Honda CR-V review - Interior, design and technology
The Honda CR-V interior is logically laid out and easy to use, but infotainment looks dated and could be swifter
This sixth-gen CR-V takes on a more modern, dynamic look than its predecessor, especially at the front, thanks to its slim, sharp LED headlights and the cleaner bumper and grille designs. Meanwhile, the high-level vertical tail-lights remain similar in form to before, passing on some family resemblance to the newcomer.
Inside, the dashboard layout is nearly identical to the latest Civic’s. In other words, it’s clutter-free, and the main controls (including physical knobs and buttons for the air-conditioning) all sit where you’d expect them to. It’s a refreshingly sensible and user-friendly approach that forgoes the glitzy huge screen and minimalist environment many of its rivals, like the Tesla Model Y have gone for. Everything feels as tightly screwed together as any premium offering the CR-V will go up against.
Honda makes a big deal over its Sensing 360 safety technology; in our experience, it’s fairly hit-and-miss in the CR-V. We found the road sign display spot on, and the 360-degree radar to help prevent collisions with vehicles and pedestrians around town added a welcome safety net, but the multi-view camera system was infuriating. A camera on the passenger side wing mirror displays your blind spot on the central screen when indicating. While it’s on, you no longer see the sat-nav (or any other information) on the central screen, and we worry some drivers will resort to simply not indicating to ensure they don’t lose key navigation information at junctions. Thankfully, you can turn off the camera in a sub-menu (and it remains off when turning the engine off and on), although doing so makes this technology a bit redundant.
Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment
Every version of CR-V comes with a nine-inch central touchscreen display, with DAB radio, full Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity, and sat-nav.
It’s the same screen and software we’ve tried on the latest Honda Civic. We’ve found it to have a logical menu structure, and we welcome maintaining some physical buttons and knobs for controlling frequently used features, such as volume control.
However, it isn’t the most attractive screen display. It looks a little dated next to systems such as OpenR Link in the Renault Austral, plus we felt it doesn’t respond as swiftly to inputs as that rival with its speedy Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. We also preferred the Google mapping software used in Renault’s system over the CR-Vs pre-installed sat-nav system.
The standard sound system of the CR-V is okay, but it might be worth opting for the higher-spec Advance model if you regularly drive on the motorway because its 12-speaker BOSE system will have be better at drowning out road noise.
