Subaru Just CRUSHED Honda! //2026 Honda CR-V Hybrid vs Subaru Forester Hybrid//

Does Subaru or Honda make a better hybrid? We're gonna find out in today's comparison. I'll include a link to the Honda here in Salt Lake and the Subaru here in Salt Lake's websites in the description down below. Also include a link to my car buying guide. Let's get into it. Powering the Subaru is a 2.5 liter flat four cylinder paired to a hybrid. It has 35 miles per gallon around town, 34 on the highway. Power outputs are 194 horsepower combined. The Honda has a two liter four cylinder hybrid. Fuel economy is 40 around town, 34 on the highway with power outputs being 204 horsepower combined. I'm trying to hit 500,000 subscribers before the end of the year. I'd really appreciate it if you'd help out with that. Now I picked the top of the line version of the Subaru. So you can see the front end, we've got fog lights, nice painted trim. And I picked the top of the line CRV, no fog lights surprisingly, but you do have a bunch of nice trim on the front end as you can see. Time well set up on the Subaru is 235 by 50 by 19. The Honda is 235 by 55 by 19, so a little bit more sidewall, might have a better ride. I'm in a very cramped parking lot, so it's kind of hard to give you guys a full side view, but with the Subaru, you've got a bunch of cladding with the fender flares and everything. The Honda also has cladding, but it's going less for a rugged look compared to the Subaru, it's kind of going more luxury. When it comes to space, the CRV is pretty solid in the cargo area. It does also have a 12 volt there in the back and the loading floor, you can't pick it up. That is one downside, but they do let you set the height on the rear hatch and that's all power by the way. Subaru is similar in terms of the cargo space in the back and they actually have these nice little pull tabs that are on the seats easily, 12 volt. There's a bunch of stuff on top, but you can pick up the load floor in the Subaru. And then, same thing where power. Now when it comes to the rear style of the CRV, you've got really cool taillights, blacked out badges with this particular one. The Subaru also has cool taillights. The back end kind of has a sportier look. I mean, look at them next to each other. Hopefully you can kind of see what I'm talking about, but you can also see that they're pretty much the same size. Legroom in the back of the Honda is really good. We also have some vents here, USB ports as well. And then look at these seats, really nice trim all down the center. Same thing on the door panel as well. It kind of has more of a luxury appearance. Now the back of the Forester, also spacious. Heated seats here in the back. We've got vents, USB ports. And I will say, I think these seats look a little bit fancier. Got a nice trim on the door panel there too. The Honda comes equipped with blind spot monitoring. We also have memory seat functionality. And these front seats are power adjustable, lumbar support, all the works. The Subaru also has blind spot monitoring as well as memory seats. And we've got, again, nice seats here. Power adjustments, lumbar support there on the side too. Nice trim all around the steering wheel with the Honda heat steering wheel function. You've got adaptive cruise control with lane centering. Paddles on the back for the regen. Full digital gauge cluster. And speaking of digital, we do have a nice infotainment system, but just a regular backup camera, no 360. Dual zone climate with heated seats. Down below we have some USB ports with a phone charging pad. Like the area around the shifter, but this does have drive modes. So you can kind of change depending on what you're wanting to do there. And then got plenty of space in the center console. Nice trim on top. And then this does have a traditional center up top. Now in the Subaru, you've got some more equipment. Heated steering wheel, adaptive cruise control with lane centering. Full digital gauge cluster. Big infotainment system with a 360 camera. This also has heated and cooled seats. So a few more features than the Honda. Then there's a little phone charging pad in that area. This does have a designated EV mode, which is cool. And then you can see the little camera view button there. Nice trim on the center console here. We also have a camera rear view mirror. And then this does have a big, big center. So that's a plus. The Subaru stickers for about 46,000. Honda stickers for about 44,000. Let's see which one performs the best. Set off in the Honda hybrid first, and then we'll set off in the newcomer. The CR, not CRV. We're in the CRV Forester. Forgive me. It's hot outside today. So we're not