Honda CR-V TrailSport vs. Toyota RAV4 Woodland vs. Subaru Forester Wilderness: Off-Road Comparison

Seems like all of the SUVs have off-road versions these days, but we're not content to believe the marketing and the dealerships about how tough or rugged they are. We've got to test them. The Honda CR-V Trailsport. Honda has finally brought its surprisingly capable off-road brand to its bestseller. Is it any good? We're going to find out. The RAV4 Woodland is the toughest, most hardcore version of the best-selling car in the country. And we have the Forester Wilderness. It looks the toughest, it has the most plastic cladding, and Subaru has a lot of experience in this area. This one could hold some promise. I'm ready. Are you ready? We're Edmunds, and we test hundreds of cars each year on the road and at our private track, so you get the most trusted reviews. If you want to know which car, truck, or SUV is the best, then stick with us. The last thing you want when you're out on the trail is to get stuck, especially if you have friends or family in the car. If you don't have the clearance, traction, or low-end torque, you're probably going to have a bad time. So let's see how these do. Okay, so the Honda. Now, the Trailsport doesn't have any changes to its all-wheel drive system or any special drive modes over the regular CR-V, so we're going to put it into snow mode for this little hill climb action. The only changes for the Trailsport were made actually across the entire CR-V lineup, and they are slight changes to the traction control system that should allow for more traction in slippery situations, but the CR-V's all-wheel drive system typically sends power to the front, sending up to 50% to the rear when necessary, so hopefully snow mode gives us a better chance of achieving that 50-50 split. The Trailsport also has the same approach and departure angles as the standard CR-V, no extra ground clearance, and the worst numbers of any of the three, so let's see how it gets on. Alrighty, we're going, we just hit the hill, we have to apply quite a bit of throttle to get over the first, to get over the first, that's a little tenuous here, just trying to find some grip, need a lot of throttle to get anywhere, almost struggling for traction, struggling for traction, come on, come on, come on, come on, just give me that, there you go, there you go, okay, barely made it, that was a little bit tricky and there was a lot of wheel spin as we got over here. Up this next hill, it's just a bit steeper, so we're going to try and give it a little more throttle, we'll see how we get on, we're going straight on here and no slip yet, oh, it looks like it's going to start slipping soon, oh no, we're good, we got some traction, we're okay, oh, there it is, there it is, hold on, come on, come on, come on, come on, give it to me, give it to me, oh, this is a bit of a struggle, needed to almost go full throttle there, my god, okay, now we are making our way down the hill, this does have hill descent control, so I'm going to pop that on and see what we get, you can't really set this, oh, you can set the speed, sorry, unlike in the Toyota, you can set the speed in this thing, let's see, and we're teetering, I think we're on three wheels at the moment, but grab some traction on the way down, you can hear it pulsing the ABS to try and grab that extra bit of traction, but this is no problem, hill descent control does actually help you, and I trust this system a little bit more than I do in the Toyota, because it allows you to set your own speed, whereas I can't figure out how to do that in the RAV4, all right, here we go, heading back down the hill we initially came up in the CR-V, let's see how we do, all right, here we go, straight on, ease it off, ease it off that cement platform, a little bit of right, straight down, this is, it's at this time in my life when I really wish I had a button to see the cameras, just easing my way down, I'm on the brakes myself, just because I can do a fair enough job, I'm not worried about the hill descent control doing anything for me, and yeah, the ABS is pulsing away as we cruise on down, but this is pretty easy, yeah, easy, simple, no problem, just wish I had a button for the camera views, that would have been, that would have been nice, kind of like we thought, because the Trailsport doesn't have that much in the way of off-road upgrades, it's literally just a different tire, it struggled quite a bit on the way up, and on the way down, I would have liked a button for different camera views, so I can see what's in front of me, what's this side of me, but no such button exists in the Trailsport, and you don't even get a 360 cam in any CR-V, so it's not like that's an option that Honda does offer, that you can't get here, it's just not available at all, whereas in the