New Honda CR-V 2019: also hybrid and with 7 seats

Honda presents the fifth generation of the Honda CR-V at the Geneva Motor Show, an SUV that arrives in Europe in autumn this year with seven seats and a hybrid version.

Honda already made its intentions clear with the new Honda CR-V when it unveiled the Honda CR-V Hybrid concept prototype. At that time, it announced, among other things, that the CR-V’s successor would abandon diesel engines. Now, at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, the Japanese brand presents the European version of one of the best-selling SUVs in the world.

Goodbye diesel, welcome hybrid. Honda will only sell hybrid and petrol versions of the new CR-V 2019

The Honda CR-V 2019, which will reach the market in autumn this year, will thus take the place of the current model, which was launched in 2012 and received its last facelift in 2015. Among the hybrid SUVs the new Honda CR-V will compete with, the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (the latter being the only plug-in hybrid in the segment, for the moment) stand out. With the combustion-engine versions, it will also face the Skoda Kodiaq, Mazda CX-5 and Volkswagen Tiguan, among many others.

New platform, goodbye diesel

With a newly developed platform, a major novelty of the Honda CR-V 2019 is that, for the first time in Europe, a seven-seat variant with three rows of seats will be offered. The final dimensions and weights are not yet known, but Honda says it is only “slightly larger than its predecessor”, with a considerable increase in wheelbase, which should be key in gaining centimetres for passengers and for the boot, now with a power tailgate featuring a programmable opening height and hands-free function.

Petrol or hybrid, those will be the two options available in the CR-V 2019 range, initially with 2WD traction, but in both cases with the option of choosing the 4WD variant with Honda’s intelligent all-wheel-drive system called Real Time AWD Control System. The 4WD versions increase ground clearance by 38 mm, reaching 208 mm.

As for engines, the petrol variant will be the 1.5 Turbo, whose final power output is still unknown. It can be chosen with a manual gearbox or a CVT automatic gearbox. The hybrid will have to wait until 2019. It will be the first Honda SUV with this technology in Europe, the Honda CR-V hybrid featuring a 2.0 naturally aspirated petrol engine and two electric motors.

Interior of the Honda CR-V: a commitment to quality

At Honda they want the new CR-V to retain the premium touch of previous generations, and to achieve this they continue to rely on quality materials, first-class fit and a design that is now more sophisticated. The 7-inch central touchscreen of the multimedia system is now joined by a second digital display of the same size for the instrument cluster.

Even so, Honda does not entrust everything to touchscreen operation, and keeps separate, accessible groups of conventional controls for the main functions, such as climate control.

The option of seven seats is reserved exclusively for petrol-engined versions. Honda states that it has achieved a space and a seat access system for this third row that makes the new CR-V 2019 one of the best options in its class.

Technical specifications of this car

Off-RoadHonda CR-V4 versions · from 51,545 €