2015 Honda CR-V

2015 Honda CR-V 2015 Honda CR-V
First Drive Review

This year, more than 300,000 individuals will sign a sales contract and drive home in a Honda CR-V. These won’t be fleet buyers wearing shirts that say Hertz or Avis, but retail consumers presumably wearing more stylish garb. Or maybe not: What they’re all looking for, after all, is a small, no-hassle SUV that does the job as reliably as a polo shirt.

The new CR-V delivers on that front as well as it ever has. A spacious cabin with a generous back seat and an ample cargo area with a low floor, as well as available four-wheel drive, draw buyers in, just as they do in mixed measure for competitors like the Ford Escape, the Toyota RAV4, and the Mazda CX-5. Style doesn’t rule this choice, but every little bit helps in this high-volume market segment. So Honda made an effort to inject more panache into the CR-V for 2015: New headlights, grille, bumpers, and wheels dress up the exterior. The inside becomes a happier place thanks to a few soft-touch pieces on the instrument panel, a rear air vent to keep back-seat passengers comfortable, and more sound insulation. The net effect of the exterior changes is a more expensive appearance. Parked next to the 2015 CR-V, last year’s model looks like an exercise in price-cutting. The same is true of the updated interior, where a few tweaks and a splash of better trim combine for an entirely more pleasant environment, including the way in which road noise fades to a murmur.

What makes this refresh more than window-dressing is a new powertrain, shared with the Accord. Judged by output alone, the new direct-injected engine looks like no big deal. The i-VTEC four-cylinder makes the same 185 horsepower as its port-injected predecessor, but the peak comes at 6400 rpm instead of 7000. Torque is up 11 percent to 181 lb-ft at 3900 rpm, 400 lower than before. No one mistakes a CR-V for a redline-luring sports car, so extra power at lower rpm is indeed a good thing. We did enjoy the sound the older engine made as it roared toward redline, but we also wonder how many current owners actually rev all the way to the 7000-rpm power peak on purpose.

Revving to the top of the tach will be more commonplace in the new version because it also borrows the Accord’s CVT automatic. This device replaces the former five-speed automatic and, as in the Accord, puts a torque converter between the transmission and the engine to give the CR-V a normal-feeling takeoff from a stop. Like all CVTs, if you put the transmission in “D” it will hold the engine at a nearly constant rpm under hard acceleration. Abuse the throttle by stomping on it, and the engine will groan loudly at a single note until you ease back on the pedal. The rise and fall of the engine note as it worked through the old model’s five ratios wasn’t any quieter, but at least it varied.

Anyone looking for maximum engine entertainment in a small SUV should probably look elsewhere: The competition’s multispeed automatics—they range from six to nine forward ratios—are a better choice. Few owners are likely to keep the CR-V’s gas pedal floored for long, though. Driven gently as it usually will be, the CR-V snaps forward in stop-and-go and around-town traffic slightly better than last year—credit the newfound torque. And, if you’re trundling along, the CVT doesn’t call attention to itself except for a faint whine we heard between 30 and 40 mph.

More likely to draw attention from owners are the improved fuel-economy numbers. The front-drive CR-V’s EPA ratings are up to 27 mpg city/34 mpg highway—a useful jump over last year’s 23/31. Opting for four-wheel drive still costs 1 mpg, the 2015 edition earning 26/33 numbers, up from 22/30.

For the safety-conscious, a comprehensive list of protective gear is now offered on the CR-V. Honda’s camera-based LaneWatch blind-spot-monitoring system is standard on all versions except the base LX. A camera “watches” the passenger-side blind spot and activates when the right turn signal is flicked, the touch-screen display mounted in the center of the dashboard showing an image of what’s lurking next to you. We’ve not been convinced that this feature was necessary or helpful in other Hondas, including the Civic, but it does function as advertised. The top Touring trim offers even more safety tech, including adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning with lane-keeping assist, and forward-collision warning with automatic braking.

To help an actual, engaged driver avoid potential accidents, every CR-V comes with new chassis settings that include wider wheels, recalibrated springs and shocks, and new front control arms. The brakes are assisted by a larger master cylinder that Honda claims reduces pedal effort. Handling is secure and predictable. The CR-V doesn’t drive as sportily as the Mazda CX-5, but it comports itself with a carlike and mature manner. So, basically, it behaves like a smaller Odyssey minivan.

You will have to pay a small premium for all the changes. The least expensive CR-V is the $24,150 LX, which costs $200 more than last year. The same increase applies to the next-rung-up EX, which begins at $26,250 and adds the LaneWatch camera, heated cloth seats, a power driver’s seat, a sunroof, 17-inch aluminum wheels, tinted glass, fog lights, and automatic headlamps, among other things. Moving up to the EX-L means parting with $28,850 but nets leather seats (perforated for ’15), two-zone automatic climate control, heated exterior mirrors, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, roof rails, and SiriusXM radio. At the top of the CR-V pyramid is the new Touring trim that starts at $32,350. The Touring comes with the full complement of electronic safety equipment, driver’s seat memory, a power tailgate, 18-inch aluminum wheels, and a HomeLink programmable door opener. Four-wheel drive costs an additional $1250 regardless of trim level.

In a recent comparison test of six small SUVs, we ranked the previous CR-V as the second-best automotive polo shirt. We loved the interior space, the hassle-free practicality, and its quiet manner. We griped about its soft responses and toasterlike design. Honda appears to have heard our complaints. The new one is quieter, handles more like a car, and looks better both inside and out. Ultimately, it might not be as much fun to drive as the comparison-test winning Mazda CX-5 (which also won a subsequent three-way shootout), but the CR-V has a bit more cargo space. Sometimes, fun surrenders to practicality. If that's the case, the CR-V is a solid choice.