Subaru, you get lots of camera views to help you out, I think this is probably more for sandy trails, and not necessarily for going up steep hills and stuff like that, okay, inside of the Toyota, the RAV4 is a lot like the Honda, in that the all-wheel drive is the same as it is in other RAV4 models, and there are no special drive modes for the woodland, you still have the same normal sport eco individual, and then a trail, and a snow mode, you can also put this in EV only, but we're not going to do that today, like the Honda, the Toyota uses a front biased all-wheel drive setup, but there is no physical connection between the front and rear wheels, the rear wheels are powered exclusively by a electric motor, and it only really kicks on when it detects slip at the front, that means the electric motor and no physical connection to the engine itself means that the rear wheels are only getting about 90 pound feet of torque or so, so we're a little bit down on power compared to the other two right here, unlike the Honda, however, the woodland does have slightly better approach and departure angles than the standard RAV4, and the biggest off-road tires of the group, so we should be in better shape than we were in the CR-V, let's see how we do, and pop it into trail mode, and slowly approach the first part of our climbs, this should be, I think, a bit easier than it was in the Honda, there we go, a little bit of left, ease it on up, it's a lot easier to modulate the throttle in this than it is in the Honda, getting a little bit of slip, but not too much, oh there you go, come on a little more, a little more, a little more, a little more, oh slipping, slipping, slipping, straight on, straight on, easy, okay, yeah, super simple, a lot less effort needed than you did in the CR-V, and here we go for the second part of the hill climb, we just, you just go straight on here, no problem whatsoever, should be pretty easy, one thing I really want to point out that the Toyota does that I like, is there's a little button to view all your camera angles, so I can see straight down in front of the hood, and I can see where my tires are pointing with these side view cameras, it's so nice to know just where everything is, oh and we're starting a little bit of slip, and we failed, dang, that's a bummer, okay, well I was singing the RAV4's praises because it felt a little bit easier to get up the hill than it did in the Honda, but then we got, we got a little bit stuck, and here we go, a little more throttle, yeah, nice and easy, that's much simpler, a little bit of slip, but we should be making it just fine, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, yes, nicely done, very good, this still feels more comfortable and confidence inspiring than the Honda, because I had to give the Honda a total boot fold to get up the hill, this was much more controlled the second time once I found a little bit more traction, okay, now we're going to head down the hill, I'm going to pop on the camera view button, so I can see what's in front of me, and we're teetering a little bit more, the Toyota also has a crawl control function, but because you can't set the speed to whatever you want, I trust my ability to brake a little bit better, plus it'll post the brakes on its own just fine, the ABS has no issue catching you as you apply brake force, so this is no big deal whatsoever, last part of the hill descent in the woodland, let's see what we can do, going back to my camera views, because I enjoy that very much, there you go, yeah, you can definitely tell it's got a bit more ground clearance than the Honda does, just because of the way it handled that little lump onto the dirt, it just didn't feel as drastic, going straight down here, this isn't too big of a deal, get some traction on the left here please, and straight, yep, alrighty, nice and easy, I don't even think the ABS pulsed once there, super simple, no problem, so the RAV4, slightly better approach and departure angles than the Honda, I got the camera views, I got the descent control, which I don't trust and I'm not going to use, but overall it's just an easier, smoother, better off-road experience, especially if you're trying to make it up a, let's say, relatively steep sandy hill, yeah, I would definitely prefer this to the CR-V, that's my take, it's just that having more information is better, camera views, the knowledge that you're a little bit higher off the ground, this stuff really helps and it makes off-roading less stressful, a little bit easier and these tires definitely give better traction than the ones in the Honda, so between these two, the edge goes to Toyota. The Subaru is a little bit different to the Toyota and the Honda, in that it has a permanent 50-50 all-wheel drive split, it does make the least power out of the three, but Subaru puts a