New Honda CR-V review - Better than VW & Skoda
**Floundering at a Junction**
When driving through a junction or roundabout, it's essential to look straight on and plan your route accordingly. This is especially important when approaching a 20mph zone, where drivers need to be aware of their surroundings and adjust their speed limit. In this article, we'll explore the Honda CR-V, a compact SUV that offers a unique driving experience.
**Accelerating from 40 to 70mph**
One of the most notable features of the Honda CR-V is its ability to accelerate quickly from 40 to 70mph. When activated, the car's indicator light flashes, signaling the driver that it's time to pick up speed. The CR-V's engine noise is relatively mild, but what's interesting is that the gearbox changes gear in response to sudden acceleration. This gives the impression of a more natural driving experience, unlike traditional CVT automatic transmissions.
**Wind and Road Noise**
Despite its advanced features, the Honda CR-V has one significant drawback: excessive wind and road noise when driving at high speeds. The car's front-wheel drive configuration contributes to this issue, making it feel less refined than its competitors. However, when accelerating quickly, the engine noise is somewhat mitigated by the adaptive dampers.
**Economy**
The Honda CR-V offers a plug-in hybrid variant, which boasts an estimated economy of between 58 and 38mpg over a 1,000-mile period. While this is impressive, it falls short of the top-end estimate of 44mpg. The car's advanced technology, including adaptive dampers and a more aggressive throttle response, also contributes to its slightly lower fuel efficiency.
**Twisty Roads**
When driving on twisty roads, the Honda CR-V's sport mode can be put to good use. However, this feature is marred by an unusual noise that sounds like a trapped bee behind the dashboard. The car's adaptive dampers stiffen the suspension, making it feel more agile and responsive. Nevertheless, the CR-V's handling on twisty roads is not particularly impressive, lacking the sportiness of its competitors.
**Acceleration and Handling**
Honda claims that the CR-V can accelerate from 0 to 60mph in 9.4 seconds, regardless of whether the driver chooses the normal hybrid or plug-in hybrid variant. However, this assertion seems questionable, given that the plug-in hybrid is heavier due to its larger battery pack. In reality, the car's front-wheel drive configuration contributes to a slightly slower acceleration time. Nevertheless, when accelerating quickly, the CR-V's engine noise is somewhat muted by the adaptive dampers.
**Final Verdict**
Ultimately, whether or not you should consider the Honda CR-V depends on your priorities. While it offers an impressive driving experience, its price tag may be off-putting for some buyers. The plug-in hybrid variant, in particular, adds £10,000 to the car's cost, making it less competitive with other models like the Kia Sportage.
**Conclusion**
In conclusion, while the Honda CR-V is a solid choice for those seeking a reliable and feature-packed compact SUV, its price and economy may be drawbacks for some buyers. If you're looking for an affordable alternative, consider checking out carwow to see what savings are available on comparable models.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the new Honda CRV and it's a little bit like the actor JK Simmons you see it's been around for a long time but it's never really took a leading role in the world of the SUV however Honda hopes to change all that with this latest version now you're probably wondering JK Simmons Who the hell's that well you will recognize them it's this guy see what I mean just like the Honda CRV right anyhow in this video I'm going to talk you around the exterior of this car show you the interior see how practical it is take it for a drive and of course I'm going to launch it to see how quick it is from not to 60 M an hour I'm Matt Watson and you're watching carwow Buy sell car wow let's start off this video by talking about the design of the CRV I don't know about you but these lights the way they go up there like the shapee of them sort of remind me of the on a Volvo see what I mean I do quite like the rear of this car but I have the carwise Stick of Truth for a reason you see while this exhaust pipe is real well that's a surround but there is a real exhaust pipe in there this look that is fake it's terrible moving down the side I quite like the profile it's very just normal SUV inoffensive and got some good sharp creases alloy wheel sizes are the same across the board regardless of trim and they're all 18 in it can probably do with a few more inches just saying however with the rain stopping version you do get these dark gray wheels which look fairly smart all cars get roof bars and moving towards the front there's something about the headlight design which reminds me of a Mazda you see what I mean about that also the shape of this Grill while not identical it's sort of Audi like do you see what I mean about that as well now this been the rain stopping actually get slightly sportier lower front bumper here and overall I do really like the look of this car it's fairly smart got a nice Edge to it but there's also an edge to the price you ready for this so I'm just going on Carwell and I can show you that the starting price of the CRV range is just under £46,000 and this one here which is the range topping plug-in hybrid in the top specification trim is just under £54,000 thankfully you can save around £2,800 on average on a Honda CRV through Caro so if you're thinking about changing your car click on the pop out banner up there or for the link in the description below to go to carw you can find out what offers are available from dealers all across the country and you can even sell your current car through carwow as well and have dealers once again all across the country bidding on it in an online auction it's easy and it's completely free now if you want to do that at a later date simply Google help me carwow and we will help you change your car here on the inside the CRVs design is it's nice and simple I like the layout this big panel here with your air vents and these toggles to just direct it where you want it to be you got squidy materials on the dash and stuff some Chrome plated door handles some Lively bits of trim here looks fairly nice however some of the Plastics low down feel rather scratchy look and bit of a wobbly center console and H which is not acceptable I don't think on a car that costs to £54,000 I do think that the interior of a hyai Tucson feel a little bit more robust and expensive even though that car isn't as expensive if you want to see my full in-depth video review of the hyai Tucson click on the pop out banner up there find the link in the description below anyway back to the Honda and everything is generally quite well laid out I like the fact that you have individual climate control buttons and the way the display is actually in the button itself that's really nice now the infotainment system it's okay the graphics are a little bit dull but it's all right to operate and a lot better than the entertainment systems in Old Hondas however while you have wireless Apple carplay there's no Wireless Android auto H moving on to the digital driver display it's not the brightest or most exciting to look at but it's easier to see what's going on and you can quickly swipe through the different settings and menus using these little rollers on the steering wheel so that's good and there's enough information there obviously this being a hybrid it's off and and then sometimes it just kicks the engine on like that so sorry about that I thought it was off I always had that problem with hybrids just turn off turn off just give me the ignition no ignition please bear with me caller want to own your own slice of car wow of course you do while we love a drag race we're also here to help everyone buy or sell a car hassle free in fact so far we've helped over 2.5 million customers find or sell a car but we want to help even more drivers and to do that we need your support to take things to the next level click the link below to get involved in our upcoming fund raise FYI someone's let me this car it's not mine anyway one thing I really really like about this car the seats they just seem like the perfect position they almost feel like sports car seats the way they just hug your body and obviously you're sat up higher so you know it's like The Best of Both Worlds and there's lots of adjustment in the steering wheel very very comfy brilliant driving position like pretty much every Honda I've ever driven some other things to note got good storage under here two cup holders there you got your wireless charging there but for the oldfashioned people there is a 12volt socket don't know who uses that these days you've got a USB normal and a USB C in here the glove box is only of average size the door bins are reasonable though and and look we have a rather large vanity mirror and I'm rather vain I also like this panoramic glass roof which you can open open that was the SOS button I didn't set that off so you can open it which is good nice here in the back seats there's lots of knee room head rooms all right for someone my height which is average 179 CM however there's not as much head room as in a scoda KAC and if you want to see my full in- depth video review of that car click on the pop out banner up there follow the link in the description below there's a lot of foot space though and it's helped by the fact the floor is almost completely flat which is Handy if you are caring three in the back at once cuz it means there's lots of foot space the thing is though the body isn't the widest so with three adults in the back it is a bit of a squeeze not a big fan of this either the roof mounted seat Bel for the middle passenger cuts across you a bit high and then it gets in the way of the passenger next to you come on Honda you can come up with a better solution than that I'm going to try and disconnect it go do that there we go put it all the way don't like those things now when it comes to fitting a baby seat it's really easy look at this right rear doors open very very wide and you have covers which you flick off the isopix because of those big doors and the fact that the isix are really easy to get to it's super easy to install bulky rear-facing seats so that's a real Plus on this car another thing I like is that down here you have two USB C's there's big pockets on the seat backs the door bins are quite large and the view out the back is really good cuz this window ledge is quite low so kids will get to see out which is always handy might keep them busy the boot capacity on