For years, Honda’s CR-V has been the default choice in the compact SUV market. Widely known, trusted, and purchased in droves. Its smaller sibling, the HR-V, has never carried quite the same recognition. Quietly competent, yes, but not the model families talk about over dinner. That’s what makes 2024’s numbers striking: even as the HR-V posted its best year ever, it was the Chevrolet Trax, of all nameplates (considering GM’s recent reliability stumbles), that leapfrogged it to the top of the small SUV segment.

Small-SUV underdog moments don’t come along every day…but in 2024, the redesigned Chevrolet Trax danced its way past Honda’s competent challenger

The gap may surprise: Chevy’s compact turned in 200,689 units sold in the U.S., a whopping 83% leap over its 2023 total of 109,382.

The HR-V, while posting its best year yet, chipped in 151,468 units. 2024 was its first time topping 150K, up from 122,206 a year earlier.

Despite the HR-V’s record year, Chevy’s small SUV had the louder voice and the fuller order sheets.

Honda HR-V: Polish, flexibility, and familiar dependability

Honda didn’t release a groundbreaking overhaul with the HR-V. Just a dependable, well-rounded compact crossover.

Based around a 2.0 L inline-4 pushing 158 hp and 138 lb-ft, mated to a CVT, it returns roughly 26 mpg city and 32 mpg highway (28 mpg combined) in FWD spec, dipping slightly with AWD.

Interior space matches expectations: about 97 cu ft of passenger volume, with 24.4 cu ft behind the rear seats. More than double that up to 55.1 cu ft with them folded. That would put Honda’s “Magic Seat” in full effect.

The cabin is quietly refined: clean lines, a swoopy two-tier console, plush materials, and an easy-to-navigate infotainment suite with 7- or 9-inch screens, wireless CarPlay/Android Auto standard atop the range.

Driving it, you’d feel why Honda owners stick around: independent rear suspension, stable ride, accurate steering, solid brakes. In other words, the HR-V feels mature in motion.

Safety tech is rich, too, with Honda Sensing across all trims and extras like blind-spot monitoring.

All this, and it still didn’t win over more drivers than the Trax.

Chevrolet Trax: More interior space, sharp tech, and earned value

The 2024 Trax is visibly re-sculpted (lower, wider, longer) and carves more real estate into its cabin. Passenger volume hits 99.8 cu ft, with rear-row legroom stretched by three inches. 

Cargo? A generous 25.6 cu ft behind the second row, expanding to 54.1 cu ft with seats folded.

Power comes from a turbocharged 1.2 L three-cylinder, offering 137 hp and 162 lb-ft, routed through a six-speed automatic. EPA-estimated mileage stands at 28 mpg city and 32 mpg highway (30 mpg combined), good for its class.

The cockpit impresses: an 11-inch display, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, wireless charging, active noise cancellation, heated steering wheel, and Chevy Safety Assist across trims. This is real tech without reminding you how little you paid.

Edmunds flagged sharper acceleration, comfy front seats, and intuitive controls, ending with a pointed “superior buy” nod.

GM’s recent reliability bumps, from unreliable engines to vanishing alerts

Despite owning the loyalty charts, GM hasn’t been free of stumbles.

The automaker issued a massive recall (nearly 600,000 trucks and SUVs with 6.2L V8 L87 engines) due to internal defects that could cause abrupt engine failure, sometimes with no warning.

Add to that a recall of over 449,000 SUVs and pickups where brake fluid level warning lights simply didn’t work, potentially compromising stopping power.

And let’s not forget about the more than 132,000 heavy-duty trucks recalled because tailgates could unlatch unexpectedly. In short, recent times for GM meant rolling recalls and a sharper set of customer complaints than they’d care to own.

Why the Trax is winning over U.S. drivers

Here’s where the plot turns: the HR-V walked in clean, but the Trax sprinted in rebranded. 

Chevy didn’t need magic; it needed momentum. The Trax’s redesign delivered style, smart packaging, and tech that reads fresh, all starting from a lower price than HR-V’s brand-backed but arguably mild packaging.

The base 2024 HR-V began at $24,600, with the HR-V EX-L starting at $29,500. This year, the HR-V rose in price, and the EX-L even crossed the $30k mark.

The 2024 Trax LS, though, kicked off at just under $21,000 in some cases. The top-level trims, the ACTIV and 2RS, started around $24,995. For 2025, not much changed. The LS is still around $21k. The ACTIV and 2RS still hover near $25k.

In a time when buyers are squeezed by rising auto prices, Trax offered punchy utility without the premium mark-up.

The HR-V quietly does everything right…but perhaps too quietly

The Trax says something different than other compact domestics, looks new, and still screams budget friendly without settling for a sedan. Sometimes the quieter model gets out-talked at the dealership. And 2024 belonged to the Trax.