2024 Honda CR-V driving REVIEW - why is it so popular?

One of the most sold SUVs worldwide is still the Honda CR-V. Why is that actually? And is it the same? Or will it be the same in this new generation here? We're going to find out with Thomas and Autogefühl in 4K, full screen, full length. Let's go here with the front. And I really have to say, I love it. Not only that it's a nice blue color, but look at that front grille. It looks really strong and almost kind of off-road-ish, whereas more and more SUVs go in the very round direction and streaml

ined, so to speak. This one with a very cool, strong design. Here also with the daytime running light integration. So I love it design-wise. That's also one of the main reasons why people still go for the CR-V. Here in the side profile, we can see 4.71 meters or 185 inches. It's about 8 centimeters or 3 inches longer than the predecessor, so a little bit longer than before. Wheels here, in this case, black with 18-inch. You can also get 19-inch wheels. These are in... This case in here also wint

er tires. And once again a very upright design, more focused on the space on the inside because the second reason why people go for the CR-V is it has like an ideal size. It's not too big but it's also not too small and it always has a lot of space on the inside so also families go for the CR-V. Here in the rear, vertical design of the tail lamps I think is also rather tight. Wait a minute. Isn't that... Don't you see like Volvo, you know like Volvo XC60? Michel also saw that. Yeah, definitely V

olvo design in the rear, I mean in a good way, you know, isn't it? And here in the lower part, oh, oh, oh. Autogefühl Fake Exhaust Police here. These are pure fake exhaust. Yeah, I think they could have lived without it. By the way, here it says CR-V AWD, so that's an all-wheel drive version. Front plus rear on demand. That's the system. And here it says e:HEV, so we'll soon talk about the different engines. But there's one difference already here in the rear, I can tell you. It's the towing. Wi

th the inbuilt hybrid, 750 kilograms of towing. With the plug-in hybrid, it's. Actually, double 1.5 tons. And then, again, once again, different for the pure petrol engine that you can get in the US. And you might see that in the front next to the increased wheelbase. Here, you can see wider tracks now. And we're seeing the driving part if this also translates into a better drive. So on the Northern American market, you can get a 1.5-liter turbo. That's like the entry-level engine. And here in E

uropean market, you only get either here the inbuilt hybrid. That works in a very interesting way, three different ways. It can directly power the wheels, the combustion engine. It can drive electric. And also, the combustion engine can serve as a generator. So, three different ways of driving with that one. And then, there's also a plug-in hybrid available now. So, you can recharge that one externally. The inbuilt hybrid will be the more important engine sales-wise, however. Key fob, nothing sp

ecial, but also nothing bad at all. Let's check out the door-closing sound. It's actually nice and solid. Also here from the panel gaps and so on. It's a very massive, this door handle. Then inside of the doors, it's also a soft touch and also a structure. So that is nicely done. Look at that inlet here. Beautiful. Also the handle. Some galvanization also around the window lever. So I like the build quality. Just no felt inside covering here. Yeah, but so far looks really good. Then the steering

wheel with real buttons control and even has some... Clicking sounds, it's cool. Also straightforward design, heated steering wheel, button on the steering wheel. I love that. And they have this mesh structure here on the dashboard here at the air vents, for example. Continuous further on to the cockpit. And soft touch also on the top part here with a structure. This looks like really good build quality. The only thing is here in Europe, so these seats are the only ones you can get. It's a mix

of leatherette and... Animal leather. So I'm not sure which part is which one, but that's the only one you can get in Europe now. So far, you could always get the fabric seats as well. You can still get them in the US. I think they should also offer it as an entry in the European market to be more animal-friendly. Then here is the version with panoramic roof, but still some headroom left with 1.89 or 6'2". Yeah, but this is a real... Panoramic roof still. You can open as well. Wow, it's actually

not that loud from the mechanism. And it opens quite wide. There we go. So I like that. Yeah, CR-V convertible. You can also apply the electric shade to the panoramic roof, by the way, so when it's really, really sunny. Then here, the cockpit. Wow, that looks really premium, I have to say. Look at that. Here, this mesh structure looks sports car-alike. Then, once again, the soft touch dashboard. And you would start in some base versions, for example, on the Northern American market, in 7-inch w