the CRV is pretty blooming good so the smallest is 580 L and the biggest boot is on this plug-in hybrid version and it goes up to 620 L which is better than average for this kind of car now there's no load lip so it's easy to slide things in and out which is good I also like Honda's easy to remove load cover underneath here you have some storage space and that lad cover does fit underneath there as well as all the cables now I was wondering what do you think these bits are for sorry I'm getting distracted aren't I um right anyway if you know what these bits are for cuz you work for Honda or you've got one of these cars let me know I'll show you some of the other features which do know what they're for so we got little hooks there to hang stuff off 12v socket there and if you want to carry larger items you can of course fall down the rear seats though I can't do it from the boot going to walk around yeah and then come on down you go bear with me and these doors there damping in them which means that they paint a shut right yeah you know there we go we got that L that yeah that shot thank God right there we go look there is still a bit of a ridge though to push things up which makes it a bit harder to get things right to the front and that brings to five annoying things about this car the anti-pinch function on the electric windows works well if you suddenly bring it to a stop watch this see however if you're a child maybe leaning on the window slightly and increasing the pressure you can't recognize that I'll show you so I'm building up the pressure now that is not good now out of fairness let's just try the same test on a Volkswagen t-rock so go window up I'm going apply a bit of pressure build it up you can't build up any pressure let's try again steadily build it up like with the no it's having none of it for some reason the brake pedal sounds like it's laughing at you have listen to this what's all that about the normal hybrid version of the Honda CRV can only tow a pathetic 750 kg by comparison the normal hybrid versions of a highend ey Tucson and K Sportage can tow 1650 kg however In fairness to the CRV if you go for the plug-in hybrid version it has a special tow mode which enables it to tow 1,500 kilos which is 150 kgs more than the plug-in hybrid versions of the Hyundai tucon and Kia Sportage though really if it's Towing you want to do just get a scoda KAC cuz that can tow 1,00 kilos the CRV uses the surround View camera on the door mirror to actually show you what's in your blind spot when you indicate look seems clever there's a person there it's one of our crew anyhow it's not ideal because for some reason it only works for the left hand side not when you're indicating right and then there's another issue let's say you're using the satellite navigation to show you where to go and you're on a tricky roundabout with quite a few Junctions not entirely sure which one to leave on so you're closely monitoring your satav and your indicate to leave and what where's you sat I've gone is it this Junction or the next Junction I don't know oh what a stupid idea really the layout of the gear select buttons on this car are ridiculous so you think that that is going to be to put it into drive you know let's go into drive like you do in other automatic cars but actually that is reverse you press this button for drive and it just seems counterintuitive maybe you'll get used to it over time but if you jump from one car to the other say you've got two cars in your household often you find right I'm going to drive off now you go like that think you're going to be going forwards and you actually end up going backwards which is not ideal however it's not all bad and that brings you on to five cool things about this car because there's something I really like about the drive select mode button you see when you press it it makes this noise and if you start pressing it in certain directions you then get this noise and it reminds me of playing old video games as a child back in the 80s space invading stuff like that or Pac-Man if you have the plug-in hybrid version of this car you can actually operate the climate control from your phone so you can set the desired temperature just as you like it so the car is perfect for you when you come to it to drive off I actually don't have the app on my phone I'm just waving it around for illustration purposes I'll just swipe out the car has a false stop on the accelerator pedal that means that when you're driving in electric mode you can just operate it like normal you can press the pedal as fast as you want and it won't bring in the engine until you push past that full stop it does the same thing when you lift off once you lift off past that full stop cuts the engine and you're back in electric only mode you may think that this is just a normal glasses holder but actually it's got a little security mirror built into it with a wide view so you can see exactly what the monkeys are up to in the back the rear seats have this many stages of reclination one 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 oh lovely there are two choices of CRV there is this one the plug-in hybrid it has a 2 L four- cylinder petrol engine M it to an electric motor which drives the front wheels for a CVT automatic gearbox then there's the normal hybrid which you don't plug in it has the same 2 L petrol engine M to