shorter final drive ratio in the Wilderness model, so we should have plenty of low-end torque to get up this hill. The Subaru has the smallest tires of the three, but it also has the most ground clearance, also its bumpers are well up and out of the way, so I'm not too concerned about damage here. Wilderness models get X mode, so I'm gonna pop it into snow and dirt mode and see how we get I think this is gonna be pretty easy, not gonna lie, Subarus are pretty well known for this, they got a handle on it, oh yeah, this is a breeze, oh there, a little bit of slip, a little bit of slip, grabbing some traction to the left, oh there you go, there you go, there you go, and back to the right, back to the right, and then, oh, struggling, struggling a bit at the top there, wow, that's a bit of a surprise. Here's the thing about that first bit, the Subaru might have looked like it was working harder and it might have looked like it was struggling more, but I had just a lot more confidence and I was able to go through it way quicker than I was in the other two, I just gave it throttle and let it do its thing, it's a lot, lot easier in the Subaru because there's a lot less work and modulation you have to do, I mean, look at me, I mean, I'm doing this, I'm doing this one-handed, this is no problem, and I think that's probably the Subaru way. All right, now we're going to start the downhill portion of our little off-road test here, and a lot like the Toyota, this has a camera view button, but you only get a view out of the front, and because this screen isn't very good, it's rendered in pretty low resolution, that said, still more helpful than the Honda. Cocking the wheel, not too bad, not too bad, and I'm just going to catch the brake, there's a little bit of ABS modulation, but no issues so far, and now my foot's off the brake and I'm letting it cruise down by itself, nice and easy. The downhill control system or whatever you want to call it in the Subaru is a lot more confidence inspiring than it is in the other two cars, I actually do trust this one a little bit more than I do those other two, I'm not going to lie, and we're starting the last portion of our downhill I don't want to smoosh this cone, we put the cones here to make it more difficult actually, and it's doing the trick, it's a little bit tricky to follow this line, but there you go, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, no problem, I like that, I like that, that was a lot easier and a lot more confidence inspiring in the Subaru than it was in the other two. If you're shopping for a Forester RAV4 or CR-V, we've got the tools to help you find the best deal. Scan the QR code to head to Edmunds or check out the links down in the description. Okay, so now that that's all done, what do we think? Well, the Honda required the most effort and was the hardest to do all of this in, the Toyota was somewhere in the middle, maybe a little bit more confidence inspiring, but this one, so easy, almost effortless, and it really, it just proves that, you know, Subaru and its all-wheel drive system and all the time they spent developing it, really, it shows, this thing is super easy to work with and use off-road and if I had to pick one of these three for that section, again, this is the one I'm taking. The whole appeal with these things is they are off-roadified versions of popular everyday SUVs, but how off-road ready are they really? With the CR-V, the answer is not really. The only major difference between the Trail Sport and regular CR-Vs is the wheel and tire combo. The wheel looks a little bit tougher and the valve stem is recessed in order to keep it from getting damaged, but the real addition here is the tire. The Trail Sport is wearing an all-terrain tire. It's the same size in total as other CR-Vs, but this guy, it looks a little chunkier and it's got some interlocking tread block action here. It should give you some better puncture protection and some more traction when you're off-road, but without any changes to the suspension and the exact same overall tire size, you don't get any extra ground clearance. Beyond that, it is all style here and I must say, I really dig the ash green paint, but the rest of it is standard CR-V stuff. The front and rear bumpers are exactly the same, so you don't get different approach or departure angles. They're just painted silver to look like skid plates. You also get some black details here and there, and the all-important orange Trail Sport badge on the rear of the car. Speaking of orange, there are some Trail Sport-specific touches inside, namely the orange stitching on the seat and the shift boot, the embossing of Trail Sport into the headrests of the seat, and the Trail Sport-specific floor mats. So the looks are there, but substance? Yeah, it's pretty much just a regular CR-V with a