It may seem like Honda has been slow to roll out hybrids, but with the new 2023 CR-V that is about to change in a big, big way. Honda expects 50% of their new compact crossover to be their latest generation 2-motor hybrid system. To make that happen they have simplified the lineup to just four trims, two of which will be hybrids, including an affordable “Sport” trim sandwiched between two non-hybrid trims in the lineup.
Hey everybody today i am down in los angeles california because i was able to get a sneak peek of the new 2023 honda crv as you’d expect it’s bigger and better than ever before unlike most of the competition that seems to be offering a thousand different trim levels and standalone options honda has decided to simplify things for the sixth generation of the crv so
At the moment we don’t have an off-road dedicated trim and there’s no overtly sporty trim although there is a trim labeled sport this particular model in red is the new ex trims this is the base model you can get a good idea of the kind of standard equipment we get here full led headlights really attractive slim full led turn signals there as well a very large
And open grill big honda logo right there because there is a radar sensor behind as you’d expect in a modern honda that says all of their latest active safety systems including a reworked version of their adaptive cruise control system lane centering system and now blind spot monitoring is standard here’s how the trim lineup works the ex is the base trim then we
Get a sport trim which is going to look somewhat like this up front then we get the exl trim which has leather and looks like that red one again and then there is this top end sport two ring model sport and sport 2 ring have the standard hybrid system under the hood which gives you the most horsepower the biggest difference of course is going to be the grille
Which definitely is more aggressive and more open in the sport and support touring model sport and sport touring also have a more aggressive vent shape here at the bottom of the front bumper this sort of reminds me of an integrated exhaust tip actually so if you’ve ever wanted your car to look similar going forwards and backwards this trim might be for you the
Top end trim also gets well integrated front parking sensors as you move around to the side the next thing you’re going to notice is the much longer hood proportion than we had before honda says that the hood is significantly longer and significantly lower and the entire crv is about 2.7 inches longer this particular design reminds me a little bit of the current
Generation acura rdx and mdx definitely a good thing to be reminded of when we’re talking about a crv full disclosure honda has yet to release a complete spec sheet for the new crv so there are a number of key dimensions that we do not know for instance we don’t know what the ground clearance is we don’t know final legroom figures on the inside but we don’t get
A slightly longer dash to axle ratio like we do find in a mazda cx-5 so a lot of the extra link does appear to be up there in the front overhang but the lower hood line definitely gives it a longer and sleeker appearance honda has long had a dedication to handling ability and driver engagement that’s likely going to continue with this generation of crv and we
Certainly have wider tires than average on the base model and on the hybrid trim 235 with tires are standard honda’s mission with this generation crv was to make it look more grown up more elegant and more rugged simultaneously and i think they’ve really achieved that with the sharper creases relocating the side view mirrors down here to the body rather than up
There in the a-pillar and by moving that a-pillar back they’ve given it that longer hood profile and perhaps a little bit more of a sports wagon meets crossover look with an overall length of 184.8 inches this is now about 2.7 inches longer than the previous generation that gives us more rear seat legroom than we’ve had before and the biggest cargo area that the
Crv he has ever had definitely two great things when we’re talking about a model that has always had a really accommodating back seat and a very generous cargo area as with the front end design the back end design changes a little bit depending on whether you get the ex and exl trim which are going to look more or less like this red one or the sport and sport
Touring trim which we’re going to take a look at in a bit the tail lamps are certainly more expressive than before with little swooshes right here and this very distinctive angular strip right on the corner one disappointment the turn signal is an incandescent element and that did surprise me because some other new hondas including some less expensive hondas now
Have full led tail light modules in the back this particular trim which is not the hybrid model has hidden exhaust tips tucked up right under the bumper but unlike some of the luxury hybrids on the market right now the hybrid version of the crv which would again be the sport and sport 2-ring models those have well integrated exhaust tips giving this more of a
Luxury flare the hatch really is still pretty vertical in the back of the crv that helps improve cargo practicality but they do a really good job hiding that they have this section here that kind of bumps out a little bit towards you right there and then it tucks back in in the rear giving it the impression of more of a raked profile while still giving you the
Practicality of a vertical hatch for 2023 there are two different drive trains ex and exl get a one and a half liter turbocharged engine standard sport and sport touring get the hybrid the 1.5 liter turbo has been revised for this year it produces 190 horsepower and 179 pound-feet of torque it’s mated only to a continuously variable automatic transmission and your
Choice of front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive honda has yet to release any fuel economy estimates for the new crv yet but i wouldn’t be surprised if it was more efficient than the outgoing model they have said however that the all-wheel drive system has been revised it will now send more power to the rear axle and it has a snow mode and hill descent control for