an electric motor and a CVT automatic gearbox but it's also got another electric motor on the rear axle so that it's four-wheel drive bizarrely though that has the same horsepower as this one 148 horsepower anyway you can get three different trim options with the CRV so which combination of hybrid system and trim should you go for well I've actually configured my favorite version of the CRV through the KAG configurator and if you want to see exactly what that is and the saving through carwow click on the pop out banner up there for the link in the description below all right let's see what this new Honda CRV is like to drive starting off with round town so this being the plug-in hybrid will mainly run on electric power around town even though I'm pretty low on battery that's what it's doing right now it's smooth smooth it's quiet I tell you what it is as well very comfortable the suspension is really good makes the car feel very settled it goes down the road beautifully apart from if you go a little bit too quick over a speed hump then you get this weird jolting sensation like the suspension is firing the wheels back out of the wheel arches bang so don't go over speed HPS too quick but if you do it's a bit not great other than that really smooth drive turning circle is 11.4 M which isn't quite as good as its key competitors I want to go to camer mode go into camera mode there we go it'd be good if it had the lines to help me around but that's good enough it's gone away again come on why do you have to keep pressing it stay on NOP there we go so it's not too bad and one thing that I do really like is the visibility really nice low Dash you get a great view forward these pillars aren't too fat they don't cause much of a blind spot and while the pillars at the back are quite fat you got the headrest there anyway so they would create a blind spot so it's not a big deal and the out the back window is pretty good another thing I like about this car the brakes so sometimes the braking on plug-in hybrids can be a bit like jerky because it's the regen effect rather than actual normal brakes but with this car even though that is going on it all feels very smooth very natural very linear you won't make your passenger Sick by boom breaking a little bit too sharply another thing I like about it is that it's very easy to steer nice and light car goes exact exactly where you expect it to which may sound ridiculous but sometimes in these cars the steering can feel a little bit unnatural but not in this Honda also when the motor does kick in round town the response is pretty instant so if you need that burst of acceleration you're just tootling along in electric power you shouldn't be left floundering at a junction or a roundabout see look straight on it it's good had to break pretty quickly though because this is a 20 all right we're heading out to a dual courage way 70 mph speed limit let see what this thing is like when you suddenly need to accelerate up to 70 from 40 so here we go indicator on 3 2 1 go pickup's pretty good the noise isn't too bad from the engine what's interesting is that you probably saw there it changed gear it has two gears this car it's quite interesting that it does that cuz normal cars with CVT automatic gearboxes just have one and they completely like a when you thrash them but that because it's got two stages in it just makes it seem more natural more like a normal car anyhow yeah it got up to speed quick enough little bit of grown from the engine when it's really being revving but it doesn't sound too bad however I have noticed that when you're going quickly you get quite a bit of wind noise and road noise compared to this car's competitors I do think that a Volkswagen tigan is a little bit quieter a little bit more relaxing now to see my for in depth video review of that car click on the pop out banner up there or follow the link in the description below another thing we need to talk about is the economy so this is the plug-in hybrid version and I've looked on Honda's website and they don't actually quote the economy for it for the normal hybrid they say 42 m per gallon but what this has actually been doing according to the trick computer is between almost 58 mes per gallon which is the best and about 38 which is the worst but over the past 1,000 miles it's done 44 miles to the gallon it's okay but it's not amazing finally though we come to a twisty road so this will affect the economy cuz I'm going to give it a bit of a thrashing I'm going to go into sports mode and the plug-in hybrid has adaptive dampers as standard so it stiffens those up also it adds weight to the steering and makes the throttle response a bit sharper and have you heard this it makes this noise which is supposed to be a sporty noise I have never heard such a ridiculous fake noise added to a car before what is this all about it's like there's some kind of be CAU behind the dash a depressed bee like trapped P it out what's the handling like you know Hondas normally have quite a sporty feel I can't get over this noise I'm going have to come out of sport whoa I mean he goes around corners all right but it doesn't encourage you to like whip along at all like some of its competitors do it's competent but a little bit dull on a twisty Road Honda says the CRV will do not to 60 in 9.4 seconds regardless of if you go for the normal hybrid or this