![]() Honda has positioned the lineup such that versions with the hybrid system are now positioned as sportier options. The standard CR-V is now powered by a 1.5-liter turbo-4 engine and CVT, while the CR-V Hybrid gets a new version of Honda’s two-motor hybrid system. To fit the new premium thrust of the hybrid system, Honda has separated its CR-V lineup into two tracks. It’s always felt the most electric of them all, and it’s been our choice for all-round drivability-with fewer moments of indecision than Hyundai’s one-motor system in the Tucson Hybrid, and less of the rubber-band feel that can make Toyota’s planetary hybrid system in the RAV4 Hybrid less charming at times. That mixed message aside, Honda’s two-mode hybrid system has indeed gotten better. Smoother, perkier, and lives up to its premium positioning Honda has also eliminated the battery level gauge, although you can still tap into it through touchscreen menus and the Power Flow screen. The outgoing CR-V Hybrid’s EV mode button, and its theoretical stealth to arrive home and keep the engine at bay, is also gone. Think more obnoxious than inspiring-and it can’t be switched off. ![]() It’s a head-scratcher.Īdding to that ICE awareness: Shift the drive mode to Sport, as you would for a curvy road and the sharpest performance, and the engine and those “shifts” are amped-up through cabin speakers with Active Sound Control-an altogether raspy sound that resembles a tuner-car resonator. The change effectively makes the driver more aware of the engine instead of having it rev up and down, somewhat disassociated from acceleration, it’s now pretending to be more connected to it. The engine is, as before, effectively clutched to the wheels only at low-load boulevard or highway-speed cruising. It’s all an illusion though, as accelerating at those rates doesn’t involve any connection to the wheels at all the CR-V’s two-mode configuration continues to function as a parallel-hybrid system in most acceleration situations, with the engine functioning as a generator, charging the battery and delivering electric power to the wheels via a traction motor. When accelerating rapidly, the hybrid system now “shifts” in steps, crisply dropping the revs as if it’s changing gears. If Honda is segueing to EVs here, it’s still humming the tune of internal combustion. ![]() It delivers one with stronger electric motors and a broadened electric range-including new towing ability-but ultimately with a decidedly gasoline-vehicle twist. Honda says that it’s gone for a more electric driving experience for the CR-V this time. ![]()
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