First drive: Taking the all-new Honda CR-V on a South Island mission
We get a first taste of the new Honda CR-V for a jaunt from Nelson to Christchurch. Honda's sixth-generation CR-V has already arrived in showrooms around the country, with the company reporting strong sales so far. The CR-Vs are 80mm longer, 10mm wider, and 40mm longer in wheelbase than the previous generation, and use a 1.5-litre turbocharged four producing 140kW/240Nm. The cabin features a similar dashboard and center console to its Civic and ZR-V bandmates, complete with Honda’s now signature minimalist air conditioning grille, fantastic fit and finish, and much improved software. Honda also sees the CR-v as a rival for the usual RAV4, Outlander, and CX-5 suspects, but also for larger three-rowers like the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento. The 1.3-powered version of the CRV has been given a 10kW power bump in the 1.6-second rev range, with both engines having a new exhaust system.
Published : 2 years ago by Matthew Hansen in Auto
The all-new CR-V has already arrived at Honda dealerships around the country, with the company reporting strong sales so far.
Honda’s lineage packs plenty of bona-fide motoring icons, from the S600 to the NSX. Although it isn’t quite as glamorous as the obvious picks (I certainly don’t recall seeing Ayrton Senna driving one...), Honda’s trusty CR-V is also worthy of icon consideration.
Launched overseas in 1995 and in New Zealand a year later, the Honda CR-V was one of the pioneers of the all-conquering family SUV segment that now dominates the new-car market, perhaps pipped only by the original Toyota RAV4. And now there’s a new one.
The sixth-generation CR-V has landed in showrooms around the country, with Honda marking the occasion by hosting a launch with a twist; a one-day road trip, from Nelson to Christchurch.
Make me an instant expert: what do I need to know?
An all-new platform derived from the underpinnings of the Civic leads the sweeping changes Honda has drafted with the CR-V. It’s 80mm longer, 10mm wider, and 40mm longer in wheelbase than the previous generation – which itself wasn’t exactly small.
There are three models currently; the $53,000 Sport AWD, $57,000 Sport 7 (the sole 7-seat option), and the $67,000 RS e:HEV. The former pair use a familiar pure-combustion 1.5-litre turbocharged four producing 140kW/240Nm, while the RS uses a 2.0-litre petrol four paired with an integrated dual-motor ECVT set-up and 1.06kWh battery, making 135kW/335Nm along the way.
Yes, like just about everything else these days, the CR-V has become more expensive (Honda keenly notes that the RS e:HEV is one of the cheapest hybrid SUVs in class). But, Honda says customer interest remains high. It reportedly sold more than 100 of these within the first hour of it being on sale, with the brand expecting to sell more than 800 before the end of the financial year.
Something that helps lessen the sting of the CR-V’s price increase is the cabin. It gets a very similar dashboard and center console to its Civic and ZR-V bandmates, complete with Honda’s now signature minimalist air conditioning grille, fantastic fit and finish, and much improved software.
Honda sees the CR-V not only as a rival for the usual RAV4, Outlander, and CX-5 suspects, but also for some of the larger three-rowers like the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento. It’s certainly not small, being 35mm longer than the RAV4 and 85mm longer than the CX-5. It’s a little shorter than its most logical direct 7-seat rival, the Outlander, and 175mm shorter than the Sorento.
It’s a mature, sensible looking thing this updated CR-V. It’s uncanny how much more athletic the RS looks than either of the Sport grades just with the simple act of painting the wheelarch extensions the same colour as the body and bolting on larger wheels.
Those engine options might sound a little familiar if you’ve read our reporting on the CR-V’s little ZR-V cousin, although the eagle-eyed will note that both power plants have slightly higher power outputs – a 10kW power bump in the 1.5 and 20Nm of extra torque in the e:HEV.
Honda says both engines have been given a bit of TLC. The 1.5 gains a new turbo and exhaust manifold (the former kicking in 300rpm earlier in the rev range), and both powertrains have had their NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) levels reduced.
The CR-V is also offered with a plug-in hybrid option in Europe, but Honda New Zealand has confirmed it won’t be coming here.
