Yahoo Autos 2020 Honda CR-V Touring Review | Road-tripping Honda's jack of all trades
Over the past two decades, the Honda CR-V has embodied Honda’s reputation for building durable, comfortable and user-friendly family cars that don’t require a ton of unscheduled attention (aside from a brief hiccup with transmission reliability). As it has slowly become the automaker’s bread-and-butter model, Honda’s product planners have put correspondingly increased effort and resources toward keeping the CR-V fresh and competitive.
For the 2020 Honda CR-V, Honda tweaked the styling, added features and simplified its engine offerings in what is the first significant update since this generation dawned for the 2017 model year. There's also a new hybrid offering for those OK paying a Honda a bit more so they can pay oil companies less.
You can read more about these updates (and the CR-V in general) in our comprehensive 2020 Honda CR-V Buying Guide.
We spent our weekend with the CR-V as if it were the family car it is, subjecting it to errands, commuting and a brief (and crisp) road trip to Port Huron, Mich., paying close attention to some of the features we weren’t able to fully explore in our previous drive opportunities. Specifically, we sampled the range-topping CR-V Touring with the optional all-wheel drive system and a price tag of $35,845.
You can find a complete breakdown of each trim level's feature content and pricing on our 2020 CR-V page here on Autoblog, but for $1,700 more than the next-highest EX-L, the Touring adds LED headlights, roof rails, hands-free power liftgate, heated steering wheel, integrated navigation, wireless smartphone charging and a nine-speaker sound system. None of these items are available on other trims.
It was painted Radiant Red over a cream color interior, which admittedly wouldn't be our first choice for a family vehicle (even if leather is better at resisting kiddie-sourced stains than cloth). The light blue CR-V Touring that West Coast Editor James Riswick tested out in Oregon had black leather and seems like a smarter choice. Nevertheless, since both were Tourings, both had a heated steering wheel, which is quickly becoming one of our favorite features.
Stepping in, we got our first taste of the CR-V’s new updates. The center console was redesigned to incorporate the Touring's new Qi wireless charging, with the pad located directly beneath the shifter and in front of the cupholders. This location is convenient, but the sides sit a bit low. Those with smoother cases may find their phones squirting out of this recess when the going gets twisty. Also, for those who have phones that charge the old-fashioned way, the shallow platform leaves the wire dangling into the cupholders and across the console.
Normally, we’d say brisk acceleration might also pose a threat to your iPhone placement, but brisk acceleration really isn’t the CR-V’s thing. It performs better in the real world than it does on paper thanks to its turbocharged torque, but between its 3,600-pound heft and the power-sapping characteristics of its continuously variable transmission, the CR-V is not what we’d call an athlete. Despite being one of the stronger base engines in the segment, the 1.5-liter’s 190 horsepower and 179 pound-feet of torque can only go so far.
This little turbo-four is now the CR-V’s only available engine (notwithstanding the 212-horsepower electrified system in the CR-V Hybrid), and while that’s good news for bargain shoppers who were previously stuck with the old naturally aspirated 2.4-liter unit in base model CR-Vs, the lack of a more robust engine option remains a disappointment, especially when other automakers offer something more muscular.
