honda Jazz and a bit more like being in a proper SUV.

We'll be taking the HR-V on a long journey next week, in fact its first foreign jaunt, so we'll bring you a proper review of the driving characteristic then.

Pricetag of our car: £26,780.

MPG this week: 52.3.