Even with seven CR-V competitors updated after the Honda’s 2015 refresh, it still stands out in a segment full of exciting new choices. Our year with the CR-V Touring AWD confirmed the wisdom of its choice as the 2015 Motor Trend SUV of the Year, but the story isn’t all sunshine and flowers. Having driven most of the CR-V’s more than 22,000 miles during its stay in the MT Garage, I’m also very familiar with those few areas where the segment has passed it by.
As Chevrolet found out with the last-generation Malibu sedan’s emergency refresh, there’s only so much you can do to improve interior packaging efficiency without a full redesign. Thankfully, the CR-V had superb interior spaciousness and flexibility when this generation made its 2013 debut, so Honda’s 2015 refresh didn’t need any updates in this department. And this is important—no matter how many extra engine options competitors have or however many awesome features others offer, the CR-V remains on top with interior functionality. The rear seats can be folded down easily not only from the rear door openings but also from the cargo area. It’s a commodious cargo area, too, with a low floor and wide opening. Then there’s the rear seat, which is spacious and, unlike almost everything in this class, has a nearly nonexistent drivetrain hump running down the middle-seat floor area, increasing the impression of space. For someone as tall as I am, I appreciate cars that don’t make me feel like I must frequently ask my rear-seat passengers if they have enough room. Although the rear-seat recline feature isn’t as simple to use as those in other crossovers, the CR-V partially makes up for that with rear doors that open a little wider than you expect. This speaks to the great interior functionality consumers have come to expect from Honda, and the CR-V’s IntelliChoice five-year cost of ownership, which includes depreciation, is among the best in its class.
With one exception, the CR-V drives well, too. The crossover is slightly quicker than average, the steering has some feel and weight to it, and the Honda boasts a well-tuned CVT. I’m a huge fan of the incredible smoothness offered by CVTs, especially because the CR-V’s doesn’t have the annoyingly aggressive throttle tip-in response the Subaru Forester and Outback do. I don’t feel any “shift shock” like the more sensitive among us do in automatic transmissions moving from gear to gear, and I found it plenty responsive. Eco mode was good for when parents or parents-in-law are in the back seat. That mode and normal work fine on a daily basis, the gearshift stalk’s Sport mode being saved for special occasions.
Consistently (but not constantly) through our CR-V ownership, we felt too much vibration coming from the driver’s seat. At two service visits, we asked about the service-bulletin fix Honda prepared for the limited number of CR-V owners with this issue, but both times it wasn’t ready. Honda notes the issue does not affect safety or long-term reliability, which is good, as is the fact that I didn’t experience it every day. Even so, as an owner of a 2015 CR-V, I wouldn’t like having to choose between an occasional vibration and optimal fuel economy. CR-Vs from the 2016 model year received Honda’s fix and saw EPA-rated fuel economy drop by 1/2 mpg city/highway with AWD and by 1/1 mpg with FWD. The CR-V’s 23.0/28.8 Real MPG city/highway underperformed the 2015 model’s EPA-rated 26/33 mpg (on an AWD model) but is still class-competitive with other similarly sized crossovers.
Where the CR-V will lose the interest of some buyers is with its infotainment system. That’s especially true if the CR-V is an EX-L with navigation or the Touring, like ours, which comes standard with nav on the 7.0-inch screen. The system’s graphics are dated, and not enough street names are listed on the map. If that’s not bad enough, the similarly priced Accord comes with an updated nav system that’s more functional and cheaper, offered at the equivalent of only $1,000 to the CR-V’s $1,500. (The Accord’s nav upgrade is bundled with active safety tech for $2,000.) I love the Touring’s polished 18-inch wheels and power liftgate, but I’d seriously consider an EX-L without navigation if I were thinking about the CR-V. At that trim level, you still get the 7.0-inch central screen and the smaller screen at the top of the dash that comes on every CR-V. That wonderful combination—of the smaller dash-topping screen with the 7.0-inch touchscreen—proved to be one of my favorite features, something only the Forester comes close to matching in this segment. There are so many useful mixes of info you can arrange on those screens (or info and a photo of your significant other), and I appreciated them again and again over the course of the year. One minor and comical drawback to the top screen’s lack of a scrolling-text function is that song names can get cut off, resulting in titles including Sade’s “Hang on to Your” (Love), Fleetwood Mac’s “You Make Loving” (Fun), Chic’s “My Feet Keep Dan” (cing), and Prince’s “Diamonds and Pea” (rls).
