2026 Toyota RAV4 vs. 2026 Honda CR-V: Hybrid SUV Battle!

MotorTrend

Choosing between the Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV4 is like choosing between pho and ramen—both amazing

Transcript

00:00trying to choose between the honda crv and toyota rav4 is kind of like choosing between

00:13pho and ramen because both are amazing but it really comes down to personal preference

00:18so because i don't like it when things get a little too boring around here i am going to

00:22attempt to do just that after comparing the 2026 honda crv against the 2026 twitter rav4

00:29i'm going to pick a winner and seeing as both of these cars are basically the gold standard

00:34of compact scvs this one's going to be like super hard to do so let's get into it the current sixth

00:40generation honda crv debuted in 2022 and continues to impress the motor trend staff with handsome

00:46styling and good trunk space in particular we love the modern and elegant interior design which offers

00:52a good mix of buttons and dials in addition to the touch screen which we do consider rather small

00:58for 2025. still the cabin is simple yet undistracting this is the hybrid sport touring so it uses a

01:05two liter inline four and two electric motors to produce 204 horsepower and 247 pound-feet of torque

01:12front wheel drive is standard but seeing as this is the top tier sport touring trim

01:16there's all-wheel drive fuel economy for this car is rated at 40 miles per gallon in the city and 34

01:22miles per gallon on the highway starting msrp for this 2026 honda crv sport touring hybrid all-wheel drive

01:29comes to 43 700 for a car that just goes without fuss or frills the crv has been many buyers top pick

01:38but what makes this comparison very interesting is the fact that we're facing the crv hybrid off against the

01:43all new toyota rav4 as the best-selling suv in the us for many many years in a row the new rav4 will be

01:52difficult to usurp and it has an advantage the honda doesn't now all rav4s regardless of trim come

01:59with a hybrid powertrain as standard signaling a focus towards a more modernized lineup beyond the tuner

02:05hot hatch looks the rav4 comes with a larger screen that now houses some of the climate controls and

02:10generally seems more rugged inside there are a ton of cubbies in different shapes but it remains the spacious

02:16five-seater suv everyone knows from its 2.5 liter two motor inline four this rav4 limited all-wheel drive

02:24makes 236 total system horsepower which is a fair bit more than the crv hybrid toyota estimates its fuel economy

02:32to be 44 miles per gallon in the city and 39 on the highway also an improvement over the crv hybrid

02:38toyota hasn't provided specific pricing for the rav4 limited but it did say to expect the low 30

02:44thousands for the front drive hybrid models which is the new standard base model by comparison the

02:51outgoing base standard front drive rav4 started at 31 250 and obviously you did not get a hybrid with that

02:58one seeing as the rav4 is the reigning king of compact suvs and being much newer than the crv we're curious to

03:06see just how the honda will be able to hold its own kicking things off we are in the honda crv and

03:13as a personal note i am currently daily driving a civic hybrid i left that car at home and i got

03:21right into this crv which i had never driven before and everything was like i had just left it i mean

03:28they basically took the interior out of the civic and put it in the crv and there is power in that kind

03:33of consistency if you're a honda driver and you're plugged into the honda universe the crv fits you

03:38like a glove as a cohesive package the crv drives like a very neutral honda in offensive gets the job

03:48done but what is surprising though is on the curvier roads it is shockingly fun it keeps up with you

03:55despite being a hybrid compact crossover there's there's actually some spunk in this chassis and you

04:04need to like poke it a little bit to find it i was able to take the crv out on some pretty nasty public

04:11roads today and the crv yeah you could obviously feel that it was going over rough pavement but it

04:16mitigated those bumps in a way that they were dulled and totally wouldn't ruin your day the suspension is

04:23set up for pleasant everyday use obviously it doesn't soak up the bumps like the really nice

04:29luxury cars but as a comfortable thing that you just live your life in yeah the crv does it and the

04:37fact that hybrids have come so far that you really don't feel a huge handoff between regenerative braking

04:45and friction braking anymore i think is a testament to the technology so we'll test the brakes big stop

04:53well controlled body a little bit of dive but very manageable and most importantly predictable

05:03so the crv has paddle shifters which you might laugh like aha why does the crv have paddle shifters but

05:09it's not for the transmission it is for the regenerative braking severity and there's a little

05:14bit of redundancy here because there is also a b mode which honda says is for situations like stop and

05:20go traffic or going downhill basically if you were to use just the paddle shifters you can adjust how

05:25much regen braking you have it's not true one pedal but it gets pretty close but as soon as you accelerate

05:31that regen setting disappears but if you put it in b mode it kind of already sets it and keeps it in a

05:39more aggressive regenerative setting i also had a chance to try out the adaptive cruise control this is

