Honda CR-V Review (2023-present)

What is the Honda CR-V?

The Honda CR-V is one of the most recognisable nameplates in the SUV market. The first generation went on sale in the mid-1990s, and quickly established itself as a spacious and dependable family car. As with many long-running car models (think VW Polo and Golf, Honda Civic et al), each generation of CR-V has grown compared with its predecessor, to the point where Honda believes the latest model can stand tyre-to-tyre with what might have previously been considered vehicles from the class above, including the BMW X3 and Audi Q5.

To that end, this sixth-generation CR-V is longer (by 8cm) and wider (by 1cm) than its predecessor, with a wheelbase that has been stretched by 4cm. Partly as a result of this increased size, and partly due to its more assertive styling, the CR-V also carries much more presence in its latest guise – another reason Honda believes it can attract buyers who might otherwise gravitate to a premium-badged alternative.

The CR-V is offered in hybrid and plug-in hybrid forms only; there are no plain petrol or diesel models in the range, and no fully electric CR-V either. What’s more, despite its size the CR-V is a five-seater only, with no option to upgrade to seven seats as in rivals such as the Skoda Kodiaq or Nissan X-Trail.

If you want a CR-V with all-wheel drive you’ll need to opt for the standard (or self-charging) hybrid model, badged e:HEV. The plug-in hybrid CR-V, known as the e:PHEV, is front-wheel drive only.

How practical is it?

Aside from the fact it isn’t offered with seven seats, the CR-V aces this practicality test. The rear seats feature so much legroom that even taller adults won’t find much to complain about. Furthermore, even with the standard-fit panoramic sunroof there’s good headroom, plus the backrests of the rear seats can recline to maximise comfort. While you don’t get three individual seats like in the Citroen C5 Aircross, the CR-V’s 60:40 split-folding rear bench is wide enough to cope with three adults sitting side-by-side. As a final practical touch, the rear seats are on runners meaning they can slide fore and aft by up to 19cm, allowing you to trade some of that legroom for extra boot space.

Not that you’ll feel short-changed when it comes to boot space, either. The standard hybrid’s boot is 587 litres with the rear seats all the way back, which is among the largest in the class. Opt for the plug-in hybrid and you’ll get an even bigger boot, with a capacity of 617 litres. This extra space is a result of an adjustable height boot floor which can be set to a lower position, which isn’t possible in the e:HEV full hybrid. In both models you can fold the rear seats completely flat to give a vast load area.

The front of the CR-V is equally as roomy. You sit up high with a commanding view of the road, giving the CR-V the feel of a full-size SUV. The electrically adjustable seats make it easy to find a good driving position, and there’s loads of storage for odds and ends that includes cupholders and a large cubby under the armrest.

What’s it like to drive?

Both CR-Vs use what is essentially the same hybrid system, the difference being that the plug-in model has a significantly larger battery to give a pure electric range of up to 50 miles in official tests (expect more like 40 miles in normal driving). The drivetrain combines a 2.0-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine with two electric motors. One of these motors drives the wheels, while the other is a generator motor. In normal driving the system works by using the petrol engine to power the generator motor, which can send power either to the wheels via the drive motor, or to the battery. This gives the CR-V more of an electric car feel in the way it drives, and also means the petrol engine can work at its optimum efficiency. One of the system’s neat tricks is that at higher speeds, when it would be inefficient to use the electric drive motor to power the wheels, the petrol engine can bypass the generator motor and provide direct drive to the wheels. Or, as a final layer of complication, petrol and electric power sources can work in combination for maximum thrust when needed, at which point the CR-V can accelerate from 0-62mph in 9.4 seconds.

As a driver you might well care less about how the hybrid system works, and more about what it feels like. In that regard, it’s a smooth system in terms of power delivery, and even the full hybrid CR-V will run in its EV mode for a fair amount of time, for example at very low speeds or when coasting. When the petrol engine is running from cold it can be quite noisy, but it becomes quieter once warmed through to the point where it’s only really under hard acceleration that you ever think about it. Even then it’s usefully more refined than in the previous generation of CR-V, which used an earlier version of this hybrid setup.

