Small, car-based sport utility vehicles have become the new norm when it comes to cars. They may be small, but make up a monster portion of market share, and for 2026, two of this realm’s heavyweights, the Honda HR-V and Toyota Corolla Cross, have been updated to stay ahead of the game. We put them both together to see which comes out on top in this battle of bantamweight crossovers.
In the (Soul Crystal) red corner: 2026 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid SE
Toyota is and has always been at the forefront of hybrid-ing all the things, and the case is no different with the Corolla Cross. What is a little different is that this is the only sub-compact SUV you can buy with both a hybrid powertrain and all wheel drive, which sets it apart. Curiously, Toyota’s grade walk has no overlap with regular gas models; the L, LE, and XLE are gas, and the SE and XSE are hybrids. No mixing.
For 2026, the Corolla Cross gets a mild facelift, with a simplified front fascia that includes a body coloured grille of sorts. At a quick glance they might not look all that different, but it’s much cleaner and much more handsome than before. The interior is also updated with a new centre console, and a larger 12.3 inch central touchscreen. Our SE Hybrid tester rings in at $36,700.
In the (Nordic Forest) blue-ish green corner: 2026 Honda HR-V EX-L
If the Corolla Cross received a mild facelift, the HR-V sat in the waiting room waiting for a facelift, and left after fifteen minutes to go get a haircut instead. Differences between this and last year’s model are miniscule, but the updated 18-inch wheels are a noticeable, if not obvious upgrade – just like a decent cut and style.
There’s little else in the way of changes, most of it being added content for lower trim levels, like privacy glass and a 9-inch touchscreen that replaces the old 7-incher on base models. None of this applies to our top-trim EX-L tester, which was already nicely equipped. It rings in at $39,000.
Exterior styling
Neither of these are going to win any beauty contests. The Honda looks a tad bit slicker with its gloss-finished fender arches and bumper trim, whereas the Toyota looks a little more rugged with its matte finished, chunkier trim. It’s a wash; I might be inclined to give the slightest nod to Toyota on this front if only for the improvement over last year’s model. If you want a looker and don’t care how much cabin space you have to give up in the pursuit of beauty, go get a Mazda CX-30.
(slight) Advantage: Toyota
Interior appointments
Our Corolla Cross SE is fitted with cloth seats; heated all around, 8-way power adjustable for the driver. They’re decent chairs, and the textile used feels durable and breathes well. The updated centre console design loses the piano black trim from before, which is good, but one of one of my colleagues noticed it’s rather flimsy if you, for whatever reason, try tugging on it. While it overall looks a little more cohesive with fewer differing finishes, build quality is a bit of a step backwards, honestly.
The Honda HR-V EX-L is noticeably nicer. The layout is very similar to the CR-V, which in turn borrows heavily from the Civic, which is a home run. It looks and feels like a more upscale product, without being gimmicky or too fancy for its own good. Like the Corolla Cross, the HR-V also has an 8-way power adjustable driver’s seat, but lacks heating for the rear seats. In lieu of this, the HR-V gets leather and contrasting stitching, which is only available on the Corolla Cross XLE – which, if you were paying attention, is not available with the hybrid powertrain.
Advantage: Honda
Storage and Space
The Corolla Cross has a very usable, practical cabin space with a decent amount of room for your passengers and their stuff. Rear seat room is adequate, I was able to sit behind myself at six feet without touching the seat in front of me, and a couple inches to spare. Cargo volume behind the rear seats is 609 litres, and expands to 1,245 litres with the rear seats folded down. A quick note about that: you have to remove the rear seat headrests to get the rear seats to tuck all the way down, which is a bit of a pain. Overall it’s fine, and perfectly livable, with some caveats.
The Honda HR-V is better. The door pockets are larger. The centre console storage is significantly larger, with an additional storage area under the shifter. Rear leg room is a good few inches better, and it doesn’t eat into cargo room, which is rated at 691 litres. With the rear seats folded, that volume expands to 1,559 litres, with a much flatter floor, and the extra space behind the front seats means you don’t have to mess with headrests. Honda have always been masters of maximizing usable volume; the HR-V being outstanding in this regard isn’t a surprise in the slightest.
(significant) Advantage: Honda
Tech and infotainment
Both vehicles here have wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and have native software that works well and is fairly easy to live with.
The Toyota Corolla Cross has a 10.5-inch touchscreen that’s sharp, fairly responsive and with a few exceptions, like easily changing radio stations, generally easy to use. The larger screen means the volume knob is gone, instead replaced with buttons under the screen (along with what’s already on the steering wheel). The gauge cluster in the Toyota is handled by a 7-inch display that’s easy to read and configure.
The Toyota offers Google-powered navigation that works very well, and if you prefer to use your phone, Toyota’s implementation of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is a little more seamless, and allows you the option to tweak display size to allow for shortcuts back to the native software. There is also no wireless charging pad; a feature the Honda HR-V has as standard equipment.
The HR-V also retains physical shortcuts beside its 9-inch display. Despite the smaller overall size, Honda’s system is similarly crisp and defaults to a “dark” mode, which I personally feel is a no-brainer ‘yes’ in every car. The software behind it is also incredibly easy to use and very clean in its presentation, and still has a volume knob for its mediocre sound system. To be clear, the Corolla Cross SE doesn’t pick up any favours on that front, either; you need to step up to the XSE to get decent JBL audio.
One area where not just the HR-V, but Honda in general excels is the gauge cluster: it’s one of the most crisp, clear, legible, and easily customizable pods in the entire industry, using a classic analog speedometer and an easily configurable digital display for the tach and trip info. It sounds like such a small thing, but little details like this go a long way. Despite this, it’s a slight edge for the Toyota here, on the merits of its CarPlay integration, and better built-in navigation.
