2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid Review

Toyota's RAV4 Hybrid is worth checking out. It returns 40 mpg in combined city/highway driving and provides a more pleasing driving experience than the gas-powered RAV4. The Ford Escape Hybrid is another option. It's new for 2020 and provides up to 41 mpg combined.

Both Ford and Toyota will be offering plug-in hybrid versions as well. For now, Honda is sticking with just the regular CR-V Hybrid.

We've described the non-hybrid CR-V as "composed and confident." The hybrid version is all that plus more power and better fuel economy. Its hybrid powertrain delivers a combined output of 212 hp and 232 lb-ft of torque.

This is a significant bump from the CR-V's 190 hp and 179 lb-ft of torque. The Hybrid can give you a quick burst of power when you leave a stop, and it has no problem making quick passes when you need it.

The CR-V Hybrid uses electric power only to get you going from a stop and then transitions to combined gas/hybrid power once you're rolling. It's a smooth handoff. The only indication of the switch is the sound of the engine firing up, which replaces the Hybrid's buzz-hum pedestrian warning tone. There's no shudder or jolt as the engine kicks in.

There's also no conventional transmission, so acceleration and deceleration are single, smooth motions. To round out the trio of actions you won't notice, the all-wheel-drive system stays in front-wheel-drive mode for better fuel economy unless it senses a loss of traction, at which point it sends power to the rear wheels as well.

The CR-V stops as easily as it accelerates. The brake pedal has a soft and predictable feel to it, which is welcome. Other hybrids sometimes have a rather grabby brake feel because of the transition from the hybrid system's regenerative braking to the regular friction disc brakes.

What look like transmission paddle shifters on the steering wheel are instead controls that allow you to adjust the amount of regenerative braking. This is an unusual feature for a hybrid, and you can use it to maximize fuel economy by, for instance, using regenerative braking to keep your speed in check on downgrades or coasting while in stop-and-go traffic.

Steering in SUVs is often slow to respond, like a dentist shot the wheel full of Novocain, but the CR-V feels connected and smooth. It's responsive around corners and firm on straightaways. Similarly, the CR-V manages a comfortable ride over rough pavement, but it stays upright around turns.

The EPA estimates that the CR-V Hybrid gets 38 mpg combined (40 city/35 highway). That's a worthy improvement over the regular CR-V, which gets 29 mpg with all-wheel drive. The hybrid comes standard with all-wheel drive.

For what it's worth, the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid get slightly better fuel economy at 40 mpg combined. But we don't see this slight difference as a knock on the CR-V.

Buying a CR-V Hybrid instead of a comparable regular CR-V will cost you about $1,200 more.

The CR-V Hybrid's cabin has only a few minor differences from the non-hybrid CR-V's interior. The gauge cluster offers a power graphic so you can see exactly when you're in electric-only mode, and when it kicks on the gas engine. The mode buttons alongside the push-button shifter include an EV-only setting, which can be used in slow-speed situations such as parking lots and quietly pulling into your parents' house after curfew. The overall interior is roomy, comfortable, and ergonomically friendly for both short and tall drivers.

Honda's physical controls, such as the volume knob or the climate controls, are easy to figure out and use even while driving, but the touchscreen for the infotainment system is below par. The surface is a semi-matte, which shows less in the way of fingerprints but also gives a fuzzy appearance to icons and the camera view. The screen is slow to respond, and some controls are several clicks deep. This is the CR-V's major weak point when compared to the competition.

The CR-V is a comfortable height to get in and out of in the front, and the rear doors open wide enough to make it easy to help a child or infant in and out of a car seat. All three rear seats have easily accessible car-seat anchors. Up front, both driver and passenger seats offer power adjustment on all trims but the base LX. And while the cockpit might skew slightly in favor of a smaller driver due to its narrow construction, there is head- and legroom for larger folks as well. Rear-seat space is excellent, and the CR-V also has rear USB ports, cupholders and a fold-down center armrest, again in all but the LX trim.

Visibility is excellent, with a slender front roof pillars, a large rear window, and small blind spots. The latter are rendered moot by Honda's blind-spot monitoring system, which helps notify you about cars hiding in your blind spots. It's standard on all but the base LX trim.

The CR-V Hybrid does lose some cargo space compared to the regular CR-V because of its battery pack. Space drops from 39.2 cubic feet with the seats up to 33.2 cubic feet, and from an overall 75.8 cubic feet to 68.7. That's a little less than what the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid provides. But in real-world use, you're unlikely to really notice. The rear seats still fold flat with the pull of a handle, and they're easily lifted back into place.

Up front, the center console has a well-designed sliding tray. It can be flipped up to make room for a medium-sized handbag and still allows access to the bag without the need to move the armrest. Additional storage is available in the door pockets, and there's no need to put your cellphone in the cupholder since the CR-V has an optional non-slip charging pad positioned conveniently in front of the USB ports.

Honda does great with safety tech, less so with infotainment. Even the setup for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration feels clunkier than it should in a 2020 model car.

Honda calls its safety features "Honda Sensing," and aside from the blind-spot monitoring, which does not come on the base LX trim, all safety features are standard. These include a system that can warn you about an imminent front collision and automatically apply the brakes if you don't react in time. The collision system will sometimes send unnecessary alerts in dense traffic, but otherwise the CR-V's safety systems are helpful.