Even more predictable behavior on rougher surfaces or slippery surfaces like ice and snow for me and i expect a lot of you the big news is the new hybrid system this is the fourth generation of honda’s 2 motor hybrid it’s based around a 2-liter four-cylinder atkinson cycle engine and a twin motor unit over here on this side of the engine bay everything working
Together gives you 204 horsepower total and 247 pound-feet of torque that may appear to be a slight reduction in horsepower over the last generation crv hybrid but it actually is an improvement because honda has changed the way that they’re calculating the horsepower total for this vehicle they haven’t given us complete specifications on the motor units but they
Are more powerful than the ones before and they’re also laid out a little bit differently under the hood that supposedly will improve efficiency improve the top end speed improve acceleration etc as with the one and a half liter turbo we don’t have any fuel economy estimates for the hybrid system just yet but like the 1.5 i expect the fuel economy numbers are
Likely going to go up interesting twist you can get front wheel drive or all-wheel drive with the hybrid system now sport touring is going to have all-wheel drive standard sport is going to have front-wheel drive standard all-wheel drive as an option and as before this is a true mechanical all-wheel drive system so if you don’t like the way a rav4 hybrid feels
Out on the road on slippery surfaces like snow or ice you might want to get a crv hybrid instead because this hybrid is going to feel exactly the same on those surfaces as the regular gasoline model because the all-wheel drive system is essentially the same as before the hybrid model uses a lithium-ion battery pack i can’t show you but i have seen it it’s located
Right there under the load floor now it does take the space of the spare tire and it means that the cargo area is a little bit smaller in the hybrid model hybrid or no hybrid the cargo area gets bigger for 2023 you’ll get 36.3 cubic feet of storage space in the hybrid model or in the non-hybrid model when the floor is in this position but because we don’t have a
Battery pack i can lower this a little bit further down and we get 39.3 cubic feet of cargo space that is not quite the biggest in this segment but it is among the largest now under the load floor in this model we do have a temporary spare tire and it looks like almost enough room to put a full size if you wanted to cargo practicality has long been a crv hallmark
And i expect that to continue with this generation one thing i noticed is that the cargo area is among the squarest in this segment so if you’re the kind of person that wants to go to home depot and just grab a big old barbecue stick it right in their vehicle without questioning this is the kind the vehicle it’s going to be easy to accommodate that because the
Large square nature of that opening they also made the load floor definitely quite low and low to the ground for easier entry and that’s why we have this sort of ramp up to the seat backs in the rear as before the rear seats fold in a 60 40 fashion and there’s no ski pass through right there in the middle honda says that front seat comfort has been improved but
A lot of folks are really going to notice the fact that even the base model gets a standard power driver seat including a two-way adjustable lumbar support we also have a manual tilt telescopic steering column with a large range of motion but unfortunately the bottom two trims have a urethane steering wheel so it’s definitely not going to feel as premium as the
Leather wheel that we get in the upgraded models also one thing to know most versions of the crv are likely going to have a manual passenger seat again honda has not given any specifics when it comes to legroom but they have said that legroom has increased and that’s always been a selling point for the crv but this front seat comfortably adjusted for me at six
Feet tall actually a little further rearward than i would normally sit there’s still generous amounts of legroom back here so this is easily the kind of vehicle where you could put rear-facing child seats in the back there’s also plenty of headroom even though the moon roof is standard on all trims with this seat in an upright position i still have about two
Inches of headroom left and that’s really thanks to the very square profile that we find in the crv this may not have all the same swoops and sexy lines that we find in some of the competition but it is very practical on the inside also very practical the rear doors open practically 90 degrees from the body that makes it a lot easier to get in and out of the
Vehicle and to get children in and out as well in addition to the extra room rear seat passengers get a fold down center armrest with two cup holders and rear seats that now have eight stages of recline this is the most upright position to make that cargo area very square but as you can see it’s not overly comfortable definitely functional however or you can
Put that seat in an extremely reclined position which is among the more reclined in this segment now let’s take a look around the inside of this top end sport 2-ring model again the standard size moon roof is standard on all trims but no panoramic moon roof is available in any trim there’s alexandra our intrepid video editor in the back seat as you can see she’s
Got plenty of room back there we have high adjustable shoulder belts for the driver and front passenger and height adjustable headrests to help dress up the interior sport and sport 2-ring get contrasting trim on the upholstery sport gets fabric seats sport 2 ring gets the leather upholstery you see here and exl of course gets leather as well but with the less
Powerful engine one thing that surprised me although this leather upholstery is perforated the front seats are not ventilated they are just heated moving from the front doors on over to the dashboard the general theme of this interior is very much like the honda civic the big thing that is similar is this cheese grater section that runs right across the dashboard