ith the screen. This is here the 9-inch screen, standard in Europe. And it still has a manual control here with the volume knob. That's cool. See here, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto integration, also wireless available. And the Honda menu itself is kept relatively simple, straightforward, big individual buttons. You cannot do so much, and it's also not necessary. We can, for example, take a look at this power flow meter when we drive the car later on. And if you want to go to the home menu, press

the button. Wow, I mean, I really love this straightforward user interface continued in the lower part like this one here. And once again. Clicking sounds. Audi goes away from that solution. Honda says, hmm, hold my Japanese beer. We're going to go for Audi controls here for the climate unit, also for the fan speed. This feels premium. It looks premium. Yeah, and it also listens to as premium. Seat heating, seat cooling, individual controls. That's what I want to have in the car, this straightfo

rward user interface. In lower part, charging, USB-A or USB-C. Inductive charging pad is not cooled, however, so it could overheat. The gear selection is a little bit weird, but then again, also not too complicated because like this, you put in the... You know, like this, you put in reverse. Parking, drive, and for neutral is also possible. You get long and then the driving mode selection is here on the right side. So in the sport mode, if you have an adaptive suspension, the suspension would al

so get a little bit stiffer. The inbuilt hybrid does not offer that. The plug-in hybrid does offer adaptive suspension. But what you get as standard are frequency adaptive dampers. That means it adapts accordingly to the impact the dampers get. And yeah. BMW sells that as adaptive suspension where it's not actively adaptive. Yeah, but for Honda here, it's standard. Actually quite cool. Then this large middle console here with a leatherette covering. OK, you can move that one a little bit left an

d right, but still quite fine from the build quality. A lot of space underneath. That's really good. This interior is so versatile and usable. Here, the cup holders, see here. They work well for different sizes. They're also somewhat adaptive. So I'm overall very, very happy with the cockpit here so far. Steering wheel moves in and out, up and down. Also very smooth. No resistance, no rattling sound whatsoever. Oh, and that power button here lights in red. Digital instruments are very clear to r

ead. And you can also change the content from the steering wheel, what you want to see here. So here with your right thumb, you control the content, and then you can also activate or deactivate the head-up display. Pretty cool here. These hotkeys at the stalk column. So when I press here on the right with my index finger, it directly hops to the camera view, and I can also switch through different camera views. This is here, for example, the right and left wheel, so you don't damage these alloys

. And with my left thumb, I can directly hop here to the blind spot monitor view. So when Michel opens his passenger door, and I would see... This is the passenger side, always showing the blind spot. Rear seats, first of all, look at that. The rear door opens almost 90 degrees, great for putting child seats in and out. And also, soft touch here in the rear doors on the inside, great build quality. And you can even get seat heating for that. And then when I'm driving as a tall person here, I sti

ll have enough legroom. So remember, the wheelbase has been increased a little bit here. The headroom gets a little bit close here with the panoramic roof. Behind is a little bit better then, so there's still space then. If you want more space, then you would not take the panoramic roof. But overall, the offering of space is good. The rear seats are quite high. So once again, good for children actually. And a decent comfort once again. And I'm really... Amazed by the interior build quality here

by Honda. USB-C charging in the lower part. And then we can fold down this. This has no adaptive cup holders though. And what's also interesting is you cannot fold the seats forward or backward. But the seat folding mechanism is cool. So take this one. Then you can adjust the angle, make it more upright or put it all the way. This is like a way sleeping position. So very rare that we see that. And then when we fold it down completely for the trunk and so on. Here, look at that. How the lower sea

ting area goes flat, that's a good mechanism that the whole area then is flatter than for loading things through. Trunk is about 600 liters each or 40 cubic feet. And interesting is that the in-built hybrid has a little bit less liter volume than the plug-in hybrid. So you can tell you why. Just like the cover here. Then about a meter or 40 inches in width. That's good. So we have a full luggage setup for you here. Just to show you an example. This is an empty. You have that they use all the hei