05:46this is where it gets a little mysterious to me because in this car on these highways i could not

05:53get the lane keep assist to work very well it was ping-pong in the cars between the lanes it would just

05:59stop seeing the middle lane and it was just not very confidence inspiring and after a while i turned it

06:05off and this is confusing because it is a similar system in the civic that i am daily driving and i drove

06:12that car from los angeles to new york i drove it across the country basically in cruise control the

06:19entire time maybe it's just this car on these roads i'm not sure what it is but at this point it seems

06:25like the adaptive lane keep settings sort of vary by model and to go back on something that i started

06:33the section with which is the layout and the ergonomics of the crv interior everything is exactly where

06:41you expect it to be yes it has the screen stuck on top of the console which is not anyone's favorite

06:48book but you know what it's functional because there is a physical home button and underneath there are

06:53physical dials for the climate and you can toggle and twiddle as much as you like without taking your

06:58attention away from the road and you look at the crv's layout yeah you could accuse it of being

07:04conservative or at fast force i don't know invisible but that sort of simplicity is difficult to achieve

07:12and once you have it figured out don't change it just keep it the way it is let's go see what that

07:18rav4 has as mentioned before i am very excited about the rav4 loved the previous generation so we'll see

07:24what this one is like to start the steering is a little numb off center especially at low speed but once

07:32you're going at say 45 miles an hour on this nice curvy road things weigh up nicely and you get a

07:37pretty good sense of what the front of the car is doing even so that kind of makes it reasonably fun

07:43to drive i wouldn't say it's sports car levels of enjoyment but if you wanted to drive this car

07:49quickly it'll do it especially if you put into sport mode then everything weights up even more and you get

07:56even more confidence this is of course a very smooth test track and most roads in the united

08:02states aren't like this but if you happen to be driving down one that is the suspension is very

08:07nice it's very smooth it's very relaxed however we did manage to drive it on some public roads earlier

08:13and on some pretty gnarly ones too and i gotta say those impacts enter the cabin very very jarringly

08:20uh it almost reminded me of a body on frame truck if you could even apply that to

08:25a compact suv like this that's meant for everybody it was just very sharp impacts and i didn't feel

08:33like any of those impacts were mitigated into the rest of the chassis but directly into my seat because

08:39it is a hybrid system there's a lot of low-end power especially when you're taking off the stop signs

08:44and stop lights and things like that it is by no means a fast car but you can still do all your merging

08:49your passing your maneuvers just fine you won't win any braces or light your hair on fire but it is

08:58perfectly adequate at all of those things that you would need to do the last thing i want to talk

09:03about are the ergonomics most people are going to be enjoying this car from the driver's seat and i

09:11do appreciate all the little cubbies here there are so many places for phones for items for water bottles

09:18everything you can think of it's all right here within reach that being said i thought the last rav4

09:24was fairly incredible in its cabin layout it was simple unobtrusive this one i don't know what it was

09:31but it seems like the designers tried to remake something that wasn't broken and made everything

09:36have a truck theme to it so there's a lot of just blocky squares and expanses of plastic that don't

09:43really seem like they have a point one of the complaints that you hear a lot in car reviews is

09:49all there's a lot of like hard plastic i never minded hard plastic i think plastic is weight saving

09:55and cost saving and there's nothing wrong with it the plastic in this car however it's kind of

10:01tinny you know it feels it feels flimsy so there are certain noises that you hear like like that that

10:09don't sound particularly good or quality and even the steering wheel doesn't feel as good in the hand as

10:15some of the other cars in this class other ergonomic issues include this little drive mode surround

10:22down here by by the driver's right knee i have short legs so this is not a problem for me but i have

10:27hung out with drivers who are taller and we drove this car together and they said that they actually

10:32do make knee contact with this little surround over here is it enough to turn off buyers who are

10:38attracted to the most popular car in the united states i don't know but it is a pretty radical departure

10:44from what the rav4 was so only time will tell if this has an effect on sales figures

10:53this is why this comparison was hard these two cars were so evenly matched across like all criteria

11:01performance of intended function technology engineering excellence but at the end of the day

11:07the crv did edge out the rav4 by a little bit and this is what i realized about the rav4 you are no

11:14longer just buying this toyota for its driving dynamics or its interior it's for the powertrain now

11:21and the associated toyota reputation for reliability that comes with it so that's your price but as a car

11:28that normal people like you and me buy the crv is just better it drives more cohesively and the interior

11:34is better friendlier and more convenient to hang out it now we do applaud toyota for taking a risk

11:42with the new rav4 risks are always good but risks also don't always pan out and so in this case it

11:47makes it obvious that sometimes when you get it right the first time just leave it alone so thank you

11:54so much for joining us on this comparison and we will see you on the next one

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