plug-in hybrid and that seems a bit odd to me you see the normal hybrid is all wheeel drive and it doesn't have such bigger battery pack so it should be lighter which would make you think it can accelerate quicker this has just front-wheel drive it's going to be heavier what gives anyway let's find out I'm going to have to go into Spa mode again for this obviously right here we go so a bit of wheel spin from the front wheels cuz it's front wheeel drive there we go Honda are liars Liars liar liars pants on Fires 7.9 seconds really good when you really accelerate not only can you notice that gearbox change from one speed to the other the engine noise Dr out this weird noise and the engine not droning isn't so bad it just feels like an engine working hard it's not too droney I've already got a be in my Bonnet haven't I about the the be behind the dash noise produced in sport mode so then what's my final verdict on the new Honda CRV should you avoid it should you consider it should you short list it or should you just go right ahead and buy it well I reckon you should short list the CRV you see while I really really like this car I don't like the price too much it's about £10,000 more than the equivalent Kia Sportage so make sure you go on to carwow to check out what savings are available if you're still really interested in this car because it is nice anyway I hope you enjoyed the video if you did give it a like let me know if you agree with my verdict in the comments below click on those windows there for some more videos and click on that box there to get a car W to change your car the easyest wave remember it's completely free not the car using car wave obviouslythis is the new Honda CRV and it's a little bit like the actor JK Simmons you see it's been around for a long time but it's never really took a leading role in the world of the SUV however Honda hopes to change all that with this latest version now you're probably wondering JK Simmons Who the hell's that well you will recognize them it's this guy see what I mean just like the Honda CRV right anyhow in this video I'm going to talk you around the exterior of this car show you the interior see how practical it is take it for a drive and of course I'm going to launch it to see how quick it is from not to 60 M an hour I'm Matt Watson and you're watching carwow Buy sell car wow let's start off this video by talking about the design of the CRV I don't know about you but these lights the way they go up there like the shapee of them sort of remind me of the on a Volvo see what I mean I do quite like the rear of this car but I have the carwise Stick of Truth for a reason you see while this exhaust pipe is real well that's a surround but there is a real exhaust pipe in there this look that is fake it's terrible moving down the side I quite like the profile it's very just normal SUV inoffensive and got some good sharp creases alloy wheel sizes are the same across the board regardless of trim and they're all 18 in it can probably do with a few more inches just saying however with the rain stopping version you do get these dark gray wheels which look fairly smart all cars get roof bars and moving towards the front there's something about the headlight design which reminds me of a Mazda you see what I mean about that also the shape of this Grill while not identical it's sort of Audi like do you see what I mean about that as well now this been the rain stopping actually get slightly sportier lower front bumper here and overall I do really like the look of this car it's fairly smart got a nice Edge to it but there's also an edge to the price you ready for this so I'm just going on Carwell and I can show you that the starting price of the CRV range is just under £46,000 and this one here which is the range topping plug-in hybrid in the top specification trim is just under £54,000 thankfully you can save around £2,800 on average on a Honda CRV through Caro so if you're thinking about changing your car click on the pop out banner up there or for the link in the description below to go to carw you can find out what offers are available from dealers all across the country and you can even sell your current car through carwow as well and have dealers once again all across the country bidding on it in an online auction it's easy and it's completely free now if you want to do that at a later date simply Google help me carwow and we will help you change your car here on the inside the CRVs design is it's nice and simple I like the layout this big panel here with your air vents and these toggles to just direct it where you want it to be you got squidy materials on the dash and stuff some Chrome plated door handles some Lively bits of trim here looks fairly nice however some of the Plastics low down feel rather scratchy look and bit of a wobbly center console and H which is not acceptable I don't think on a car that costs to £54,000 I do think that the interior of a hyai Tucson feel a little bit more robust and expensive even though that car isn't as expensive if you want to see my full in-depth video review of the hyai Tucson click on the pop out banner up there find the link in the description below anyway back to the Honda and everything is generally quite well laid out I like the fact that you have individual climate control buttons and the way the display is actually in the button