different wheel and tire combo on it, and it's still got the same measly thousand-pound towing rating. It costs more than the Subaru, despite having fewer features and just cloth seats. The RAV4 is a little more comprehensive. Like the Honda, you get a unique wheel and tire combination with a little bit of extra sidewall, this bit right here. It means you're going to get a little bit of extra ride comfort and some more puncture protection when you're off-road. Also, because the tires are a little bit bigger, you get an extra half-inch of ground clearance over the standard RAV4. That half-inch significantly improves approach and departure angles, which means you are far less likely to scrape the front or rear of this car compared to the Honda. The visual changes for the woodland are going to be obvious, especially at the front. You get this sort of hammerhead-style front grille with some integrated rigid fog lights. It kind of makes the RAV4 look like a baby 4Runner, and I think it's actually pretty tough, very macho. On the side, you get these black plastic fender linings. It's a visual trick to make the car look like it has more tire than it really does. I think that's a little goofy, but some people might go on for it. Lastly, some visual changes at the back. You get a slightly different rear bumper with a cutout for a tow hitch receiver. That's cool. Woodland models also get a slightly different interior. You have a different design to the seats with some orange accenting here and on the center console and the steering wheel. There's also a different design pattern to the leatherette on the dashboard here. Also, you get some all-weather floor mats, which is a nice add, but we really appreciate the addition of a 120V 1500W outlet in the back. It's perfect for stuff like an air mattress or a cooler, whatever you need. Overall, there is definitely more substance here than there is in the Honda. Well done, Toyota. But the Subaru gets the biggest transformation. A taller spring and damper combo for the wilderness gives it a bigger lift than the Toyota, and it has almost an inch more ground clearance than the CR-V. Look, the standard Forester almost has better approach and departure angles than either of the other two. So this guy, with its modified front and rear bumpers, has the best angles by far. Tire size hasn't changed compared to the standard Forester, but you do get some Yokohama all-terrains. That said, this is really important. The Forester Wilderness is the only car of this test to have a full-size spare. Not even the standard Forester gets that. If you are going out to the middle of nowhere, it is an essential piece of the puzzle. Subaru also gave the Forester Wilderness a transmission oil cooler and a shorter final drive ratio, which gives it an extra 2,000 pound towing capacity over the standard Forester. That is a big deal. Styling stuff is going to be the most obvious of the three. You are not going to miss a wilderness on the road. It's got a ton of plastic cladding, and I like those hexagonal LED fog lights at the front. Look, it's not the prettiest car in the world, but I like it. Inside, you get some synthetic leather, rubber floor mats, and Wilderness logos kind of all over the shop. But if you wanted the car that most greatly differentiates itself from the standard one, this is that car. In order, it goes Honda least, Toyota somewhere in the middle, and then the Subaru. Okay, so now we're on the move on the washboard in the Honda, and I gotta say, I don't have that much in the way of confidence. I am slipping and sliding all over the place on the soft stuff, and I really don't like that. Power delivery is nice and linear, but I just don't feel like the tires are clawing into the surface and extracting grip the way you would expect of an off-road trim like this. Also, the ride is really quite stiff. I really don't like that because it feels like you're going to be bouncing along, and that means less traction too. Overall, the combination of the lack of a grippy tire and a really stiff ride means you're going to be floating around on top of the surface a little bit too much. After a couple hours of doing this in this car, I really don't think I'd be very happy. It's nice and quiet and refined, just like it would be on the highway, and I don't have too much in the way of noise, but the ride is just so bumpy that if you get some of the more aggressive washboard, you're going to be so upset. It's going to hurt so bad, but the saving grace for the Honda is that the trailsport is just as good on the highway and in the city as the regular CR-V would be. It's comfortable, it's super quiet, and the steering is direct and accurate. It feels like, well, it feels like a city car that's kind of masquerading as an off-roader and not something that has a dual personality. General