The 2017 Honda CR-V is all-new with turbo power, an upgraded interior and new sheetmetal. Is it enough to go mano-a-mano with the Toyota RAV4 and Ford Escape? Considering the sheer amount of hard work that went into building this new 2017 Honda CR-V, it’s no surprise that it impressed. What did surprise was the high level of competence the overall package displayed in every driving situation.
Sadly, I was unable to head off road with the 2017 Honda CR-V.
The Toyota RAV4 has recently undergone a refreshening and has always presented itself as a competent, if not mellow competitor. It is an easy car to drive daily and its utility is top notch. While not the most powerful of the three, it has proved itself as an excellent driver in the snow and off the beaten path.
I took a Toyota RAV4 to Moab, Utah and was impressed.
The Ford Escape was recently refreshed as well. With gobs of power from its EcoBoost turbocharged engine and an excellent driving demeanor, the Ford Escape is the most athletic of the three. It still feels more intimate than the other two and the layout is not as user-friendly as the other crossovers.
The CR-V still comes with the old 184 horsepower 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine, but that’s just for the base model. Honda truly wants you to make friends with its 195-hp (at 5,600 rpm) turbocharged four-cylinder that makes 179 lb-ft of torque from 2,000 to 5,000 rpm. It’s hooked up to a continuously variable transmission (CVT) that behaves like a regular automatic transmission.
With this setup, the CR-V can get 27 mpg city and 33 mpg highway.
Honda invited us to test the 2017 Honda CR-V in Northern California. Time with the competing crossovers was brief; however, I have had wheel-time in both vehicles recently, this helped with my first drive conclusions. There’s a lot more to discover driving this new Honda crossover and I’m looking forward to driving one in the Rocky Mountains. I want to add that this is new CR-V is more of a baby Honda Pilot rather than a larger CR-V.
Check out the full TFL video above to find out how the CR-V did against the RAV4 and Escape.
