The New 2023 Honda CR-V Is Larger, Quieter, And Offers Hybrid Power

Welcome to Car and Driver. That's the 2023 Honda CR-V. The CR-V has been a longtime favorite of ours for its good interior and cargo space, some thoughtful usability features, really good fuel economy, and decent driving dynamics. In fact, those attributes made it our Editor's Choice Award in 2022. That was the last generation CR-V, which has been on sale for about five years or so. Let's check out what's different about this new one. This new CR-V is a bit bigger than the previous generation. It's a couple inches longer, both in the overall length and the wheelbase. So that means not only are the front and rear bumpers a bit further apart from one another, so too are the front and rear wheels. It's also a bit wider than the previous generation. And generally, these increases can mean more interior space and more cargo space. Of the four trim levels, this is the Sport Touring we're sitting inside. And that's the top one, the priciest one with all the features on it. And generally, the interior design looks really nice. If you've seen the latest version of the Honda Civic, you'll recognize a couple of styling details, like this honeycomb mesh that runs across the dash. I like it because it does a really good job of hiding the air vents. And these adjusters for the vents are nice and easy to use and look unobtrusive. Now, a CR-V, though, one of its main attributes is how usable the space is, especially with regard to storage compartments. And there's a nice shallow bin here for phones and small handbags, perhaps, cup holders, and so on, and a large center bin. Now, the last-gen CR-V had a multi-adjustable center bin here that I really liked and was really fun to play with. But over the years, they kind of pulled away some of the features of it. Now, they've replaced, overall, that adjustability with just a ton of space. Honda says this is the largest center storage bin in its segment. And we can actually validate that, because at Car and Driver, we measure storage space with literal ping pong balls. So when it comes time to test this, you can be sure we'll validate that claim. As far as displays and device connections, the base CR-V comes with a 7-inch display that offers Android Auto and Apple CarPlay through a wired connection. The top two trim levels come with this 9-inch display. And that gets you wireless versions of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, as well as a wireless charging pad here. All of them have USB-A and USB-C connections. And that's really helpful with regard to all the devices we have to plug into cars these days. When we come to the back seat, we see the major advantage of lengthening the CR-V. And that is with regard to rear seat legroom, which is almost half an inch longer, half an inch greater when it comes to legroom. I'm about 5'10", and you can see that I still have plenty of distance between the front seat and where my knees are at. There's lots of space back here. These seats are decently comfortable, too. I like the fact that there's two USB-C chargers right here. It's also nice that, when it comes to the roof, they've scalloped this space here. So if you're taller than I am, it gives you a little bit more headroom. The real big advantage of these seats, though, is the fact that they recline. That's really nice. You can imagine a long day camping, a long day at the beach or the lake, and relaxing and passing out while somebody else takes you home. This is actually really comfy. Now, cargo space has always been an excellent attribute of the CR-V. And the story remains true with this next-generation one, or new-generation model. Let's say you get 36 cubic feet of storage space behind the second row. And the EXL and the EX models can actually lower this floor to buy you an additional three cubic feet of space, raising the number to 39. We'll see if that actually makes a meaningful difference when we test it, because we use standardized carry-on cargo, let's say, to show you how much space is actually usable. Now, of course, you can drop the second row to buy you a lot more space. And what's nice about that is the seat bottoms actually lower and move forward to help level out that load floor, even though it isn't exactly flat. Of course, it can't be just by looking at it. One downside, though, is that Honda's apparently removed the second row release levers from the cargo area, which means you have to reach up and release those seats, as you saw me just do. And that can be, might be an issue, if you're, let's say, vertically challenged. Now, the two top trim level CR-Vs, the Sport and Sport Touring, come as hybrids, hybrid powertrains. And it's a similar setup to what you would get with the hybrid CR-V last year, where it's a 2-liter 4-cylinder and two electric motors. Combined, you get 204 horsepower and 247 pound-feet of torque, which is a little dip in power, but a slight increase in torque. So a little bit of a trade-off there. Now, what's interesting about this drivetrain is that it doesn't behave like some hybrids you might expect. The gasoline engine works primarily as a electricity generator, but it can power the front wheels or all wheels, depending on if you have front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, directly in some situations. This doesn't have a traditional transmission. It doesn't have a CVT. And because of that, the driving experience may feel a little odd to people who aren't used to it. For that reason, or at least I assume for that reason, Honda's made it so this powertrain simulates gear changes from a traditional transmission to make it feel like something you might expect. Also, the hybrid CR-V now has a tow rating of 1,000 pounds. Now, the lower two trim levels, the EX and EXL, use an updated version of the 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder from the last-gen model. It's been revised with things like a new turbocharger and whatnot, but the power output hasn't changed. You get 179 pound-feet of torque, but that peak arrives a little bit earlier in the power band, which should make it feel a little punchier. Honda says it's also revised the CVT so that it also simulates gear changes from a traditional transmission, and it does that under full throttle. Honda also says it's made a lot of improvements to the noise and vibration of this engine, so it should feel a little more refined. Now, with regard to fuel economy, Honda hasn't released the figures yet, but from comparison to the current CR-V, the all-wheel drive 1.5-liter turbocharged CR-V gets 29 mpg combined by the EPA, and the current hybrid gets 38 mpg. I'll be curious to see whether those figures change with this new generation. All-wheel drive is available on all trim levels except for the Sport Touring because it's standard there. Now, the CR-Vs also come with a couple new driver assistance features like hill descent control and a snow or winter driving mode. There are a lot of standard driver assistance features like adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, low-speed brake control, and so on. And again, all those are standard on all. Like with the fuel economy, there's, of course, a bunch we don't know yet like the pricing, how it drives, and how it will stack up against the competition when we're able to test it and live with it when it goes on sale. Speaking of, that is this summer, and the hybrid models will follow later this year.