Honda Motor Europe took selected journalists to Munich to experience the fourth generation, UK-built CR-V ahead of its world premiere at the Paris motor show.
Anyone reading this in North America or Japan will be wondering how this can be a world premiere when the latest shape CR-V has been on sale there since December 2011. But take note: Europe’s model has had some significant changes compared to the cars built in Japan, Canada, Mexico and the US.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The styling might be close to identical – we get LED bulbs for our compulsory-in-EU-markets daytime lights, plus the same technology for the tail-lamps – but when it comes to the oily bits, there are two diesel engines that US buyers can’t have. As this is Honda Europe’s priciest SUV (no Pilot here and no Acura RDX or MDX either), we also have a plusher interior with higher quality plastics.
The new model goes on sale across Europe from October with the choice of two updated four-cylinder engines: a 2.0-litre i-VTEC petrol or a 2.2-litre i-DTEC diesel. Early next year, what is astonishingly only the second diesel engine ever built by Honda will be launched. This additional unit is the same 1.6-litre motor which had its global debut in the Civic five-door.
Honda Europe is yet to reveal the EC’s CO2 average for the CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC but the word is, it might just come in under the crucial 100g/km barrier. If you’re wondering where the new motor is manufactured, like the existing 2.2, all global build of diesel engines is courtesy of HUM (Honda of the United Kingdom Manufacturing) at a plant to the west of London.
Both the petrol and the larger of the two turbodiesels were available to sample on a varied test route over the two-day launch event. We also got to sample the price-leading two-wheel drive variant that Honda thinks will tempt many would-be buyers of rival models. You can only have a front-wheel drive CR-V with the petrol engine but perhaps two-wheel drive will also be offered with the 1.6 i-DTEC – we’ll have to wait and see what early 2013 brings.
Leaving next year aside for a moment, let’s go back in time to November 2011 to catch up on the history of the fourth generation of this SUV. Don’t call it a crossover, either, as Honda likes the idea of this model having a heritage of being the first monocoque compact SUV. The current CR-V had its global debut at the Los Angeles auto show a month before last Christmas, build starting around the same time at East Liberty (Ohio), El Salto Jalisco (Mexico) and Alliston 2 (Canada) as well as at Sayama (Japan).
CR-V build at the HUM plant in England is not the only additional production location to have been added in 2012: the Dongfeng Honda joint venture started making the new generation model in Wuhan back in January 2012, followed by Ayutthaya in Thailand a few months ago.
The US has always been the largest market for the CR-V but as can be seen by just how many countries now manufacture or assemble the model, the desires of buyers elsewhere have been considered too. In North America, a 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine comes as standard, and the automatic gearbox has five speeds. In Japan, the base powertrain is a 2.0-litre engine in combination with a CVT and power goes only to the front-wheels, while the 2.4-litre engine is only available with all-wheel drive.
HUM isn’t yet a major exporter of diesel vehicles but its customer markets are on the rise – the Aussies, for example, source their CR-V i-DTECs from England (and take their petrol variants from Thailand). Will a diesel model ever be sold in the US or Japan? Never say never, as VW continues to see an average 25% of its rapidly rising US sales being TDIs, and it has just announced more diesel models for its second largest market in Asia. Perhaps if the rumours become fact and VW of America builds the second generation Tiguan in Chattanooga from 2014, we might see American Honda introducing a federalised version of the existing 2.2-litre i-DTEC engine?
Enough speculating on what may or may not be ahead for the CR-V’s biggest global market and back to the here and now in Europe. I would be telling a lie if I said the new model was exciting to drive but who buys a small SUV to throw it around the bends?
What matters more than looks for many people – and this new Honda is still nicely proportioned and arguably nicely streamlined – is that this car has a huge boot, exceeding clever rear seats (pull one lever in the boot and the head restraint is pulled into the backrest, which itself then flips forward and the seat squab tilts out of the way too – it’s a work of genius) and will take whatever your family can throw at it.
The doors open to almost 90 degrees I noticed, and you walk into the interior, you don’t climb up, which perhaps will be appreciated by many of the older buyers that Honda seems to attract in the UK market. Hey, there’s no shame in that demographic and let’s not forget these people often have better credit ratings and more cash than their kids. Honda’s head of PR for the UK told us in his presentation that the average age of buyers is 58 across all Honda models and supposedly, CR-V customers also consider the BMW X3 (really? I could possibly believe the X1), Audi Q5, Volvo XC60 and the inevitable BMW 3 Series. Incidentally, am I the only person in Britain who doesn’t yet have a 320d company car?