benefits of the CR-V are present and correct in the trailsport model. It's comfortable and quiet, you get a lot of space, you get good visibility out of all of the windows, it's got the best inputs and the best controls of any car here. There are lots of things to like about the CR-V, it's just that when it goes into trailsport form, you don't get that much extra when you leave the highway. MPG numbers for the trailsport are a little bit worse than other CR-V hybrids. You're going to get 33 MPG on the highway and 38 in the city. That falls right in between the Toyota on the top end and the Subaru on the low end. Speaking of MPG, that is just part of the small details that we think about when we rate every car that we get our hands on. And if you want to know more about the CR-V or its rivals or anything else for that matter, head on over to Edmunds.com or click the link in the description. Because this is based on the sport model, you don't get the good Google interface and you don't get the good stereo, two things that I would want in my CR-V, but they're locked behind the highest possible trim level. This interface is acceptable, it's basic, you still get CarPlay and Android Auto. And even though it doesn't have the most tech features involved, most people are going to be perfectly happy with what you get. This feels just like a normal CR-V with a slightly better tire on it. If you were to put an all-terrain on your regular CR-V, you'd be having a much grippier, better time than I am right now. Now we are in the Toyota, we're going to do the washboard-y type run. We're going to see what it does on the soft stuff. Oh yeah, instantly this feels a little bit better than the CR-V. The tires are digging into the dirt a little bit more, I have more grip, and on the whole I feel more confident. This is actually nice, it's fun. The ride is still pretty firm for an off-road vehicle and I'd like a little bit more compliance when I'm going over ruts and bumps. As you can see we're being jiggled about quite a bit, but overall not too bad. One thing I don't like about the RAV4 Woodland, at least right now, is the steering. There's a sort of vagueness to it that I would prefer a little bit more accuracy. I would prefer it if it weighted up better as I dug into some sand or some ruts, just so I can know exactly what I'm doing and what I'm feeling here. Another thing is I would like a more smooth throttle. It feels like right now it's just an on-off switch, it's either all or nothing. On the road, the Woodland is a little bit worse than the standard RAV4 because there's a lot more noise in here. You get a bit more tire noise, you get noise from the standard roof rack, and there's a lot of noise coming off of the wing mirror here, so you feel like there's air almost rushing in as you're driving along on the highway. The RAV4 Woodland gets 39 mpg in the city and 35 on the highway. That is slightly better than the Honda and much better than the Subaru. If you're shopping for a Forester RAV4 or CR-V, we've got the tools to help you find the best deal. Scan the QR code to head to Edmunds or check out the links down in the description. I really don't like how much I'm being jiggled about in the RAV4 Woodland. I would prefer a softer ride. As you can tell, I'm just just kind of doing this. We like the cameras in the RAV4, but we also like the regular tech. The screen is nice and bright and crispy and really responsive. It's much nicer than the one you get in the Honda. The only thing I don't like is the fact that a lot of the HVAC controls, the climate controls, have been put into the screen. So let's say we're being jiggled about like we are right now and I have to try and tip-tap the screen to turn the climate control on. I even miss the button right here, so it's just more difficult to operate than it should be and I really don't like that. Whoa, whoa, ABS, so unhappy with that, so unhappy with that. Man, yeah, this thing is rickety. Oh my gosh, this thing is rickety as all get out right now. If I had to do this all day long, I would be really unhappy and as I'm getting jostled around in my seat, I am surrounded by a lot of hard, nasty plastics. It's not a very lovely place to be. Another fundamental weirdness of the RAV4 Woodland is the braking. When you're braking over soft stuff, it feels like this car has the most trouble when you get into the ABS. It feels like the brake booster can't keep up with the demand and the slippage that you get over the soft stuff, so the brakes are really struggling right now, more so than they were in the Honda. Right now, we're on a sort of washboard in the Subaru and honestly, it feels great. I feel almost no deficiencies in traction. It's kind of fun just to slide around in here. I got pretty good steering feel. The throttle is perfectly linear and I can