itself that's really nice now the infotainment system it's okay the graphics are a little bit dull but it's all right to operate and a lot better than the entertainment systems in Old Hondas however while you have wireless Apple carplay there's no Wireless Android auto H moving on to the digital driver display it's not the brightest or most exciting to look at but it's easier to see what's going on and you can quickly swipe through the different settings and menus using these little rollers on the steering wheel so that's good and there's enough information there obviously this being a hybrid it's off and and then sometimes it just kicks the engine on like that so sorry about that I thought it was off I always had that problem with hybrids just turn off turn off just give me the ignition no ignition please bear with me caller want to own your own slice of car wow of course you do while we love a drag race we're also here to help everyone buy or sell a car hassle free in fact so far we've helped over 2.5 million customers find or sell a car but we want to help even more drivers and to do that we need your support to take things to the next level click the link below to get involved in our upcoming fund raise FYI someone's let me this car it's not mine anyway one thing I really really like about this car the seats they just seem like the perfect position they almost feel like sports car seats the way they just hug your body and obviously you're sat up higher so you know it's like The Best of Both Worlds and there's lots of adjustment in the steering wheel very very comfy brilliant driving position like pretty much every Honda I've ever driven some other things to note got good storage under here two cup holders there you got your wireless charging there but for the oldfashioned people there is a 12volt socket don't know who uses that these days you've got a USB normal and a USB C in here the glove box is only of average size the door bins are reasonable though and and look we have a rather large vanity mirror and I'm rather vain I also like this panoramic glass roof which you can open open that was the SOS button I didn't set that off so you can open it which is good nice here in the back seats there's lots of knee room head rooms all right for someone my height which is average 179 CM however there's not as much head room as in a scoda KAC and if you want to see my full in- depth video review of that car click on the pop out banner up there follow the link in the description below there's a lot of foot space though and it's helped by the fact the floor is almost completely flat which is Handy if you are caring three in the back at once cuz it means there's lots of foot space the thing is though the body isn't the widest so with three adults in the back it is a bit of a squeeze not a big fan of this either the roof mounted seat Bel for the middle passenger cuts across you a bit high and then it gets in the way of the passenger next to you come on Honda you can come up with a better solution than that I'm going to try and disconnect it go do that there we go put it all the way don't like those things now when it comes to fitting a baby seat it's really easy look at this right rear doors open very very wide and you have covers which you flick off the isopix because of those big doors and the fact that the isix are really easy to get to it's super easy to install bulky rear-facing seats so that's a real Plus on this car another thing I like is that down here you have two USB C's there's big pockets on the seat backs the door bins are quite large and the view out the back is really good cuz this window ledge is quite low so kids will get to see out which is always handy might keep them busy the boot capacity on the CRV is pretty blooming good so the smallest is 580 L and the biggest boot is on this plug-in hybrid version and it goes up to 620 L which is better than average for this kind of car now there's no load lip so it's easy to slide things in and out which is good I also like Honda's easy to remove load cover underneath here you have some storage space and that lad cover does fit underneath there as well as all the cables now I was wondering what do you think these bits are for sorry I'm getting distracted aren't I um right anyway if you know what these bits are for cuz you work for Honda or you've got one of these cars let me know I'll show you some of the other features which do know what they're for so we got little hooks there to hang stuff off 12v socket there and if you want to carry larger items you can of course fall down the rear seats though I can't do it from the boot going to walk around yeah and then come on down you go bear with me and these doors there damping in them which means that they paint a shut right yeah you know there we go we got that L that yeah that shot thank God right there we go look there is still a bit of a ridge though to push things up which makes it a bit harder to get things right to the front and that brings to five annoying things about this car the anti-pinch function on the electric windows works well if you suddenly bring it to a stop watch this see however if you're a child maybe leaning on the window slightly and increasing the pressure you can't recognize that I'll show you so I'm building up the pressure now that is not good now out of fairness let's just try the same test on