2012 Honda CR-V: Overview

Vehicle Highlights

2012 Honda CR-V: What is it?

Since its introduction for the 1997 model year, Honda's CR-V has been one of the most popular compact SUVs on the market. For just as long, it has been a perennial favorite of Consumer Guide Automotive.

In the intervening years, the compact SUV class has exploded in popularity - and with new entries. Top rivals of the CR-V include the Hyundai Tucson, Volkswagen Tiguan, Kia Sportage, Ford Escape, Subaru Forester, and Toyota RAV4. Like the CR-V, all those listed are 5-passenger vehicles except for the RAV4, which also comes in a 7-passenger version. The CR-V is built in Japan.

2012 Honda CR-V: What's New

The 2012 Honda CR-V is redesigned with freshened styling, more standard features, a little more power, and improved fuel economy.

2012 Honda CR-V: Model Lineup Features and Options

Trim levels include LX, EX, and EX-L, all with either front- or all-wheel drive and no options.

Even the base LX comes very well equipped, including interior air filter, tilt/telescopic steering wheel w/radio controls, height-adjustable driver seat, split folding rear seat w/ fore/aft adjustment (to benefit either passenger or cargo room), power mirrors/windows/locks w/remote, digital-media player connection, USB port, internet radio, wireless cell-phone link, and a rare standard feature, a rearview camera.

EX adds a power sunroof and a few other niceties.

EX-L gets you leather upholstery, heated front seats, heated power mirrors, satellite radio, and other features. You can also get an EX-L with DVD entertainment, and another with a navigation system (but none with both), which are priced as separate models.

2012 Honda CR-V: Engines, Transmissions, and Drive Wheels

The CR-V is available with front- or all-wheel drive. All models are powered by a 185-horsepower 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine, which gains five horsepower over the 2011 model. The sole transmission is a 5-speed automatic.

2012 Honda CR-V: Fuel Economy

The EPA rates front-drive models at 23 city/31 highway, with AWD models 1-mpg lower. These figures are up by 2-4 mpg over the 2011 models. The CR-V uses regular-grade gas.

Consumer Guide averaged 25.8 mpg with a front-drive model in mostly highway driving.

2012 Honda CR-V: Safety Features

All the expected safety features are standard. Also standard is a rearview camera -- a rather unexpected safety feature. No other safety features are offered.

This evaluation is based on preview test drives of pre-production models.