As you can see that houses the air vents and a blank panel right there just between the dashboard and the glove box below i really like this design i do wonder how easy it is going to be to clean behind that cheese grater now very little of this interior is directly shared with the civics if you’ve heard rumors otherwise you should know that very little of the
Actual components are shared with the civic but the style is very similar especially the steering wheel and the instrument cluster there behind one interesting twist rather than the full lcd cluster like we find available in the civic this one has a partial lcd cluster so seven inches over there on that side analog speedometer over there on the other side the
Error messages are because this is a very early pre-production prototype model and a lot of things are just barely held together here in the middle of the dashboard we have two different infotainment screens a seven inch screen is standard the nine inch screen is optional the nine inch screen supports wireless apple carplay and android auto connectivity there’s
Some physical buttons on the side but the display is not as big as some of the competition below that we have the controls for the dual zone automatic climate control two usb inputs qi wireless charging mat a pretty traditional console shifter here with d and b in the model with the hybrid system l in the model without drive mode toggle right there hill descent
Control electric parking brake right there as well between the front seats we find two very large cup holders some extra storage trays and what honda says is the largest center console storage area in the segment this definitely is deep and wide as well so you can definitely put a lot of large items inside going back to that steering wheel for a moment on the back
Of the wheel wheel we have paddle shifters these are regen paddles on the hybrid model which is a handy touch and we don’t know about the functionality of this system just yet but i suspect it’s going to be pretty similar to the current generation hybrid model you’ll find the controls for the infotainment system on this side of the wheel the little scroll wheel
Here and the home button that controls that multi-function lcd cluster then we find the controls for the standard active safety systems and radar adaptive cruise control over there on the right side the heated steering wheel button has been relocated to the center spoke down there at the bottom on the a-pillar we get bose logos because this is the first crv ever
To have a bose audio system this top end trim has a 12 speaker audio system and interesting twist this is only the second honda model ever to get a bose audio system as well the first being the current generation honda civic as a family vehicle there are two unexpected twists in the back of the crv the center seat belt for the rear passengers comes right there
Out of the ceiling that does reduce cargo capacity a little bit in the rear and the top tether anchor for the center child seat position is right back here just above that cargo area opening that does make it a little bit more awkward to have cargo and child seat in the vehicle at the same time be sure and hit that subscribe button down there at the bottom of
Your screen because sometime later this summer i will have my hands on the crv and that’s probably when i’ll have more detailed specifications like legroom figures and other specifications that honda has been a little bit short on just yet also later this summer the crv is actually going to be on sale so if you want to get your hands on the new 2023 crv be sure
And contact your honda dealer now because the gasoline model is going to be on sale this summer the hybrid model a few months later in the fall of 2022. also coming later this summer pricing information for both the hybrid model and the regular model that is one tricky thing we don’t know pricing just yet so i really can’t comment on whether the crv is a good
Value or not but i would expect it to be i wouldn’t be surprised if pricing stuck pretty close to the current generation crv the hybrid model that’s anybody’s guess at the moment but honda has said that they expect the hybrid model to account for about half of the crv’s volume and that would be a significant increase over the current generation crv hybrid which
Is somewhere around a quarter of the volume that’s a trend that we are definitely seeing in the compact cross silver segment and it is right in line with what toyota is doing with the rav4 in terms of its volume and what we’re likely seeing from the koreans this generation as well if you’re looking for a really elegant crossover in the compact segment you should
Definitely put the crv on your shopping list i love the look and in this base ex trim i’m really glad that honda brought a base model out it still has the elegant look that you’d expect from honda it doesn’t really come across as a cheaper version of this top end trim because there are so many common components the headlights they’re exactly the same we still have
The chrome accents here rather than boring blacked out bits we still have body colored mirror caps things like that and that’s not what we find in most of the competitions based models now some folks looking for a really high-end crv they may be disappointed you won’t find things like power lumbar support on the passenger side you won’t find the enormous screens
That we find in the koreans for instance in the new kia sportage you can get a model with twin 12.3 inch screens in the dashboard it really looks like an expensive mercedes on the inside but that model may be more expensive than this top end sport touring trim again we don’t know pricing just yet so it could be that honda has chosen to keep their pricing walk
A little bit narrower than some of the competition that’s likely because again as i said at the beginning of the video there are only going to be four different trims of the crv if you want a more expensive honda they would love to sell you a pilot if you want a less expensive honda there’s of course the new hrv as well as always be sure to mash that subscribe
Button find us over at autobuyer’s guide ev buyer’s guide the auto buyers guide podcast facebook twitter instagram all those other social places we’ll see all of you next week foreign
Transcribed from video
Honda's All In On Hybrids | 2023 Honda CR-V First Look By Alex on Autos
