2018 Honda CR-V VTi-S in test (2023)

If you are looking for a family SUV, this is the one for you.Honda CR-VIt should rank pretty high on your list, offering a solid package at a very reasonable price and with a great badge to boot, though it's still let down by the lack of standard active safety features.

Our test car here is what we think is the sweet spot in range, theCR-V VTi-S, which has a very realistic starting price of $33,290 (plus highway) for front-wheel drive and is relatively well equipped. You can shell out an extra $2200 in favor of AWD, but that's not really necessary for most needs.

In the VTi-S class, you get 18-inch alloy wheels, a power liftgate, integrated satellite navigation, front and rear parking sensors, LaneWatch mirror camera technology, and more. Full specifications and prices for the Honda CR-V range can be found hereHere.

From the outside, Honda's CR-V is one of the brand's most conventional models in recent times. The Japanese company isn't exactly known for setting the world on fire with its current designs, just lookbourgeois type Rknowing that, but the CR-V and its little brother, theHR-V, both are quite harmless in appearance. Angular and a bit over the top? Maybe, but otherwise relatively conservative.

The CR-V tends to blend in with traffic, but in the right color it stands out for the right reasons. It's a relatively attractive SUV, and for its intended market, it's likely to age gracefully.

Walk in and it's a similar story. There's a genuinely modern-looking interior centered around a 7.0-inch infotainment system (could be bigger) that comes standard with Apple CarPlay. Honda also offers a range of apps that you'll probably never use, since all you need these days is CarPlay. There are USB ports on the front and rear, which is a must for power-hungry kids of the iTouch generation.

Like other Honda models, the CR-V offers a neat feature where if you point to the left, the full view of your blind spot is displayed on the infotainment screen. There's a little camera in the mirror that does the job, and though it might seem a bit redundant if you haven't used it, because you can only look at your shoulder to get the same result, once you've used it a few times. , get started I wonder why all the other manufacturers don't do the same.

Technology aside, it's a pleasant space inside, with comfortable seats in the front offering good back support and lateral support, while the second row can easily accommodate two child seats (ISOFIX and all) or accommodate to three average size passengers when the need arises. There's plenty of soft-touch plastics around the cabin, and often-touched surfaces feel quite premium, and that tactile sensation underscores why Honda as a brand, both in terms of product and sales, is coming back to life. .

We particularly liked the digital display, which really helped make it feel much more modern than some of its rivals. This class comes with cloth seats instead of leather, which can be problematic for a family hauler when trying to get the chocolate yogurt off the back seat. But he'll have to spend a few thousand more to upgrade if that's a problem.

Luggage space is quite reasonable for its size, measuring 522 liters with the rear seats upright and 1084 liters flat, though less than its predecessor (556 liters and 1120 liters respectively). This easily swallows a mid-size or large stroller, and the trunk entrance sits low enough that stowing things in the back while the kids juggle isn't as awkward.

Like all new Honda models, the CR-V is offered as standarda five-year/unlimited-mileage warranty. Service is every 10,000km (Australian average is around 15,000km per year) and cost at time of publication is $295 per visit, not including cost of consumables.Details can be found here.

Hit the start button to the right of the steering wheel and the little heart of the CR-V comes to life. Powered by a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine, the CR-V might look like a scaled-down engine on paper, but with140 kW y 240 Nm of par, it's a reasonable offer as the midsize SUV weighs just 1540kg (curb).

The little turbo is mated to a continuously variable transmission (CVT), which is the perfect way to suck the life out of a good engine, and it does it quite well. However, it gets the job done and helps provide a small fuel economy improvement over a traditional automatic torque converter found on competitors like that.Mazda CX-5YHyundai Tuscon.

Honda claims fuel economy figures of about7.3l/100kmBut expect to be in the mid to high 8s in the real world, as the little turbo has to rev up quite a bit to get it going and an owner is unlikely to stop it from increasing fuel to save.

The engine is really bold and we found it more than ideal for quick overtaking maneuvers at both urban and highway speeds. Of course, once you start loading four large adults, performance drops off pretty quickly.

As a daily driver, we found the CR-V's 18-inch wheels and suspension to offer a very comfortable ride that worked not only on the highway, but also on second-class roads around Brisbane's endless roadworks.

Dynamically, the CR-V isn't exactly the sportiest SUV on the market. Knowing what Honda can do, as the Type-R has shown, it's obvious that the CR-V's steering and dynamics are tuned for the family buyer, so while it doesn't exactly steer into corners or lose its balance , we would not. I don't recommend it just for its sporty feel.

While it offers an excellent overall package, there's one glaring omission from most of the Honda CR-V lineup that makes it a harder car to recommend than it should be: the lack of active safety features.

Aside from the absolute top-of-the-line model ($44,290 VTi-LX), the rest of the lineup now lacks crucial active safety features, like autonomous emergency braking. Even optionally. While the CR-V received a five-star ANCAP safety rating when it was launched, if it were to be retested in any variant other than the highest specification under current ANCAP rules, it would be hard to beat the mark.

Honda's safety features for the VTi-LX include adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane-keep assist, lane departure mitigation system, and lane-keep assist. Of course, all variants still get six airbags and a driver attention monitor to keep you on your toes, as well as all the long-established safety systems (ESC, ABS, etc.).

It would make a lot of sense if the Japanese marque only offered this as a package for its other CR-V variants, as that would make the SUV a no-brainer on the list of any buyer looking for a high-performance family vehicle. quality, and a very capable option in this highly competitive segment.

However, Honda Australia is unaware of the concerns about its safety package and we hope to hear more about its plans to improve the specifications soon. When that day comes, the CR-V's appeal will be much greater.

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2018 Honda CR-V VTi-S in test

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