ght. Here, you can see that we have a small step, but it's actually nicely covered. And then we have all the two-thirds folded. And the total length to the front seat here is about 1.85 or 73 inches. So that's actually very good. And for all the dog owners, especially here, 83 centimeters or 32 inches in height. So very well usable. That's again the third reason why people go for it. Lot of luggage space. It's actually simple. Not complicated. It fits a lot underneath here, by the way. Some more

space. The inbuilt hybrid has actually the battery underneath this floor. That's why you lose a little bit of luggage volume underneath. The plug-in hybrid would have the battery in the underfloor center of the vehicle. That's why then underneath here, you get a little bit more liters. But the everyday usability is more or less the same. Can I stand underneath here? I can push a little bit more upward. And I can also stand underneath. And if you want to secure that position here, it also says,

hold to set height. The first manufacturer I see do it. There we go. And then when you have hold it, then you have saved this position for the next time. Welcome to Thomas' Driving Lounge, Honda CR-V, new generation here with the inbuilt hybrid. Let's go to the sport mode and do some acceleration from zero. Let's see how it turns out. That's 90. I wasn't screaming at the acceleration button more. I had to secure the key here, it doesn't fly around. I was more screaming at the sound it made, you

know. So wow, that's like. Wow, that is interesting. And here, we can directly use this small test track they have here at Honda Germany and see how it performs. So the steering is actually quite good. It doesn't feel most agile, the whole vehicle. Let's take it that way. But the wider track here in the new generation definitely helps the vehicle. So I feel it... Drives better and sportier than before, leans a little bit into the corner, suspension is not set on the sportiest note, I would say,

but overall, it's actually quite good. This is not the vehicle where you say like driving fun and driving agility is the main focus. It's more about running straight, motorway and being comfortable, and for that, the suspension is also set on the good note, I would say. But definitely, it feels better to drive than the previous generation, and that's, I think, the main aspect for it. Suspension we will also test as for the combat soon on the open road, and we'll also go to the motorway. But here

, yeah, definitely, it's not the sportiest, most agile feeling. There, for example, the German competitors would be better as for the sporty driving feeling. But then here with the straightforward user interface, I really love this Honda approach because especially... While driving, so easy to control the temperature unit here, for example. And that was completely normal back in the days. And now, often it's gone. Yeah. So this is something you can really praise then with the Honda CR-V. Now you

may be hearing that I'm in the EV driving mode. So when you're driving really slow speeds, easing the car in and out of a parking lot, it usually goes to the EV mode. to save some fuel and also be silent in the neighborhood and so on... And in the previous generation, the Direct-Drive that the combustion engine powers the wheels directly was only available at motorway speeds. Now it's also available at slower speeds. So we can also have this monitor here, the power flow monitor. And always when

there's like a... This is a small white symbol, you know, where you can see that actually, but it always depends. If you look at that while driving as a driver, you probably get mad because it constantly changes because you have the all EV mode, then you have the, you know, like this Direct-Drive where the engine directly powers the wheels, and then you have this generator mode where the combustion engine serves as generator, but then the car itself drives electric. And it constantly changes de

pending on what is actually the best solution for this very moment. But the best thing is probably as a customer not to care about that and just drive the vehicle. Acceleration figures are all around 9 seconds, by the way. The front-wheel drive version is a little bit better, like 9 seconds, 9.5 for the all-wheel drive version. The all-wheel drive here, I also have it in this very vehicle, works in a way front plus rear on demand with a clutch. So it's not like a permanent all-wheel drive or som

ething. There's always something active, you know, in a way, but not like this fixed setup. So rear then just on demand. Here, look at that. When I turn right, this blind spot view is automatically activated here. Right side turning indicator. This is actually a cool system and the same also happens. So left, I rather look myself but here when I use my left index finger, then I can also activate it and have here the blind spot view to the right. So this is a very cool system. We know it from Hyu