a Volkswagen t-rock so go window up I'm going apply a bit of pressure build it up you can't build up any pressure let's try again steadily build it up like with the no it's having none of it for some reason the brake pedal sounds like it's laughing at you have listen to this what's all that about the normal hybrid version of the Honda CRV can only tow a pathetic 750 kg by comparison the normal hybrid versions of a highend ey Tucson and K Sportage can tow 1650 kg however In fairness to the CRV if you go for the plug-in hybrid version it has a special tow mode which enables it to tow 1,500 kilos which is 150 kgs more than the plug-in hybrid versions of the Hyundai tucon and Kia Sportage though really if it's Towing you want to do just get a scoda KAC cuz that can tow 1,00 kilos the CRV uses the surround View camera on the door mirror to actually show you what's in your blind spot when you indicate look seems clever there's a person there it's one of our crew anyhow it's not ideal because for some reason it only works for the left hand side not when you're indicating right and then there's another issue let's say you're using the satellite navigation to show you where to go and you're on a tricky roundabout with quite a few Junctions not entirely sure which one to leave on so you're closely monitoring your satav and your indicate to leave and what where's you sat I've gone is it this Junction or the next Junction I don't know oh what a stupid idea really the layout of the gear select buttons on this car are ridiculous so you think that that is going to be to put it into drive you know let's go into drive like you do in other automatic cars but actually that is reverse you press this button for drive and it just seems counterintuitive maybe you'll get used to it over time but if you jump from one car to the other say you've got two cars in your household often you find right I'm going to drive off now you go like that think you're going to be going forwards and you actually end up going backwards which is not ideal however it's not all bad and that brings you on to five cool things about this car because there's something I really like about the drive select mode button you see when you press it it makes this noise and if you start pressing it in certain directions you then get this noise and it reminds me of playing old video games as a child back in the 80s space invading stuff like that or Pac-Man if you have the plug-in hybrid version of this car you can actually operate the climate control from your phone so you can set the desired temperature just as you like it so the car is perfect for you when you come to it to drive off I actually don't have the app on my phone I'm just waving it around for illustration purposes I'll just swipe out the car has a false stop on the accelerator pedal that means that when you're driving in electric mode you can just operate it like normal you can press the pedal as fast as you want and it won't bring in the engine until you push past that full stop it does the same thing when you lift off once you lift off past that full stop cuts the engine and you're back in electric only mode you may think that this is just a normal glasses holder but actually it's got a little security mirror built into it with a wide view so you can see exactly what the monkeys are up to in the back the rear seats have this many stages of reclination one 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 oh lovely there are two choices of CRV there is this one the plug-in hybrid it has a 2 L four- cylinder petrol engine M it to an electric motor which drives the front wheels for a CVT automatic gearbox then there's the normal hybrid which you don't plug in it has the same 2 L petrol engine M to an electric motor and a CVT automatic gearbox but it's also got another electric motor on the rear axle so that it's four-wheel drive bizarrely though that has the same horsepower as this one 148 horsepower anyway you can get three different trim options with the CRV so which combination of hybrid system and trim should you go for well I've actually configured my favorite version of the CRV through the KAG configurator and if you want to see exactly what that is and the saving through carwow click on the pop out banner up there for the link in the description below all right let's see what this new Honda CRV is like to drive starting off with round town so this being the plug-in hybrid will mainly run on electric power around town even though I'm pretty low on battery that's what it's doing right now it's smooth smooth it's quiet I tell you what it is as well very comfortable the suspension is really good makes the car feel very settled it goes down the road beautifully apart from if you go a little bit too quick over a speed hump then you get this weird jolting sensation like the suspension is firing the wheels back out of the wheel arches bang so don't go over speed HPS too quick but if you do it's a bit not great other than that really smooth drive turning circle is 11.4 M which isn't quite as good as its key competitors I want to go to camer mode go into camera mode there we go it'd be good if it had the lines to help me around but that's good enough it's gone away again come on why do you have to keep pressing it stay on NOP there we go so it's not too bad and one thing that I do really like is the visibility really