Honda’s refreshed 2020 CR-V begins arriving in showrooms on Tuesday with a subtly redesigned front fascia and interior, some new technology, a streamlined powertrain lineup and a $600 bump in the base price to $26,145, including destination.
With the inflated MSRP comes the addition of Honda Sensing safety and driver-assist technologies as standard on all four trim levels, plus standard features including automatic high/low-beam headlights and idle stop-start engine technology.
As we’ve previously reported, Honda is also ditching the 2.4-liter four-cylinder previously available on the entry-level LX grade and making the 1.5-liter turbo-four the CR-V’s lone powerplant. It makes 190 horsepower and 179 pound-feet of torque, which represents 6 extra ponies over the former engine, a flatter torque curve and improved fuel economy by 2 miles per gallon in highway and combined driving, to 28 mpg city, 34 mpg highway and 30 mph combined. It’s available in front- or all-wheel drive, the latter dropping those fuel economy figures to 27/32/29 mpg.
We’ve already covered the exterior design changes, which include a new blackout chrome grille, new fog light openings, redesigned taillights and new headlight designs. EX and EX-L trims get newly designed 18-inch wheels, while the Touring trim comes with new 10-spoke, 19-inch wheels and tires to raise the stance by an inch, plus chrome exhaust finishers. All grades get a redesigned center console with new storage options.
Still no new information on the CR-V Hybrid, which debuted in Europe earlier this year and arrives stateside in early 2020. We know it will feature a blue Honda logo in the grille, Hybrid badging and concealed tailpipes. It will come with a 2.0-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder with two electric motors powered by a battery totaling a combined 212 horsepower. Honda has said it expects the system to deliver a 50% increase in city fuel economy, meaning around 42 mpg for a two-wheel-drive version and 40.5 for all-wheel drive. Three U.S. plants will contribute to the CR-V Hybrid, including final assembly in Greensburg, Indiana, alongside the non-hybrid version and the Honda Insight.
The CR-V is Honda’s bestselling model and one of the bestselling crossovers in the U.S. Trough October, Honda says it sold 314,083 CR-Vs, up 2.8%, while sales last month jumped 15.4% over October 2018. Honda says the CR-V has now surpassed the 5 million U.S. sales mark since debuting in 1997.
