1.01.2016

Hitting The Sweet Spot: The 2016 Honda CR-V Touring

2016 Honda CR-V Touring front 3/4 view
The 2016 Honda CR-V Touring.
Eleven months after our last week in a Honda CR-V Touring, we get another...and though there's not much new between the 2015 and 2016 models, our appreciation deepens.




2016 Honda CR-V rear 7/8 view
2016 Honda CR-V Touring.
There has been a price increase...last year's $32,770 for the all-wheel drive model is now $33,245 ($34,145 with $900 destination charge).  Apart from that, the CR-V Touring is as before...the best-appointed, most luxurious way to enjoy what is now Honda's midsize crossover (the HR-V now being the baby of the family).

Say yes to the Touring and you're done with the option sheet, apart from the various and sundry dealer-installed accessories your dealer is hoping you'll pop for.  The fundamentals are a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine mated to a continuously variable transmission.  EPA fuel economy estimate: 25 mpg city/31 highway (it's 26/33 if you go with front-wheel drive instead of AWD).

Interior view of 2016 Honda CR-V
2016 Honda CR-V Touring interior.
As before, the CR-V Touring interior is a comfortable and roomy place from which to do your driving. Visibility is excellent and handling is rock-solid, all of which came in handy during a trip to San Francisco one weekday rush hour morning.  The 111-mile trip from home to destination should take a shade under two hours.  That day, between weather, normal Northern California commuter traffic between Sacramento and the City by the Bay and an unusual backup on the Bay Bridge (the final 90 minutes of the trip were spent covering the final 12 miles from Berkeley into SF), a two-hour drive became a four-hour one.  And at no point did I ever wish I was behind the wheel of something else.

The CR-V needs to be really good to compete in the crowded mid-size crossover segment against such players as the Toyota RAV4, Nissan Rogue, Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage and Ford Escape.  And it is.