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- The Honda CRV is one of the most popular
compact SUVs in its class.
It received some minor updates for the 2020 model year,
including a new hybrid variant,
but it's getting harder and harder
for the CRV to keep up with its competition.
Don't take these gripes the wrong way, though.
The CRV, like this 2021 model behind me,
is still a very good choice.
Let's dig in.
For 2020, Honda made some minor changes to the interior.
They added a wireless charging pad here,
and they moved the USB ports forward.
But what's really great about the CRV's interior
is that it's very roomy and airy, especially up front.
It's much more minivan-like than a compact SUV.
You get this center stack mounted gear selector,
which allows for a lot more space here.
You get a lot of great front storage.
A pass through would be nice, but this is all configurable.
Very deep.
You can slide panels forward.
You can slide them up completely.
Lots of great storage.
I do always have concerns that it's open
and that my stuff is gonna go flying out
when I hit the brakes, but it is what it is.
Front seats, also very, very comfortable.
Our editors all really enjoyed the seat comfort.
They're well padded, great for long drives.
Materials quality is kind of a mixed bag.
Things don't feel as nice as some of the competition.
It's not necessarily the worst,
but Honda is starting to fall behind in that.
You do get some nice little wood-like accents.
Where problems really start to arise is on the tech front.
You get this small seven inch touch screen
that's really starting to lag behind in the class.
And, except for this volume knob over here,
all the controls are touch sensitive.
You do get physical climate controls, which is a blessing.
Not everyone does that.
And then, on top of just the control situation,
you get some confusing menus.
It's very slow.
You have to go real deep into these menus
to change settings.
The same sort of complexity
is also a problem with the instrument panel.
It's a little bit confusing to operate,
and it's also just sort of weirdly angled sort of this way,
that makes me always feel like I have to crane my neck
a little to be looking at it properly.
One last weird little thing about the front of the CRV
is these two relocated USB ports.
They're both USB A.
Some competitors are starting to offer USB C exclusive,
or a combination of both,
but there's a 1.5 amp port and a 1 amp port.
And that's just on the weaker side of things.
The charging pad is also here.
I've had problems with my phone,
actually just sitting still and maintaining a charge.
What's weird, is that in back,
there dual 2.5 amp ports for the rear passengers.
So it just seems strange to me that the front occupants
have to deal with the less powerful ports,
while the rear seat gets the more powerful ones.
The backseat of the CRV is fairly unremarkable.
Besides the USB ports down here that we mentioned,
you do get some climate vents,
but you don't get climate controls.
Those are available on other competitors, but not here.
As you can see, I have a great amount of room.
I do wish the seat backs were a little more comfortable,
and I do wish there was a little more configurability here.
The backseat reclines, but it doesn't slide.
One last little gripe about the backseat of the CRV,
and it's kind of standard for Hondas,
is that the materials quality does take a dip.
So, up front you get padding up here.
Back here, just hard plastic.
Not the best.
The cargo area of the CRV is fairly unremarkable.
It does perform relatively well against the competition
in our cargo testing.
There's just not a lot really going on here.
It's roomy.
You get releases for the 60/40 split rear seat.
One on each side.
There's not a lot of under floor storage,
just some pockets over here.
And one thing that might actually impede cargo,
taller things, is you do have this rear seat belt
that comes from the ceiling
that does also impede rear visibility slightly.
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So for 2020, Honda replaced the base four cylinder
in the LX model with the 1.5 liter turbo charged
four cylinder that's now standard across the lineup.
It makes 190 horsepower, 179 pounds feet of torque.
Fuel economy is 27 in the city, 32 on the highway,
and 29 combined, which is fairly high for the class.
It's kind of a mixed bag driving experience.
The powertrain is very reluctant to do anything
from a standstill.
You step on the gas,
it really asks you if that's what you want to do,
thinks about it, and then goes.
But once you are moving,
you do actually have a fairly decent amount of power
for passing, highway mergers, that sort of thing.
And it's actually fairly quick for the class.
The hybrid, which you can actually check out our comparison
of the CRV hybrid and the RAV4 hybrid
that we did earlier this year.
It's sort of the opposite.
It's quicker off the line,
but it starts to fall on its face
once you get up into higher speeds.
Ride and handling, again, kind of a mixed bag.
I think the ride in the CRV is just a bit too firm.
You really feel impacts.
I wish they'd maybe downsized the wheels an inch.
These are 19 inch wheels.
Eighteens would have made me a little happier.
And the short wheel base, I think,
contributes to a bit of busy-ness
over continued road imperfections.
But, the elephant in the room that you're about to hear
is the noise.
It is grating at low speeds, at high speeds.
There's road noise and wind noise.
It's just not a very quiet or comfortable place to be,
particularly for long trips, if you have sensitive ears.
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As for handling, it's a CRV.
You should not be expecting too much from it.
It does have a really sharp and precise steering field,
which a lot of our editors really enjoy.
I enjoy it as well.
But I find there's a lot of body motion
as you get into sharper corners.
It just pitches and tips.
But it's a compact SUV, it's not a performance car.
You shouldn't be expecting high performance driving
out of a mid $30,000 five seat compact SUV.
And, last for the CRV, the brakes.
They're fairly good.
You get the right amount of stopping power
for the amount of effort you put into the pedal.
It's all very linear.
They're not wildly outstanding,
but there are others in the class that do it a lot worse.
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The CRV may be falling behind
what is a very crowded and competitive field,
but it's still got a lot of good things going for it,
which might make it right for you.
For more on the CRV, be sure to check out cars.com/news.