When it comes to ride and handling, the CR-V is unashamedly comfort-oriented, with the standard-fit 18-inch alloy wheels and relatively soft suspension doing a good job of soaking up bumps in the road. There’s a fair bit of tyre noise at motorway speeds, and the steering is unexpectedly heavy, but aside from that the big Honda generally wafts you about in a calm and composed fashion.

That’s less the case, mind you, if you opt for the plug-in hybrid version. With its bigger battery the e:PHEV CR-V is 100kg heavier than the e:HEV model, and despite standard fit adaptive dampers the suspension struggles to contain this extra weight when the road becomes more undulating. Where the e:HEV generally feels composed, the e:PHEV’s mass counts against it, with a ride than can very quickly become too bouncy for comfort. While the dampers do have a firmer sport setting it’s still not enough to match the composure of the lighter e:HEV CR-V on its passive suspension. The other noticeable difference in the way the two cars drive, of course, is in the amount of time you can spend on electric power. With an EV range of up to 50 miles the e:PHEV will spend an awful lot of its time on serene electric power. And even when the petrol engine does kick in it doesn’t need to work as hard, meaning it’s slightly quieter.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

Honda has done away with any notion of there being an entry-level version of the CR-V. Even the Elegance trim that kicks off the range is fully loaded with equipment that includes electrically adjustable heated leather seats, a heated steering wheel, a panoramic sunroof, dual-zone climate control, a wireless phone charger and more.

Move up to Advance trim and you also get heated rear seats, a head up display, and a 12-speaker Bose sound system. The top-spec Advance Tech trim is reserved for the plug-in hybrid, with the main specification change being the larger battery, while other detail changes include the wheel arches and lower bumpers being body coloured rather than black.

All CR-Vs feature the same infotainment setup, which consists of a nine-inch screen with wired Android Auto and wireless Apple CarPlay. It’s an identical system to the one you’ll find in the Civic, and is at once a vast improvement on Honda’s previous generation infotainment but still not as good as the best in class. Frustrations include a slight lag when selecting functions, and some very convoluted menus to work through. The CR-V’s dials meanwhile are displayed on a 10.2-inch screen. The display itself is clear and easy to read, but there’s not much in the way of configurability.

Overall, we’d still rate the infotainment and digital dial setup in the Kia Sportage as being a step above Honda’s in terms of appearance and user-friendliness.

Honda CR-V running costs

With its EV range of up to 50 miles and CO2 emissions of just 18g/km, the CR-V e:PHEV is the one to go for if you’re a company car driver, because you’ll make significant savings in benefit-in-kind tax compared with if you had the full hybrid. It also means the CR-V e:PHEV gets an official WLTP combined fuel economy figure of 353mpg. You’d need to plug in an awful lot to realise that figure, but with the generous EV-only range anybody with a home charger will likely be able to do a lot of their driving on (cheaper) electric energy.

The full hybrid CR-V has a WLTP combined economy figure of 42.2mpg and CO2 emissions of 151g/km. In motorway driving the fuel economy will dip below 40mpg, but picks up again once you reach slower roads. As such, drivers who complete the majority of the driving on the motorway will likely be better off with one of the CR-V’s diesel-powered rivals. For mixed driving, however, the Honda is about as efficient as anything else in this class, and over several hundred miles that covered towns and motorways we averaged a respectable 42mpg.

Honda CR-V reliability

Honda as a brand is known for building some of the most reliable cars around, a reputation that has partly been built off the durability of the CR-V. This latest model is too new for there to be any reliability data, but its predecessor finished 4th out of the 24 cars in the large SUV class in the 2023 What Car? Reliability Index. Honda as a brand meanwhile finished 6th of the 32 brands included in the survey.

Where you might feel let down is in Honda’s warranty, which only lasts for 3 years or 90,000 miles, whereas Hyundai and Kia offer five-year and seven-year warranties respectively. Another of Honda’s biggest rivals, Toyota, will warranty its cars up to 10 years and 100,000 miles provided they are maintained within its dealer network.