Honda CR-V Hybrid road test: a highly recommended hybrid SUV

The hybrid version of the Honda CR-V brings together many arguments to be considered a highly recommended purchase among family SUVs, and not only because of how well its innovative hybrid system works. We tell you about it in this road test.

We gave you a preview of some of its qualities during a first hands-on drive of the Honda CR-V Hybrid at its international press presentation. Now we have lived with this hybrid SUV for several days, using it in different circumstances and on all kinds of journeys, and we can carry out a much more in-depth test.

We can confirm that the more you drive it, the more you appreciate the areas where the CR-V excels: the smoothness of its ride and the comfort it offers the driver and passengers, as well as a consumption figure that can be surprisingly low in the city. But let’s look at it in much more detail.

A review of the technical features of the CR-V Hybrid

Although it doesn’t affect the driving experience, since the CR-V handles just like any other automatic car, with the same particularities as other hybrid cars when it comes to getting the most out of the propulsion system (you can read here how to get more out of your hybrid car), it’s useful to know some technical curiosities of the CR-V Hybrid.

The CR-V is a “different” hybrid, because here it is almost always the electric motor that drives the wheels, and it produces 184 CV of power. The combustion engine, a 2-litre petrol unit with Atkinson cycle and 145 CV, drives a generator to produce the electricity the electric motor needs, which is also stored in a small battery.

Depending on the driving style, the system can operate in fully electric mode (EV Drive), in hybrid mode (Hybrid Drive) or in the mode that Honda calls Engine Drive, which usually activates when driving on country roads or motorways.

The electric mode activates automatically when setting off from a standstill, and the motor draws energy here from the small lithium-ion battery –with a capacity of approximately 1 kWh–, as long as you are driving at low speed. It can do so for around two kilometres.

The hybrid mode is more “complex” to understand. Here, the petrol engine does not drive the wheels; it drives the generator to produce electricity, which goes to the electric motor to power the wheels, or to the battery if there is any surplus. A sophisticated management system ensures that the energy balance of burning petrol to produce electricity pays off, keeping the combustion engine working within its most efficient range.

For country roads and motorways, at speeds from 80 km/h, the petrol engine connects to the wheels through a clutch, and it takes care of driving the wheels, although the electric motor can provide assistance if strong acceleration is requested.

Honda provides some figures that help to understand how the CR-V’s hybrid system management works.

For example, in urban driving, up to around 40 km/h, it operates in hybrid mode almost 20% of the time, and in electric mode almost 80% of the time. Yes, even though the range in this mode is 2 km, the capacity to regenerate energy is very large during that 20% of the time spent in hybrid mode. Between 40 and 80 km/h, which corresponds to extra-urban driving, it operates in EV mode almost 50% of the time, in hybrid mode around 30%, and only in about 20% of cases is the combustion engine the one driving the wheels. On the open road, the petrol engine handles propulsion 60% of the time, compared with a little over 20% in electric mode, with the rest in hybrid mode.

Behind the wheel of the Honda CR-V

Now that you have that fresh in mind, let’s move straight on to the driving sensations. There will be time to discuss other details later.

And the first thing to say is that the CR-V Hybrid is extremely easy to drive. You quickly get to know the controls and, without meaning to, find yourself in a driving dynamic that “invites” you to save energy by being gentle with the accelerator, and using the paddles on the steering wheel to adjust the regenerative braking. In this way, you can lose speed –for example when approaching traffic lights, or when getting close to a slower car– using the paddles, without having to touch the brake pedal, which, incidentally, has a good feel.

There isn’t even a gear change, so it does away with the gear lever altogether; instead there are buttons on the centre console to select forward, reverse, neutral or park lock. You can choose between a Sport mode and an Eco mode, as well as the “EV mode” to force electric operation.

If you haven’t driven another hybrid car before, the CR-V will feel very similar to driving an automatic car, standing out for its smoothness and immediate power delivery. Performance is what you would expect from a car advertising 184 CV; you will hardly find situations where you miss more push or greater acceleration. It’s worth mentioning, in case the figure sounds odd to you, that the top speed is limited to 180 km/h, because the CR-V doesn’t use a gearbox as such, as explained earlier.