Over the course of my year with the CR-V, I came to regard Honda LaneWatch as one of the best automotive features of the last few years. With a camera mounted under the passenger-side mirror, the central display screen shows what’s in your sizable blind spot whenever you turn on your right turn signal. At least two other staffers found it distracting, though, so take a test drive and safely experiment with it to see what you think. The same is true for the lack of a volume knob on the CR-V EX and above. If your front passenger is usually the DJ, it might be an irritating omission, but as a driver, I found it easier and quicker to simply move my left thumb to the steering wheel control and hold down the button until I reached the desired volume.
Every CR-V is powered by a 185-hp naturally aspirated inline-four and mated to a CVT. Want paddle shifters or a panoramic glass roof? Get a European-spec model.
Speaking of safety, the Touring includes a standard suite of active safety tech features such as lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control that doesn’t offer stop-and-go functionality, and a forward collision avoidance system that can apply the brakes to reduce the impact or avoid an impending collision. Once the redesigned CR-V makes its debut, a newer version of the tech will likely be offered on all trims, but for now, I can offer only lukewarm praise. Despite its frustratingly slow reactions to a lane change, the adaptive cruise control can encourage drivers to keep highway speeds under control by adapting to light traffic instead of unintentionally creeping to 10 mph over the speed limit as drivers might. I welcome the continued evolution of this technology, especially once a future system can smoothly work in stop-and-go traffic. (The 2015 CR-V’s turns off before you come to a stop.) With the active safety tech package, the CR-V qualifies as a 2016 IIHS Top Safety Pick+ and earns the best of three front crash prevention ratings.
Servicing the CR-V was easy, and I loved that the car kept track of its oil life (in multiples of 5 percent), informing me at custom intervals when it was ready for a service. We serviced it three times at a local dealer that provided three oil changes, inspections, tire rotations, and a rear differential service at a total cost of $349.50. At $320.37 for three service visits, our 2015 Mazda CX-5 Touring cost about the same over about 20,000 miles, and our 2014 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk only cost $159 for two service visits over about 25,000 miles, but that SUV experienced three transmission re-flashes and a door handle that fell off. Our 2014 Nissan Rogue SL cost $648.61 to service for about the same number of miles as our CR-V, but that covered four service visits.
The next-gen Honda CR-V will offer LED headlights and a more modern navigation system. Great. But for those considering a 2015-2016 CR-V, after a year, I found it be tough to beat. Some will take issue with the lack of a volume knob (not me) or the aged navigation on EX-L and Touring, but aside from that and the seat vibration, the car absolutely lived up to the high standards we have for a former Motor Trend SUV of the Year winner. The CR-V isn’t the most fun to drive, most efficient, or most feature-rich car in its segment, but very few five-seat crossovers do as many things as well as this Honda. It’s not perfect, but even in the second half of its life, the CR-V is worth considering for most buyers.
