[Music] the first Honda CRV was an interesting
car came at a time when Honda was trying stuff and they tried something new they
worked out that SUVs are probably going to spend more time in shopping center
car parks and they do on muddy lanes turns out they were right this is the
2020 Honda CRV vti LX all-wheel drive that means it's got everything it's only
a little bit bigger than that car from 25 years ago but its massive inside the
vti LX all-wheel drive cost forty-four thousand two hundred ninety dollars
that's the same as it cost it launched three years ago that's pretty good going
it's 4.6 meters long that's actually not that long for a car that can in some
versions fit seven seats but this one doesn't it does have a lot of interior
space though because the wheelbase is really long for a car this size to have
this much space is very impressive which means there is a ton of room back here
I'm sitting behind where I drive 190 centimeters tall and I have got tons of
room tons of legroom the seats nice and high so I get my feet under here it's
quite it's almost palatial back here it's very nice you've also got you know
bottle holders got these dodgy cupholders air vents not a lot of cars
in this class have air vents back here two USB ports heaps a head room I mean
Richard Berry who is like nine feet tall you might struggle a little bit back
here particularly with this sunroof so if you do have tool people in the back
don't go for the top of the range but there is tons of room plus you've got
the flat floor which you can walk through the car and it just means that
little kids aren't going to trip over and fall on their face which is funny
but not for them now for the kids you've got two hours to fix points and three
top tether anchors now the reason I'm telling you this from the boot is that
there's a problem well it may not be a problem for you but it would be a
problem for me the top tether anchors are actually here in the rear bulkhead
now when my son was tiny we had a Peugeot which had the same
thing and it just means it cuts into the available boot space you've got more
than one that's even worse because as you know carrying kids around is not
about the kids themselves it's about all got to take with you anyway because
we're in the vti Alex you cannot have this as a seven-seater which means you
don't have to take anybody else's kids to soccer I mean you get more boot space
you get 40 liters more at 522 liters you also get when you put these seats down
there's two ways to do it these little handles as well
you get 1082 liters I reckon that's a little bit conservative it's probably
closer to 1400 liters I get the distinct impression that Honda wants to put this
engine in every car it makes it's the 1.5 liter four-cylinder turbo I'd be
pretty happy if I put it in every car cuz it's better than the 2-liter that's
down in the bottom of the range don't worry about it being little it's got
plenty of power and torque and it's more than enough to pull this car along if
you want to know more if you want to get all the details don't forget to read my
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CRV has a bit of an old-school SUV feel about it you sit quite high even though
the car itself isn't particularly high but you've got a really good view down
the road and you've got a really good view in every direction actually because
there's glass everywhere it's quite boxy so you kind of don't miss out anything
it's a little bit there down there but there is a solution for that it's also
heaps of safety goodies you've got airbags and abs and all that but you've
got Honda sensing as well which is standard here on the VTOL X so that
means you've got four Daby you've got lane departure warning you've got road
departure warning which sounds very dramatic you've also got Lane watch
which is this really clever thing when you've hit the left indicator a little
camera that's hanging off the rear-vision mirror gives you a view down
the side of the car in this screen so that's really good if you you know
you've got a car down there or you know a cyclist speaking of this seven-inch
screen it's it's feeling old I mean it's a bit
small for 2020 everyone else is if not eight or nine inches but also the
graphics we've got to talk about the graphics they're feeling a little bit a
little bit Tron actually which is you know this thing is though this has apple
carplay and android auto so you never have to look at it unless you're using
the inbuilt sat-nav one of the things that sets Honda apart from the rest of
the pack is the thoughtfulness of the interior
does really really clever interiors like here in the CIB you've got a completely
flat floor in the back which means it's easy to to move stuff around and
actually store stuff in it you don't know how useful a flat floor is until I
they've got small kids or you're moving cot plants it's a bit niche but it does
happen you've also got this quite clever arrangement here in the center console
where you've got the armrest which flips up and you've got a beam here but
there's this sliding tray where you can put your phone under which you can hide
all your cables and stuff and actually all the cables are in there so you've
got two USB ports you've got a 12-volt outlet which is weird to go with the
other 12-volt power outlet and Honda's bizarre insistence on sticking with HDMI
and in the boot it's really wide and flat and uncluttered so it's really easy
to get stuff in and out you get two good cupholders up the front and you get two
in the back but they're a little bit mean they're quite shallow and they kind
of look like they don't fit in the armrest
you also get bottle holders in each door and they keep your bottles vertical
apparently that's a wine thing I don't care about wine but apparently it's good
I may not care about wine but I've heard the parents of small kids really dig it
something else that will really dig is this this is a really wide opening door
makes getting in and out really easy and it makes getting kids and stuff in and
out really easy it's fantastic I've never seen a door open this wide on a
car before Savi's quite that's quite American
actually it's I've got a really plush ride rolls a fair bit in corners not
puking children and roll but it does roll a fair bit it's all about comfort
this car and I'm okay with that it's certainly not the kind of car that I
would choose myself but some SUVs are a little bit firm riding because they are
biased towards that road-holding kind of feel but and with this all-wheel drive
and it has really come into its own today
you'll be able to know exactly what day I've shot this because it's the first
day it's rained in Sydney in like ten years the all-wheel drive has been
really really good in the wet because I know that front-wheel drive say these
tend to slip and slide a bit in the witness has been absolutely super grippy
the whole time it's been really really good now I mentioned the engine earlier
it's not bad I mean this is this is 1.7 tons that a little 1.5 is dragging along
and it's doing a really good job and it would do an even better job if it had a
proper transmission now I don't like CBTs
any CVT that you've seen me review you will see me complaining about them but
the Honda one is OK's doesn't flare a lot like some of them do like the the
Subaru one is it particularly in cars like the levorg it flares all over the
place see if it is 10 not to work very well when there's a fair amount of talk
but despite this having tall it it works really well and it
it picks up the slack reasonably quickly but yeah as soon as you put your foot to
the floor it roars and carries on it here in the vti Alex you do get paddles
so you can you can choose the gear yourself but yeah look most people
aren't gonna care but if you are worried about that kind of thing it does have a
CVT we don't get the diesel here in Australia and that has a nine speed Zed
F which would be great in this car but anyway we can't have everything what we
also don't get here is the hybrid that would be really cool so what else is
good about it the seats quite comfortable although like the HRV it's
really overstuffed here in the back and I kind of feel like I'm I just when I'm
driving um there might be some adjustment to fix that but I can't find
it Parfum that's very very comfortable like
I said before a really good view out plenty of light in the cabin so you know
you're not feeling like you're mdina into a dark cavern like the same as done
and it's it's just really comfortable and it's quiet I mean the most noise
we're getting today is the rain on the wind stream but it even with all the
water on the road you don't get that Shh through the up from the road very very
comfortable very quiet I reckon in the cruise actually I know in the cruise
this is a really nice place to be so on long trips you'll be really happy in
this car and you know I think you could probably say that for any CRV most them
are pretty much the same I mean that the bottom of the range has that dodgy
Toledo gutless one but as long as you've got the turbo engine you'll be pretty
happy for almost 45 grand you are getting a
lot of car while this might be a midsize SUV you've almost got the space of a
much larger car I quite like that about the CRV it's got a great engine
transmissions Bittner and there could be a few more safety features but this is a
terrific car [Music]