Interior
The Honda CR-V benefits from some classic attention-to-detail. There are some bits that just make life inside more pleasant and need to be appreciated. First of all, the ergonomics are good. Controls are within easy reach and the choice of materials is excellent. Everything from the door trim to the padded outer region of the centre console – where most tall occupants would frequently have their knees make contact – is soft touch and feels very premium. There is evidence of the thought gone in even before you get in. Keyless go is a welcome touch, so you don’t need to have your key handy. The doors open wide making for easy ingress and egress. The panoramic sunroof lets more light in. The instrument cluster lighting is gradual: slowly illuminating to full brightness when the ignition is turned on. Accompanying it is the seven-inch touch-enabled driver information interface that puts connectivity and entertainment at your fingertips. More connectivity comes in the form of multiple USB ports and a pairing function for your smartphone using either Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. Which also brings one more detail to address: there’s no built-in satellite navigation, so you have you use your phone. Other interesting additions are the electric parking brake with brake hold, that does away with the manual hand-brake lever, and the three-way central storage ahead of the front arm-rest. There are plenty of storage spaces around the cabin, too.
The seats in our cars were upholstered with perforated leather and offers a number of adjustment possibilities. The driver’s seat is power adjustable and features extendible thigh support. The front passenger seat, meanwhile, is not powered and loses out on the thigh support bit, but, even so, it will be comfortable for occupants of most sizes on trips of varying distances. The petrol version gets a five seats only and, we believe, will be sold in one variant. The rear seat gets a 60:40 split for added flexibility. The five-seat version gets a boot that can hold 522 litres, or as much as 1,084 litres with the second row folded down. The diesel version, with its seven seats, gets a sliding second row that can be quickly folded down to get access to the third row. The second row offers enough room and the seats slide smoothly and not loosely – a nice touch. While there is sufficient head-room for an average-sized adult in row three, the knee-room is what makes the fit tight. It’s ideal for kids, but, although there are seat-belts, I don’t believe the third row is the best choice to seat your precious little ones. These seats can be folded down to improve storage volume. You would need to because, with all three rows up, the boot volume is 150 litres – enough for trips around town with seven people and a couple of small bags. Folding it down increases the volume to 472 litres. Fold down the second row as well, and the usable volume is 936 litres. The seven-seater also gets three-row air conditioning.
Page 3 – Powertrain and driving dynamics >
