Honda CR-V review

The PHEV we drove only comes in the bells and whistles top-spec trim, and it was quite nice inside with a decent amount of leather trim and Honda’s latest, minimalist interior decor being displayed at its best. It’s very calm in the cabin, not just because of the design, but also the work that’s been invested in boosting refinement and cutting wind noise.

What about the tech? 

We like the fact that the CR-V comes with a manageable 9.0-inch touchscreen for the infotainment and a smattering of buttons underneath, rather than overwhelming the dash with a pointlessly huge screen. There’s smartphone integration as standard, and a particularly nice touch is that the wireless charging pad comes with a fan to stop your phone from cooking itself.

On the top-spec Advance Tech version we drove, you get a little camera that shows the view on the nearside in the 10.1-inch digital instrument panel when you’re overtaking, which is useful. It works better in practice than Kia's version, and even has little lines to show you whether the car behind is a safe distance to pull out in front of. 

Is it practical?

There’s very decent room for five onboard the CR-V. Honda doesn’t have any plans to turn the car into a seven-seater though, which would surely have won it a few extra sales. The hybrid version of the car offers 596 litres of space in the boot, which (counterintuitively) grows to 635 litres in the PHEV because it doesn’t have the standard hybrid's 1.0 kWh battery  lurking beneath the boot floor. Instead, its cells are located beneath the main part of the cabin.

There are some good places to stash things around the cabin, though the door pockets aren’t very big. The other thing that we appreciate on this latest CR-V is the effort Honda has put into forward visibility: the A-pillars are unobtrusive and the wing mirrors have been positioned further along the door to avoid the super blindspots that plague plenty of cars on the market.