running on all cylinders. Now, I'm a huge fan of Honda's hybrid system. I think that it's very smooth. It's got, I mean, you guys will see the power in a moment, but it's very smooth. That's one of the things that's most impressive. Honda, just like Toyota, doesn't send a, if I remember right, they don't send a driveline out back. Subaru does. That's, by the way, the reason why the Subaru gets worse fuel economy is they send a driveline out back so they still have their symmetrical all-wheel drive system, which is great for all-wheel drive performance, not as good for fuel economy. Look at this. It's quick, it's smooth with the transitions, and you got the paddles where you can do the regen so that you, it's not a true one-pedal drive, but it's more one-pedal-like. So it's got its benefits. But either way, like I said, the impressive thing of this powertrain is just how smooth it is. The transitions are smooth, the power delivery's smooth, and it's just a nice ride. I mean, like, turning, pretty sharp, or sharp enough, right? Yeah, when you go over the bumps and everything, it's relatively comfortable. Truly is a nice ride. Yeah, look at this get up. I guess that's really solid. It's quite impressive, all things considered. So the CR-V Hybrid performs really well. It gets good fuel economy. I know some people talk crap on the powertrain because they share some stuff with GM, but we'll see how good or bad that is long-term. But when it comes to the performance of the system, and the fuel economy you can get with these is good too. Everything, you know, performance, fuel economy, it's all rock solid. It's right where you'd want it to be. So let's go see how the Forester performs. Well, let's see how the Forester compares. 360 camera system's nice. Cooled seats are also nice on a warm day like today. So, definitely goes hand in hand, but again, it's more expensive. I will say, sometimes I feel like the Japanese automakers are all colluding with each other when it comes to pricing on their cars, because you'll get the price per feature, and all of the Japanese cars are almost always identical. Like, they sell the same car size-wise. Like, it'll have similar powertrain, similar features, everything, and the price will be like pretty much right there. It's like they all get together. They probably do that, right? They probably, I mean, who knows? They probably do that. They all get together and go, okay, this is what we can sell a mid-size crossover with heated and cooled seats and a 360 camera for. If you don't wanna do that, you gotta take away some features. Then you're gonna be less money. But yeah, I will say, even though the CR-V, I mean, I still like a lot of elements in the CR-V in terms of like the touch points feel a little more premium in certain ways. This Subaru is no slouch. This is a very nice interior. It's kind of like a mix between luxury and ruggedness in terms of the feel, which I think is kind of cool. Makes it a little bit unique, in a way. Now, it comes to the acceleration. Yeah, see, this borrows a lot of components from Toyota. It's a Subaru engine, but the hybrid powertrain's from Toyota. So there's some pluses and minuses, right? The big benefit is reliability. Toyota's hybrids are known to be extraordinarily reliable. The downside is it's not as smooth as the CR-V. It's not quite as smooth. It's got good power. It's got good acceleration, but it kind of has that more like abrasive feel, especially at the top end, whereas the CR-V's much smoother. Much, much smoother. But this still drives really well. Likes the suspension. And if you're gonna be doing any sort of rugged terrain driving, there's no arguing this one's gonna be the best one because they actually send driveline out back so you actually get real power to the rear wheels rather than a little bit of an electric bump that doesn't really do too much. So definitely something to consider. Which one's best? I think it's silly that Honda's not offering cooled seats. At least I haven't seen it yet. So, you know, there's gonna be some people that they have to have these features. They have to have a 360. They have to have cooled seats. So they're gonna have to go to Toyota or Subaru to get that. I think offering the drivelining, although it makes it so there's slightly worse fuel economy, I do think that that helps out with overall practicality for some buyers. So it is a little bit of an apples to oranges comparison in some way because of that driveline difference, but let me know which one you like the best. I think the Subaru feels like a more complete package, but it's also more money. So you'd hope that for the extra money that you'd be getting more.