Tow car test: Honda CR-V
Model tested CR-V 1.5T VTEC SE 2WD Price £27,855 Kerbweight 1501kg
This family SUV sets high standards, but how does it rate as a towing vehicle?
What’s new?
This is the fifth-generation of the Honda CR-V – the world’s best-selling SUV, according to Honda. There are some big changes with the new car, including the decision to abandon diesel power altogether. That leaves buyers with the choice of a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol or a petrol electric hybrid. Both are offered with frontor four-wheel drive.
The other big news is the availability of a seven-seat CR-V for the first time.
What are we looking for?
The question is, has ditching diesel compromised the CR-V as a tow car? Honda argues that it hasn’t, and our test car’s 2000kg towing limit shows the company has faith in the CR-V’S towing ability. But is that faith justified? Towing ability For an SUV of this size, the CR-V is light – Honda quotes a kerbweight ranging from 1501kg to 1523kg for the 1.5T 2WD manual, depending on the exact specification. Working from the lower weight gives an 85% match figure of 1276kg. We matched the Honda to a Sprite Major 4 SB with a Mass in Running Order of 1281kg, and drove an extensive test route of country roads and motorways. From a standing start the CR-V pulls away quite smartly, but it’s soon clear that performance is steady at best. Anyone switching to petrol power will miss the mid-range shove of a good turbodiesel. There’s 162lb ft of torque across a broad spread of the rev range, but that’s not a lot when you’re pulling 2.8 tonnes of car and caravan. You’ll need to ensure the accelerator is close to the floor to build speed with anything approaching urgency. On the motorway, we often found it necessary to drop to fifth gear to maintain our pace on even slight gradients. On hilly country roads frequent gearshifts are required to stop momentum ebbing away. The relative weakness of the engine is also apparent when making hill starts. The electronic parking brake held car and caravan still and released without hesitation when pulling away, but on slightly damp Tarmac it was difficult to move off without spinning the front wheels. Once the wheelspin stopped the engine nearly bogged down and acceleration was very slow. The four-wheel-drive model only costs another £1100 and would surely be a better choice for regular towing, putting its power down more effectively. After patiently waiting for the Honda to tow up to speed, the car felt stable enough on country roads, taking rough surfaces in its stride. On the motorway, the CR-V was composed in still air, but overtaking high-sided vehicles often caused a nervous side-toside wobble. The Honda didn’t inspire the same confidence at speed as a Mazda CX-5 or a Volkswagen Tiguan. We stopped off at a campsite during our test and manoeuvred on damp grass. From this we deduced that as long as the driver is gentle and smooth with the controls, the CR-V handles low-speed manoeuvres well. Hitching up was straightforward, helped by the rear-view camera, which gives a clear view of the towball. The towball on our test car was fixed, with the 13-pin electric socket tucked a little way under the bumper and close enough to make attaching the electrics easy. We understand that the car market is moving away from diesel power, but we can’t help