Compared with other “conventional” hybrids that are driven mainly by the combustion engine, with the electric motor playing a secondary role (take the Toyota RAV4, one of its main rivals), the CR-V’s main advantage is that the noise of the petrol engine never becomes annoying when you accelerate hard, although it isn’t as quiet on the motorway as similar cars with combustion engines.

As for the chassis settings chosen by Honda, they make the CR-V prioritise comfort, without needing a controlled-damping suspension or a setup so soft that it compromises body control. It responds well to steering inputs, with smoothness and precision, without stability being compromised under hard braking or on very twisty roads.

How much does the CR-V consume?

You’re surely wondering how all this translates when you stop at the pump, which should be one of the advantages of a hybrid car over one with a combustion engine, in addition to all the benefits of having the ECO label.

Well, where the CR-V will surprise you most, as expected, is in the city. Averages of 5 l/100 km in a car of this size and weight are entirely achievable; to give you an idea, the equivalent petrol-engined CR-V, under the same conditions, hardly drops below 9 l/100 km.

Outside the city, the consumption figures still feel “diesel-like”: if you drive efficiently you can get close to 7 l/100 km. In Sport mode and if you push it on twisty roads it will rise considerably… but it will be very hard to reach double-digit figures. To achieve that, you would need to drive at high speeds on motorways. And when I say high, I mean the German “autobahn”, maintaining steady speeds above 150 km/h.

The CR-V’s cabin: quality and quantity

One thing I should perhaps have told you earlier is that, unlike the rest of the petrol-engined range, the hybrid version of the CR-V cannot be specified with a third row of seats and seven seats.

Otherwise, the most significant change affects the instrumentation, specific to this model, with a 7-inch digital display and gauges showing information related to the hybrid system. It takes a little while to get the hang of moving through the menus using the buttons on the steering wheel, which could be more intuitive, but in the end you get used to it.

The perceived quality is very high, the presentation is excellent, and the fittings feel solid. One aspect that contributes to the sense of comfort the CR-V gives is its spacious interior, among the best in its class in every dimension. The feel and sound of the controls when you operate them also contribute, as do the support and cushioning of the seats. What’s more, there are very practical storage spaces for putting away things you want within reach, or that simply bother you in your pockets: keys, phone, glasses…

The only aspect I find improvable in the CR-V is the multimedia system, something we already noticed in the first hands-on drive, but which now, in this longer test, becomes more evident. Specifically, the navigation is slow and the screen doesn’t offer the precision of touch control found in more advanced systems. In the end, you wind up using compatibility with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to navigate with your phone’s apps; though, of course, eating into your data…

A boot that can handle almost anything

Its hybrid status is no obstacle to the CR-V offering a good boot, with regular shapes and very usable space. It offers a capacity of 500 litres, about 60 less than the combustion-engined versions of the CR-V. It’s a pity the rear bench has no longitudinal adjustment to favour either load space or passenger room.

Even so, boot capacity is above average, although you have to forgo the emergency spare wheel that the petrol versions do have; instead, there is a puncture repair kit. The floor can be placed at different heights, and the rear seat backs can be easily folded down using pulls located on the sides, thus expanding the capacity to 1,700 litres.

Honda offers various individual boot accessories, such as a cargo organiser with rails (€370), a waterproof and non-slip floor mat (€125), a pet divider (€265) or a cargo net (€65). It can have an electric tailgate operated with a foot gesture, but this is not available as an option; it is standard only on the top version.

Is all-wheel drive worth it?

Well, I wouldn’t recommend it, unless you’re sure you’re going to use the car a lot on dirt tracks, country roads or roads with snow or ice. And even then, I’d almost tell you to consider fitting All Season tyres first. That would be my choice, rather than a CR-V with 4WD and conventional tyres.

That said, you should know that the CR-V Hybrid can also be fitted with all-wheel drive, which doesn’t use an electric motor to drive the rear wheels; instead, there is a mechanical connection between both axles via a propshaft and a multi-plate clutch. While it isn’t needed, the CR-V works as a front-wheel-drive car; if the front axle slips, it can send up to 60% of the torque to the rear axle.