More on our long-term 2015 Honda CR-V Touring AWD here:
| Our Car |
| SERVICE LIFE |
14 mo / 22,291 mi |
| BASE PRICE |
$33,775 |
| OPTIONS |
none |
| PRICE AS TESTED |
$33,775 |
| AVG ECON/CO2 |
25.2 mpg / 0.77 lb/mi |
| PROBLEM AREAS |
Excessive vibration at idle |
| MAINTENANCE COST |
$349.50 (3-oil change, inspection, tire rotation; 1-rear differential service) |
| NORMAL-WEAR COST |
$0 |
| 3-YEAR RESIDUAL VALUE* |
$19,050/$21,700 |
| RECALLS |
Engine connecting-rod bolts |
| *IntelliChoice trade-in/retail (at 42,000 miles) |
| 2015 Honda CR-V Touring AWD |
| POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS |
| DRIVETRAIN LAYOUT |
Front-engine, AWD |
| ENGINE TYPE |
I-4, alum block/head |
| VALVETRAIN |
DOHC, 4 valves/cyl |
| DISPLACEMENT |
143.8 cu in/2,356cc |
| COMPRESSION RATIO |
11.1:1 |
| POWER (SAE NET) |
185 hp @ 6,400 rpm |
| TORQUE (SAE NET) |
181 lb-ft @ 3,900 rpm |
| REDLINE |
6,750 rpm |
| WEIGHT TO POWER |
19.5 lb/hp |
| TRANSMISSION |
Cont. variable auto |
| AXLE/FINAL-DRIVE RATIO |
5.05:1/2.04:1 |
| SUSPENSION, FRONT; REAR |
Struts, coil springs, anti-roll bar; multilink, coil springs, anti-roll bar |
| STEERING RATIO |
15.6:1 |
| TURNS LOCK-TO-LOCK |
2.8 |
| BRAKES, F;R |
11.8-in vented disc; 12.0-in disc, ABS |
| WHEELS |
7.0 x 18-in, cast aluminum |
| TIRES |
225/60R18 99H M+S Dunlop AT20 Grandtrek |
| DIMENSIONS |
| WHEELBASE |
103.1 in |
| TRACK, F/R |
62.2/62.2 in |
| LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT |
179.4 x 71.6 x 65.1 in |
| GROUND CLEARANCE |
6.8 in |
| APPRCH/DEPART ANGLE |
28.0/21.0 deg |
| TURNING CIRCLE |
36.9 ft |
| CURB WEIGHT |
3,601 lb |
| WEIGHT DIST., F/R |
58/42% |
| TOWING CAPACITY |
1,500 lb |
| SEATING CAPACITY |
5 |
| HEADROOM, F/R |
38.0/38.6 in |
| LEGROOM, F/R |
41.3/38.3 in |
| SHOULDER ROOM, F/R |
58.6/56.4 in |
| CARGO VOLUME BEH F/R |
70.9/35.2 cu ft |
| TEST DATA |
| ACCELERATION TO MPH |
| 0-30 |
3.5 sec |
| 0-40 |
5.0 |
| 0-50 |
6.7 |
| 0-60 |
8.9 |
| 0-70 |
11.5 |
| 0-80 |
14.9 |
| 0-90 |
18.9 |
| PASSING, 45-65 MPH |
4.3 |
| QUARTER MILE |
16.9 sec @ 85.3 mph |
| BRAKING, 60-0 MPH |
117 ft |
| LATERAL ACCELERATION |
0.79 g (avg) |
| MT FIGURE EIGHT |
28.1 sec @ 0.61 g (avg) |
| TOP-GEAR REVS @ 60 MPH |
1,500 rpm |
| CONSUMER INFO |
| STABILITY/TRACTION CONTROL |
Yes/yes |
| AIRBAGS |
Dual front, front side, f/r curtain |
| BASIC WARRANTY |
3 yrs/36,000 miles |
| POWERTRAIN WARRANTY |
5 yrs/60,000 miles |
| ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE |
3 yrs/36,000 miles |
| FUEL CAPACITY |
15.3 gal |
| EPA CITY/HWY/COMB ECON |
26/33/28 mpg |
| ENERGY CONS., CITY/HWY |
130/102 kW-hrs/100 miles |
| CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB |
0.67 lb/mile |
| REAL MPG, CITY/HWY/COMB |
23.0/28.8/25.2 mpg |
| RECOMMENDED FUEL |
Unleaded regular |
The post 2015 Honda CR-V Touring AWD Verdict: How Well Did It Hold Up? appeared first on Motor Trend.
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