control the back end with my right foot, which I really, really like. Overall, it's confidence-inspiring. It's easy and because this is what you're going to be doing most of the time in a car like this, this is exactly what you want to feel. This is fun. When you're making your way to the trailhead in the Forester Wilderness, you will find that it is no worse on the road than the standard Forester. That means it's still pretty quiet, you have lots of space, you have good visibility. The off-road tires may be at a teeny tiny bit of tire noise, but it's okay because this thing isn't exactly super, duper quiet to begin with, so you're not giving up that much over the standard car. The Forester Wilderness is going to get the worst MPG of the group. You're going to get 28 on the highway and 25 in the city and that's just because you can't get a hybrid version of the Wilderness model. The other two do offer a hybrid and they do much better on gas as a result. We've said this before a lot and it's no different in the Wilderness model. The tech in here is really not that great. The processor is slow, the screen is always washed out by the sun, it's laggy and difficult to use, and too many commands are buried in the screen. Overall, this has the worst tech suite of the bunch, but there are a lot of safety systems like blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert and all that kind of stuff because Subaru's eyesight is standard on the Wilderness model. Overall, I really like the Wilderness on the sandy, washboard-y type roads. It's got a sure-footedness and a confidence-inspiring nature. It feels like I have traction all the time. It responds well to inputs. Overall, really, really solid out here. Before we tell you which one of these we'd recommend, please consider liking and subscribing to the channel. It really goes a long way. Also, if you have any ideas for future videos or have something to say about this one, please leave a comment down below. I promise you, we do read them. So, the CR-V. It did everything we asked it to do today, but it had the hardest time doing it. On the hill climb, it was slipping and sliding all over the place and it definitely took a little too much effort. And on the trail, again, it was a bit floaty and there wasn't that much grip. But let's talk about cargo. This has the biggest cargo hold of any of the cars here, but the problem is the floor isn't flat, so you can completely forget about sleeping in here if you go camping. Also, it only tows 1,000 pounds. The RAV4 naturally fell somewhere in the middle. It was more capable up the hill climb and I had an easier time of it there and over the washboard and in the sand, it felt more sure-footed and it was a bit easier. The ride was more relaxed. Cargo-wise, it's actually the smallest car here, but the load floor is mostly flat. So, taking a little nap inside is going to be a little bit easier. Also, towing is the highest here, tied with the Subaru at 3,500 pounds. The Subaru did the best in both of our tests. It was the easiest to take up the hill climb and it was easily the most sure-footed and confidence-inspiring on the washboard and in the sand. It has the second-most cargo room of any of the three cars here and it's got a flat floor, so taking a nice little nap is going to be easy. Also, it's tied with the RAV4 for towing. It's also got a rating of 3,500 pounds, but you should know that it's only the Forester Wilderness that gets the 3,500-pound rating. The other ones are slightly lower. So, it might come as no surprise, but on this day in the dirt, the Subaru is our winner, but there are still good reasons to buy the other two. You buy the RAV4 if you really value fuel economy, you really need that 3,500-pound towing capacity, or you really want a household outlet somewhere in your car. You go for the CR-V because the CR-V's inherent goodness is still there. It's the best to drive on the road, you get good fuel economy, and there's a lot of space. It's just that the Trailsport model isn't all that different from a regular CR-V aside from the tires. Now, the Subaru, if you do this often, this is the one to buy. You should forget about the subpar fuel economy and the lousy tech and go for this one because it's going to serve you best every time you get out here in the dirt. If you want a rundown of more street-ready versions of these cars, me and my buddy Brian did a 10-car comparison test where the Forester, the RAV4, and the CR-V are all present. Feel free to go check that out. If I was spending my money, I would definitely have the Subaru. It's the most capable, it's going to be the most dependable in situations like this, and even though it's kind of the ugly duckling, I think it's cute. Anyway, thank you so much for watching. Remember to like and subscribe, and we'll see you in the next one.