(slight) Advantage: Toyota
Active safety and driver assists
Both the Corolla Cross and HR-V come standard with basics like adaptive cruise control, lane-tracing, blind-spot monitoring, and forward collision alert across all trims. They all work fairly easily and effectively, and take a lot of labour out of dull commuting and sitting in traffic. There’s hardly anything needed in the way of driver intervention, save for both systems needing a nudge to resume the adaptive cruise control from a full stop. The only differentiator was subjective: the Toyota’s adaptive cruise control felt a little more natural.
(slight) Advantage: Toyota
Powertrain and performance
You could almost say these are similar, both using 2.0-litre, naturally aspirated four cylinder engines, making about 150-ish horsepower, paired to a continuously variable transmission, routed to the ground via an on-demand all-wheel-drive system.
The Toyota takes that formula and adds hybridization on top of that, and while it’s difficult to make a direct apples-to-apples comparison, there is barely any cost penalty to selecting a hybrid powertrain at Toyota. Combined output with the three electric motors comes up to 196 horsepower and a healthy 214 foot-pounds of torque with everything working together.
The Honda makes do with only 158 hp and 138 lb-ft of torque, and is two full seconds slower to 100km/h (7.4 vs 9.4). It doesn’t feel nearly as lethargic as the numbers might indicate, but the fact is the Toyota, and its electric augmentation offers far more power, for easier highway passing and far more low-speed grunt.
There is a substantial asterisk that comes with this: the Toyota’s gas engine, when it is running, is a loud, coarse, agricultural thing. Merging on the highway feels smooth but sounds like a plane taking off. On the other hand, the Honda is slick, serene, and generally undetectable. The Toyota may be a lot more impressive, but the Honda sounds and feels vastly more refined, which is welcome, even if it is somewhat pokey.
(significant) Advantage: Toyota
Efficiency
The Honda HR-V is generally quite efficient, and we observed an average fuel use of 8.3L/100km. The Corolla Cross Hybrid was nearly 35% more efficient than that, returning a very thrifty average of 5.4L/100km. This is an indisputable slam dunk.
(significant) Advantage: Toyota
Driving impressions
This is a bit of a mixed bag, as both vehicles have their ups and downs. Overall the Corolla Cross handles itself fairly well for what it is, and is one of the most easy-breezy vehicles to drive on the market. The steering is featherweight-light and relaxed, the brakes respond to a light touch, and the throttle response from the hybrid powertrain doesn’t need much prodding to get up and go.
Ride quality of the Corolla Cross is surprisingly well judged, without the float and crash seen in some other Toyotas. Similarly, body control and handling are decent; it’s no sports car, and that’s fine. The HR-V, on the other hand, is a little firmer. Everything on the HR-V is a little sharper, a little more finely honed, and requires a marginally more deliberate response, with slightly heavier (but still light) steering and stiffer pedals. It’s a little more involved and engaging, and maybe a smidgen less comfortable for it, but considerably more pleasing to drive.
Neither are particularly quiet. The Toyota is fairly well insulated from wind and road noise, which makes it all the more obnoxious when the coarse engine fires and revs up to build speed, and the motorboat effect of the e-CVT makes it feel like the engine is revving wildly, loudly, seemingly arbitrary to what you’re asking for with the skinny pedal. Conversely, the Honda’s milquetoast mill is smooth and almost inaudible except when you’re really on it, but the tire roar coming from underneath the car is quite pronounced. At least it’s consistent.
(slight) Advantage: Honda
Value
The Honda HR-V EX-L ($39,000) is loaded to the gills, and feels like it, whereas our Corolla Cross ($36,700) is a middle-of-the-road trim level that feels well equipped, and still has another two trim levels on top. If you want nicer seats, you have to give up the hybrid powertrain and get the XLE with 10-way power adjustable leather chairs for $38,235. The top of the hybrid trims, the XSE, keeps the cloth seats (which are fine), and adds a power moonroof to match the HR-V, and adds a JBL sound system to stay in front of it.
The Corolla Cross offers more of what most people want, and then it goes above and beyond to offer long-term fuel savings on top of that (estimated to be $961/year as per Natural Resources Canada). The HR-V, to its credit, does feel like a noticeably nicer, more upscale product, that is more satisfying to helm, even if it is a little pokey on the performance front. And, its use of space is far more effective, and makes much more use of its small footprint, to an extent that it doesn’t really feel small at all.
The Honda HR-V EX-L and it’s premium feel helps it punch above its weight class in terms of pricing, but the Toyota’s additional tech, both in the cabin and under the hood, means it straight-up just punches harder and delivers more car per dollar.
Advantage: Toyota
Wrap it up
This was a tough one. To be frank, we are all big fans of Honda’s little HR-V around here, and conversely, we’ve never really liked the Toyota Corolla Cross all that much; we weren’t expecting this to be much of a fight. So it’s all the more surprising that the 2026 Toyota Corolla Cross came out on top of this bantamweight bout to knock the other guy out, if only marginally.
Now that the Corolla Cross isn’t the ugly duckling of the segment, it cannot be ignored. On a personal level, we all agree that we still kinda prefer the HR-V for its more sound sense of execution of the core tenets of a car, but in the real, non-auto-journosaur world, the Corolla Cross’s aggressive value proposition of offering more power and technology, while also asking for less in the immediate and long term, matters more to more people.
If the Civic Hybrid’s powertrain landed in the 2026 Honda HR-V and they were able to keep the price under control, this fight would have gone very differently. But, Toyota did what Honda didn’t, and they tidied up their routine along the way, so for that reason, the 2026 Toyota Corolla Cross is the winner of this big-time small-size skirmish.