There might well be some truth in Honda’s claims about being thought of by many as a rival for the German makes as the dearest EX trim level is also the best seller with the current CR-V. My journalist digging resulted in an official answer that the cross-shopping claims are based on research reported by the dealer network. The Freelander, ix35, Kuga and Tiguan are also said to be oft-considered rival buying choices. Oddly, there wasn’t one mention of one of the segment’s biggest sellers, the Kia Sportage.
The UK isn’t going to be a major market for the new model, with just 17,000 forecast to be sold here in 2013, the split being 70/30 in favour of retail. Pricing is yet to be announced but will be “broadly in line with the outgoing model”, I was told. So that means from £22,600. If you’re reading this in The Netherlands or perhaps Singapore, I’m sorry to have reminded you how lucky we are here, and if you’re instead in the US, yes people really do pay the equivalent of nearly $37,000 for the lowest trim level on this side of our shared ocean.
I don’t mean to be unfair to Honda by singling it out for its prices or relatively modest sales performance is what is an expanding but still tough UK market. In truth, the brand’s claims to be near-premium have some truth to them and just under twenty three grand for a base CR-V isn’t really too steep an ask for most potential buyers.
Even the base S model grade means a well equipped vehicle (Idle-Stop, dual zone climate control, 17″ alloys and other goodies) and something else that Honda really ought to shout louder about – what price for a vehicle from a brand that has been making incredibly reliable cars for multiple decades? Go anywhere in the world and you’ll see Civics, Accords & CR-Vs zipping around in their 20th or 30th year of life, most with not even a whisp of smoke from the tailpipe.
Some statistics now. The cheapest, front-wheel drive 2.0 i-VTEC S variant has a CO2 average of 168g/km, Combined cycle economy of 39.2mpg (both impressive for a 155PS petrol engine of this capacity), top speed of 118mph and zero to 62mph in 10.0 seconds. If you want to both go faster and use up fewer hydrocarbons, choose the 150PS 2.2 i-DTEC S and enjoy equivalent figures of 149g/km, 50.4mpg and 9.7 seconds. I am also pleased to report that unlike some less enlightened car companies, Honda lets you have automatic transmission whichever engine you want. As I write this, no figures for the 1.6 diesel have been announced.
While I said earlier that obviously, this is no Civic Type R, it’s not bad at all to drive at speed. The test route took in some decent hills and a windy route through a forest, with stretches of limited (to 120km/h) and derestricted (*big smile*) autobahn plus the inevitable grid-locked moments. Neither petrol nor diesel engines were intrusive – these are Honda units after all – and both manual and autos were without any obvious faults.
The stop-start system worked as it should have and there was no unseemly shaking from either gear lever or car body as I have experienced with systems in some other manufacturers’ models. You can switch Idle-Stop off via a special ECON button but keep it activated and you’re rewarded with illuminated green arcs around the instruments. Sounds like a gimmick but is it just me who enjoys trying to improve the average fuel economy readout on successive trips as an antedote to commuting boredom?
I mentioned the big boot earlier but I saw for myself that you can load this up with three mountain bikes and one rear passenger. If you’re interested in such things, the volume is 589 litres (VDA) and there is the bonus of an inner glow from knowing that CR-V drivers in the US are denied Europe’s electric tailgate option. Nor does the model built anywhere but England come with a dashboard surfaced with what the PR man termed ‘premium’ plastics. I pressed it on your behalf, just to check and it did indeed feel satisfyingly squishy.
If you’re an owner of the third generation model and have grown increasingly less tolerant of your carpool partner’s hairy arm brushing against yours, Honda seems to have sensed this. Joy, in the form of front seats that are further apart, awaits on your first test drive of the new model. I was told that the CR-V has grown no wider so how did they do that, I wondered? By scooping out the door trims to make them concave. And what a bonus – there’s also a wide lidded central console to store odds and sods.
Hopefully I’ve given you a useful summary of the highlights of this new to Europe model. Buyers of compact SUVs want a commanding driving position; good economy; a 4×4 system that kicks in when it’s needed and requires no special switches to operate it; the knowledge that their ride will start every time and if needs be, get them up their driveway if snow falls suddenly; and all this in the form of a roomy hatchback that looks suitably tough but not aggressive. With the extra sales opportunities presented by having added 2WD and 1.6-litre diesel variants, Honda Europe should do well with this new CR-V then.
Author: Glenn Brooks
