The Honda CR-V has pretty much been the segment starter in India when it comes to successful soft roaders. The current Honda CR-V has been in the market for almost three years now and failed to match the success of its predecessor for a multitude of reasons. For starters the looks were too bland and did not really go with a butch SUV image. Then there was the engine. With no diesel option available, the CR-V just did not manage to find enough takers.
Honda has just introduced the 5th generation CR-V which promises to change its fortunes in India. From the looks of it, the CR-V now gets the new Honda family design. It does take a lot of cues from the recently launched BR-V which is a good thing considering the BR-V is a good looking car. The fenders are slightly more flared and it finally looks like a proper SUV.
The interiors get major updates as well and apart from being more luxurious there is more space on offer as well. On the features front you get Apple CarPlay, dual zone climate control, electric parking brake and a navigation system developed by Garmin. Honda also added a hands-free power tailgate, a feature becoming popular in this segment that is activated by a kicking motion.
Powering the new CR-V is a new 1.5 litre turbocharged engine that makes an impressive 190 bhp, however we think India might get the 2.4 litre engine pushing out a more modest 184 bhp. But this time around expect a diesel as well. Safety has been taken care of as well with horde of safety features.
Honda wants to make sure the CR-V does well this time around and considering it has benchmarked the BMW X3 for it, we’re hoping it does well too.
