Stylish, Passport-inspired new Honda CR-V revealed

After a short teaser campaign limited to a single series of images, Honda has officially unveiled the all-new CR-V in US-market spec as the sixth generation of one of it’s most important global models.

Bowing six years after the debut of its predecessor, the CR-V boasts a more rugged look, according to Honda, with the same elongated bonnet as the Vezel/HR-V, headlights and grille derived from the step-up Passport and Ridgeline bakkie and largely the same overall silhouette as before.

More of an evolution is the rear facia, which retains the vertical light clusters, albeit redesigned, but benefits from a new bootlid spoiler and faux skidplate.

Underneath, the CR-V is again based on the same platform as the Civic, but with alterations to the suspension, steering and subframe Honda says has made the newcomer “more fun to drive” and better in the ride department.

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Compared to the old CR-V, Honda has extended the newcomers’ overall length by 69 mm to 4 694 mm, the wheelbase by 41 mm to 2 700 mm and width by 10 mm to 1 864 mm.

At the same, the A-pillars have been moved back by 119 mm, outwards by 71 mm and lower by 36 mm, which has resulted in a two millimetre height increase to 1 691 mm.

Bigger thanks to its new platform is the boot, which ranges from 1 027-litres to 1 112-litres with the rear seats up, to a maximum of 2 166-litres with the 60/40 split rear back folded down. Unlike before, only five seats offered.

The interior itself departs from the outgoing model’s controversial design to more a conventional setup directly modelled on that of the Civic Sedan and Civic Hatch, as well as the global HR-V and ZR-V badged as the HR-V in the States.

This means the curvy centre console and lower dash mounted gear lever depart in favour of a more traditional setup, highlighted by a straight dashboard housing a freestanding touchscreen infotainment system measuring seven-inches on the EX and Sport model, and nine-inches on the EX-L and Sport Touring.

Both systems are Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatible with all four models coming as standard with a seven-inch digital instrument cluster and Honda’s Sensing range of safety and driver assistance systems.

Reserved for the EX-L and Sport Touring is a wireless smartphone charger with the latter being the beneficiary of a model bespoke twelve-speaker Bose sound system and 19-inch alloy wheels compared to the remaining trio’s 18-inches.

Up front, Honda has kept the same powerunits as before; the 1.5-litre turbo-petrol that produces 140kW/243Nm in the EX and EX-L and the hybrid that combines a normally aspirated 2.0-litre with a dual-motor electric system in the Sport and Sport Touring for a total system output of 150kW/335Nm.

Both units are paired to a CVT with a Sport mode in the hybrid complimenting the Eco, Normal and Snow settings found on the turbo.

All-wheel-drive is standard fare regardless of the powerunit or trim level with Hill Descent Control being available for the first time.

Going on sale later this year with production for the States again taking place at Honda’s East Liberty Plant in Ohio, the CR-V is expected to arrive on South African soil before the end of the year powered by outgoing model’s 2.0-litre and 1.5-litre turbo units.

Expect pricing and full specification details closer to the local launch, though with a considerable increase over the current model’s R573 900 starting sticker.