What’s it like to drive?
Flying into cold, crisp Nelson in the wee hours of the morning, we took a brief tour of Honda’s fascinating distribution centre and inhaled a scone before hitting the road for a roadie along one of New Zealand’s most gorgeous stretches of highway; SH65 and Lewis Pass SH7. A truly awesome piece of tarmac, serving up endless picturesque mountain vistas between each twist and turn.
The five-hour, 400km jaunt was split by a pit-stop in Hanmer Springs for food and a car swap. In other words, the kind of drive that a good mid-size SUV should gobble up with glee. Our first leg was spent in the three-row Sport 7, with the RS e:HEV getting driven second.
Although the ‘Sport’ is the CR-V’s entry-level trim package, it feels more like a mid- to upper-spec model. Standard gear includes dual-zone climate control, power-adjustable heated front seats, wireless phone charging, satnav, leather appointments, wireless Apple CarPlay, a 9-inch touchscreen, and a panoramic sunroof (exclusive to the Sport 7 and RS). The RS, meanwhile, adds red stitching and metal trims inside, and 19-inch wheels and body-coloured cladding outside.
Honda Sensing, the carmaker’s safety tech suite, is also present and improved with sharper radar cruise control, AEB that can now detect pedestrians and cyclists, and a main camera with a wider field of view – and all three models get the full Sensing treatment. There are some holes in the spec of both the Sport and RS, like the lack of a head-up display in either model, but overwhelmingly the pair feel well kitted out.
The CR-V’s enlarged wheelbase means not only healthy legroom in the second row, but also a pretty generous walkway for those getting into the third row in the Sport 7. Legroom in the very back is poor when the second row seats are in their default position (that is, pushed all the way back), but they can easily be slid forward to give those in the back a surprising amount of space.
The first leg of this jaunt to Christchurch was the more aggressive of the two, with twistier roads and less traffic allowing us to fully explore the Sport 7’s new platform and revised 1.5-litre turbo.
I’ve long had mixed feelings about this 1.5, having sampled it in various Honda products over the years and previously pinging it over noise and refinement gripes. The work Honda has done with it – and its adjoining CVT – over the years has clearly worked, with these latest changes not only clearly improving its refinement, but making it a tangibly better performer. Powering something as big as a CR-V with a 1.5 might sound sketchy, but in practice it’s something you barely think about.
The 1.5 does admittedly start running out of puff towards the top end. Those wanting a bit more oomph will likely opt for the 2.0 e:HEV instead. This powertrain was mighty impressive in the ZR-V we drove earlier this year and, with its 20Nm of extra twist here, it remains a very, very capable option.
Torque fill provided by the dual motors and a unique thirst for revs from the 2.0 make this a surprisingly engaging powertrain when pushed. It gets to 100kph in just over 7.5 seconds, which is commendable for something this size.
Both engines performed rather well in terms of economy, too. With the amount of ‘enthusiastic’ driving on mountainous roads we were doing, the 10.2L/100km we saw on the 1.5 was reasonable. Over the same stretch and driven with similar gusto, the RS returned 7.6L/100km.
Perhaps the CR-V’s most compelling trick, though, is how it handles. Its road-holding abilities have improved leaps and bounds between generations, thanks mostly to that excellent Civic platform. Cornering remains unflappable and neutral at speeds that would ordinarily flummox an SUV.
It’s almost Civic Type R-esque in how it deals with challenge, all grip and balance. This is a sharper drive than the RAV4 and Outlander, sitting right up there with the CX-5 for fun factor.
Why would I buy it?
The all-new CR-V comes at just the right time for Honda. With the Clean Car Discount set to be lifted at the end of the year, interest in mid-size SUVs like these is expected to pick up in 2024. Where the old CR-V was a bit of an underrated ‘diamond in the rough’, this is a proper segment front runner.
The lack of a properly affordable sub-$50k base option might hurt the CR-V over time, particularly when Toyota offers numerous value-packed versions of the CR-V’s lifelong rival – the RAV4. Beyond that, it’s difficult to find boxes that the CR-V doesn’t emphatically tick.
Topics: Honda