2023 Honda CR-V 1.5-Liter Turbo Examined: Much less Is Certainly Much less

If you think you see Honda CR-Vs everywhere, it’s not your imagination. The CR-V is Honda’s most popular vehicle, and Honda claims it to be the bestselling crossover for the past 25 years. It’s not surprising that Honda took a careful approach with the sixth-generation version that debuts for 2023, with the LX, EX, and EX-L models powered by the same engine as before.

The CR-V gets an all-new exterior design, arguably the biggest change. A bluff new nose should help the CR-V shed the cute-ute image associated with past versions. It’s not just a styling trick. The latest CR-V also has a longer wheelbase, a greater overall length, and a fractional increase in width. It has just about grown into the footprint of the original Honda Pilot—the wheelbase, in fact, is identical. No wonder it looks all grown up.

Whereas that OG Pilot was a three-row conveyance, the CR-V continues to seat just five, though it does so in a roomy, airy cabin. The rear seat in the outgoing CR-V was already one of the most spacious in the segment, and Honda has added a bit more legroom this year. A nearly flat floor makes the rear-seat middle position viable, while ingress and egress are a breeze front and rear. Behind the rear seats, there’s 39 cubic feet of luggage space; cargo volume expands to 77 cubes with the rear seatbacks folded. For the driver, the narrow A-pillars have been moved nearly five inches rearward, and the cowl is lower, making for improved forward visibility.

The two powertrains are both making a return appearance, but whereas the hybrid has been heavily revised, the standard engine—a turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four—is effectively carryover. Its musters the same 190 horsepower and 179 pound-feet of torque as before and is again lashed to a continuously variable automatic transmission. Grunt is dispatched to the front wheels or, as in our EX-L test vehicle, all four.

With 190 horses dispensed via a continuously variable transmission, the 1.5-liter’s part-throttle response can be syrupy. Mat the pedal, though, and the transmission does a better impression of a traditional gearbox, with revs rising to redline, then dropping back with a simulated shift and rising again. For such a small-displacement turbocharged engine, Honda’s 1.5-liter is largely free of lag. With an 8.3-second run to 60 mph, though, the 1.5-liter has lost some spring in its step compared with the previous-gen CR-V we last tested with this powertrain, a 2020 model that managed a 7.6-second time. The turbo four also is a few ticks behind the 2023 CR-V hybrid, which does the 60-mph dash in 7.9 seconds. In the 50-to-70-mph highway passing test, the base version again trails the hybrid, by 0.4 second.

Fuel economy is unchanged from last year. The 1.5-liter CR-V with all-wheel drive again earns EPA ratings of 27 mpg city and 32 mpg highway. By comparison, the hybrid CR-V with all-wheel drive blows that city figure out of the water with a 40-mpg estimate and notches 34 mpg on the highway. Opting for front-wheel drive adds 1 to 2 mpg to the base engine’s figures and 2 to 3 mpg to the hybrid’s.

The new CR-V benefits from a stiffer body structure and additional sound insulation that makes it quieter than before. Foot to the floor, we measured 74 decibels, versus 78 decibels previously. The hybrid, though, gets additional sound-deadening measures and is quieter still, by two decibels under full-throttle acceleration and by one decibel during 70-mph cruising.

Grasp the steering wheel wrapped in smooth high-quality leather, and you discover steering that is crisp and nicely weighted, with a solid sense of on-center. It almost could be in a Mazda, but the CR-V’s chassis isn’t as snappily responsive as a CX-5’s. There’s a bit more body roll, and the Honda isn’t quite as eager to dive into corners. Here again, the hybrid, with its stiffer suspension, has the edge. The CR-V EX-L exhibited a class-competitive 0.84 g of grip, just fractionally less than the hybrid’s 0.85 g, rolling on Hankook Kinergy GT tires. At 235/60R-18, those tires’ tall sidewalls help the CR-V take the edge off broken pavement. They contribute to a smooth ride that effectively smoothers bumps while keeping the cabin placidly calm and free of disturbances.

The new CR-V’s interior is also free of the frustrations that can arise from weird or wonky switchgear. The shifter has moved from the lower dash in the outgoing model to a more normal position in the center console, and we’re glad to say it remains a traditional shift lever rather than a dial or a toggle. The climate controls are three simple dials (with the vents neatly integrated into the dash trim). All models now have partially screen-based instrumentation and Apple and Android phone mirroring. The EX gets a 7.0-inch touchscreen with volume and tuning knobs, while the EX-L upgrades to a larger 9.0-inch display but sacrifices the tuning knob. Plentiful storage space makes life easy, and despite being only mid-tier in the CR-V’s five-trim hierarchy, our EX-L’s interior had a handsome if straightforward design and quality materials.

The CR-V’s easy everyday livability, overall competence, and lack of obvious downsides earned it a 10Best award this year. That award tells you that the CR-V hits its marks—and the hybrid version just does so a little bit better than this base-engine model. Both are likely to be just as ubiquitous as their forebears.

Deputy Editor, Reviews and Features

Joe Lorio has been obsessed with cars since his Matchbox days, and he got his first subscription to Car and Driver at age 11. Joe started his career at Automobile Magazine under David E. Davis Jr., and his work has also appeared on websites including Amazon Autos, Autoblog, AutoTrader, Hagerty, Hemmings, KBB, and TrueCar.