ndai and Kia, Genesis, but they have it then in the instruments. It's also a good solution here then in the screen. I think, yeah, tech going forward definitely. Why not? So here when I'm turning right, once again, it's activated. I mean, I do see it in the mirror in a way, and there's also the blind spot monitor in the mirror. That maybe takes an effect on the motorway, but here, there's definitely a nice additional safety feature. I mean, what you heard during the acceleration was that the eng

ine was really, really loud. That's because Honda is not using like a classic converter automatic gearbox, so you always have... like this effect. But once again, that performance itself is also not the focus of this vehicle. Then let's get on the motorway, still in the sport mode. Let's see more acceleration on the motorway from 50, let's go. 100 120, 130 Wow, I mean, it's okay, I mean, it's actually sufficient and... The engine sounds like a sports car, doesn't it? That's really cool. Here now

at higher speeds, 130 kmh, so like 80 miles an hour. It is actually quite loud as for the wind noise. So that's not the best I would say. So it could be more silent at higher speeds. Of course in most countries you won't have really high motorway speeds but 130 is definitely a speed where it should be more silent. Here now, there we see the small symbol here. And when we see that small symbol here, that means that this direct drive is active. So at the moment I'm keeping constant speed. And now

the combustion engine is directly powering the wheels. When I go off the throttle, it disappears. And then I have recuperation, so I get energy back to the battery. And then when I'm on the throttle, the Direct-Drive is activated once again. When I'm accelerating harder, then it disappears, because then, when I'm in hard acceleration, The electric motor is active and the combustion engine serves as generator. Yeah, it is in a way complicated but also you could say it's a great idea in a way to

fit the drive train in a way that's always most efficient in every situation. But of course is the question at the end of the day, does it really mean that we have less consumption? Well, we've been testing the system before and... I have to say it's not a game changer as for the fuel economy. Yeah, so maybe it's nicely thought out but that it's really super effective. I would also wish for a base petrol engine for the European, for the German market. I think they would serve the customer better

by that way. Then also, for example, offer the plug-in hybrid drivetrain that you can then have taxation benefits if you need it. Yes, to me it's a little bit too loud on the motorway, but as for the chassis, suspension is on. It's nice, doesn't shake up too much. At the same time, it drives very well. Suspension I feel is very comfortable also with 18-inch wheels. And the steering is awesome. It's really crisp and direct. At the same time, I do not need too much force. I think exactly the righ

t setup here for the steering. And that has always been the case with Honda, especially Civic Type R. It's really a lot of fun to steer these vehicles around, just as the CR-V does not have this agile cornering focus. We've shown that to you initially, that this is not the special thing this car can do. But overall, driving-wise, I'm really happy. Yes, it doesn't offer the most driving fun, but at the same time, steering is crisp and good comfort riding... straight and enjoying family... and eve

rything comfortable as long as you don't drive too fast or that you don't have like too much wind noise and so on. But overall I think in this very segment here quite solid performance. The Toyota RAV-4 by the way is also quite loud at higher speeds so that's the thing where the Germans are a little bit better as for noise noise insulation and Lexus of course if you compare Toyota and Lexus... It's mostly different that Lexus always has better noise insulation at higher speeds. So just to give y

ou like some competitor insight as well. Well, the last reason why the Honda CR-V works that well internationally is the low price. So you get it in North American market for around $30,000 and it offers so much for the price. So the price-performance is excellent. And also, Honda usually scores quite good reliability rankings. Then again, that's the one thing I criticize today. In Europe, they go more for this high trim strategy now. So in Germany, it starts at 49,000 euros as the in-built hybr

id and even more, around 60,000 euros for the plug-in hybrid. Always high trim on the inside, no fabric seats, always animal skin share, and so on. So, I think that's not the right approach to take it because I love this vehicle design-wise, the space on the interior. Here, this new generation, such a great build quality on the inside. It's actually a premium build quality inside. I love that. But then again, it also has to be competitive price-wise and that works in the North American market, b

ut it's really critical if it works in the European market. Yeah, that's I think the only catch for the day. Other than that, it is really to me one of the best SUVs in this very segment. You can also compare now like the competitors, the VW Tiguan, or the Toyota RAV4.