nice low Dash you get a great view forward these pillars aren't too fat they don't cause much of a blind spot and while the pillars at the back are quite fat you got the headrest there anyway so they would create a blind spot so it's not a big deal and the out the back window is pretty good another thing I like about this car the brakes so sometimes the braking on plug-in hybrids can be a bit like jerky because it's the regen effect rather than actual normal brakes but with this car even though that is going on it all feels very smooth very natural very linear you won't make your passenger Sick by boom breaking a little bit too sharply another thing I like about it is that it's very easy to steer nice and light car goes exact exactly where you expect it to which may sound ridiculous but sometimes in these cars the steering can feel a little bit unnatural but not in this Honda also when the motor does kick in round town the response is pretty instant so if you need that burst of acceleration you're just tootling along in electric power you shouldn't be left floundering at a junction or a roundabout see look straight on it it's good had to break pretty quickly though because this is a 20 all right we're heading out to a dual courage way 70 mph speed limit let see what this thing is like when you suddenly need to accelerate up to 70 from 40 so here we go indicator on 3 2 1 go pickup's pretty good the noise isn't too bad from the engine what's interesting is that you probably saw there it changed gear it has two gears this car it's quite interesting that it does that cuz normal cars with CVT automatic gearboxes just have one and they completely like a when you thrash them but that because it's got two stages in it just makes it seem more natural more like a normal car anyhow yeah it got up to speed quick enough little bit of grown from the engine when it's really being revving but it doesn't sound too bad however I have noticed that when you're going quickly you get quite a bit of wind noise and road noise compared to this car's competitors I do think that a Volkswagen tigan is a little bit quieter a little bit more relaxing now to see my for in depth video review of that car click on the pop out banner up there or follow the link in the description below another thing we need to talk about is the economy so this is the plug-in hybrid version and I've looked on Honda's website and they don't actually quote the economy for it for the normal hybrid they say 42 m per gallon but what this has actually been doing according to the trick computer is between almost 58 mes per gallon which is the best and about 38 which is the worst but over the past 1,000 miles it's done 44 miles to the gallon it's okay but it's not amazing finally though we come to a twisty road so this will affect the economy cuz I'm going to give it a bit of a thrashing I'm going to go into sports mode and the plug-in hybrid has adaptive dampers as standard so it stiffens those up also it adds weight to the steering and makes the throttle response a bit sharper and have you heard this it makes this noise which is supposed to be a sporty noise I have never heard such a ridiculous fake noise added to a car before what is this all about it's like there's some kind of be CAU behind the dash a depressed bee like trapped P it out what's the handling like you know Hondas normally have quite a sporty feel I can't get over this noise I'm going have to come out of sport whoa I mean he goes around corners all right but it doesn't encourage you to like whip along at all like some of its competitors do it's competent but a little bit dull on a twisty Road Honda says the CRV will do not to 60 in 9.4 seconds regardless of if you go for the normal hybrid or this plug-in hybrid and that seems a bit odd to me you see the normal hybrid is all wheeel drive and it doesn't have such bigger battery pack so it should be lighter which would make you think it can accelerate quicker this has just front-wheel drive it's going to be heavier what gives anyway let's find out I'm going to have to go into Spa mode again for this obviously right here we go so a bit of wheel spin from the front wheels cuz it's front wheeel drive there we go Honda are liars Liars liar liars pants on Fires 7.9 seconds really good when you really accelerate not only can you notice that gearbox change from one speed to the other the engine noise Dr out this weird noise and the engine not droning isn't so bad it just feels like an engine working hard it's not too droney I've already got a be in my Bonnet haven't I about the the be behind the dash noise produced in sport mode so then what's my final verdict on the new Honda CRV should you avoid it should you consider it should you short list it or should you just go right ahead and buy it well I reckon you should short list the CRV you see while I really really like this car I don't like the price too much it's about £10,000 more than the equivalent Kia Sportage so make sure you go on to carwow to check out what savings are available if you're still really interested in this car because it is nice anyway I hope you enjoyed the video if you did give it a like let me know if you agree with my verdict in the comments below click on those windows there for some more videos and click on that box there to get a car W to 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