In addition to its greater ability to transmit engine power to the ground in low-grip conditions, an advantage of the all-wheel-drive CR-V for driving off-tarmac, which you wouldn’t get by changing the tyres as I suggested earlier, is a ground clearance 10 mm higher, reaching 192 mm. And it doesn’t reduce boot space. On the downside, it increases consumption (from 6.9 to 7.3 l/100 km according to homologated figures), and it represents a considerable outlay over the 2WD, which exceeds €3,000.

Petrol vs Hybrid

A reasonable question that may arise when buying a Honda CR-V is whether it’s worth it compared with the petrol versions. And, as is often the case, the answer depends on an equation involving price, performance and consumption.

There are two petrol versions of the CR-V, one with 173 CV and another with 193. If you’re willing to give up the automatic gearbox, which is not available with the 173 CV engine, and price is your priority, the €3,300 difference may be a decisive argument for forgetting about the hybrid, because the petrol CR-V with this engine is excellent (even the manual gearbox is among the best on the market), goes well and uses very little fuel.

With the more powerful engine, now with an automatic gearbox and a similar trim, the petrol CR-V costs about €1,300 more than the hybrid. And although it has slightly better performance and its engine is quieter on long journeys, we’d stick with the hybrid, which also uses around 2 litres less fuel in real-world use. More so if you do a lot of city driving.

Four versions available: which trim makes sense?

The Honda CR-V Hybrid is available in four trim levels: Comfort, Elegance, Lifestyle and Executive.

With the Comfort trim the price starts at €33,050. It includes as standard all the assistants and driving aids of Honda Sensing (autonomous emergency braking, traffic sign recognition, adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist), 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and automatic climate control. The Elegance trim costs €1,200 more and adds the Honda Connect multimedia system with navigation, a rear-view camera and a climate control system that becomes dual-zone.

Compared with the Elegance, the Lifestyle trim represents an additional outlay of €4,600. Here, leather upholstery, privacy glass, a heated windscreen, cross-traffic alert for reversing into parking spaces and cornering lights come as standard. Finally, the Executive version starts at €45,700 (almost €7,000 more than the Lifestyle, and about €13,000 more than the Comfort), and here you get everything from the panoramic roof to the HUD instrumentation, heated seats and steering wheel, and hands-free tailgate opening.

There are optional accessory packs, such as the Aero Pack, which costs €3,200 and gives a sportier look. The Convenience Pack, costing around €750, adds mouldings, sill protectors and skirts to protect the bodywork. You can also fit a detachable (€870) or retractable (€1,430) tow bar as accessories.

Our recommended version, taking into account price and equipment, and already including the items we consider essential, would be the Honda CR-V Hybrid Elegance, with a list price of €34,250. We wouldn’t rule out the basic version, at €33,050, especially considering that navigation is one of the weak points of the CR-V.

The rivals of the Honda CR-V Hybrid

There are many SUVs in the segment of the Honda CR-V. With hybrid engines, there are still very few: the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, available from €33,000 and also with 2WD and 4WD versions, and the Lexus UX 250h, with a somewhat more exclusive and less family-oriented approach than the former, starting at €35,900. Larger and pricier, though now with interesting offers, is the Lexus NX 300h.

If you have the option to plug it in, don’t rule out a plug-in hybrid SUV. And there are some of the same size and price as the CR-V. Our most recommended option in this case, as we explained in our road test of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, would be the Japanese SUV, which you can buy from €36,850. And keep an eye on the new Ford Kuga PHEV, already in dealerships with a price from €37,800.

Among SUVs with conventional combustion engines, we’ll recommend two. On the one hand, the Hyundai Tucson, which with a 48-volt Mild Hybrid system carries an ECO label. You can choose from several engines, but we’d go for the 1.6 CRDi with 136 CV and DCT gearbox in the sporty N Line trim, from €34,865 with discount. On the other hand, a safe bet and benchmark for quality and finish among non-premium brands, the Volkswagen Tiguan. You can get it for less than €36,000 in Advance trim, with the 150 CV TSI engine and 7-speed DSG gearbox.

Image gallery of the Honda CR-V Hybrid

Technical specifications of this car

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