REPORT 1: (15th August 2024)
Mileage: 7688km
Medium SUVs are still the most popular type of new vehicle year-to-date in New Zealand, and the single powertrain preference that’s actually growing its share in a diminished market is petrol-electric hybrid.
This seems like the perfect time to introduce the newest member of the DRIVEN Car Guide long-term fleet, the Honda CR-V RS e:HEV. We’re kicking off three months of CR-V real-world testing with this Canyon River Blue Metallic model, to see how it fits into our day-to-day driving and family lives.
We’ve enjoyed the CR-V RS previously for its quality, cabin space and impressive driving dynamics: it’s truly an all-new car compared to the previous model (which we also ran as a long-termer), on the same platform as the latest Civic and ZR-V.
We’ve also been impressed with Honda’s e:HEV hybrid technology, which we explored long-term in a Jazz and reviewed extensively in the Z-RV. But we’re keen to see how it performs in a much larger vehicle. It's certainly well run-in, as you can see from the mileage: it's clocked up over 7600km already in press and promotional duties.
Honda’s hybrid tech is a little different to the likes of the rival Toyota RAV4. It has a 2.0-litre petrol engine, which works with one electric motor to produce precious electricity. Another e-motor actually drives the wheels, although in some circumstances the engine can engage directly with that first motor to help drive the wheels.
Sound complicated? It is. But you really don’t have to worry about any of that. Just drive.
Opting for the e:HEV does mean we’re living large in CR-V land, because it’s only available with the top RS specification, leather upholstery and all, for $67,000.
And if there’s one obvious technical downside, it’s that e:HEV only comes with FWD. Another possible one is that the new platform does not allow the CR-V to have Honda’s brilliant Magic Seat system; so whether the generous 581-litre boot is enough to make up for that remains to be seen.
The RS is the least financially accessible CR-V and you could argue there are other models that have a broader range of talents, even if you’re not enjoying clever hybrid technology. That’s why we said we’re “kicking off” with the RS; because we’re planning to swap between it, a conventional-petrol turbocharged Sport with AWD and the Sport 7 with third-row seating as we go along. So we’re planning to tick quite a few boxes over the coming months, with CR-Vs ranging from $53,000 through to our flash $67k RS.
It was straight into the deep end for our CR-V; immediately following collection it was used to travel from central Auckland to Pukekohe, as transport for us to collect a TrailLite 300 motorhome for review.
It’s well known that hybrids aren’t at their best in long distance driving, when there’s much less opportunity to regen and charge their small batteries to maximise electric running.
With that in mind, we were deeply impressed with the 4.6l/100km recorded by this largish family SUV for its first out-of-town experience. It was by no means an economy run, mostly 100km/h (or with the traffic) and in fact Honda’s adaptive cruise control was set most of the way as well, which is by no means the best way to extract maximum fuel efficiency. But it is the best way to enjoy kilometres of motorway running.
We’re looking forward to finding out what it’ll do once settled into day-to-day driving. Better or worse than our first-week benchmark? Place your bets.
- David Linklater
What is the Honda CR-V?
The latest version of the Japanese maker's long-running medium crossover-SUV (like, it was one of the first of the genre, alongside the Toyota RAV).
Why are we running it?
To put the CR-V models' various ICE/hybrid and seating configurations to the real-world test.
