• Loads of space inside
• Now only available with five seats
• Clever storage bins up front

How much space is there?

Ample. So much that the CR-V used to be available with seven seats. However, Honda’s decision to make the SUV hybrid-only axed that option because the space occupied by the third seating row was required for the powertrain’s battery pack. Now, the CR-V is a generous five-seater.

Very generous, in fact. There’s plenty of head and leg room in the front, and the seats offer enough adjustment for people of all shapes and sizes to get comfortable. Models fitted with a panoramic sunroof feel larger still thanks to the extra light flooding into the cabin.

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Space on the rear bench is equally plentiful. Even tall occupants have enough space for their heads and knees, while the flat floor means those relegated to the middle seat will have enough space for their feet. Each seat can be individually reclined, too, which is great on a long journey.

Boot space and storage

With the rear seats in place, the CR-V hybrid’s boot can carry 497 litres of luggage. That’s 90 litres less than you get in an equivalent Kia Sportage and 83 litres less than a comparable Toyota RAV4.

Even though it isn’t at the top of its class for capacity, the CR-V’s boot is a good shape with minimal intrusion from the wheel arches. It also has a broad opening, a low loading lip and a completely flat floor, which makes it easy to haul cumbersome items into the rear. The top-spec EX model even features a powered tailgate, which makes loading luggage a doddle.

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The rear seat backs are easy to fold flat using a couple of levers and pull cords. Once you’ve stowed them, you’ll have 1,694 litres of space to the roof, which is 86 litres less than the Sportage but four litres more than the RAV4. In any case, there’s plenty of room for a new washing machine or an all-out trip to your local DIY merchant.

Is it easy to park?

Not bad, but it could be easier. The CR-V is big car and, despite its tall driving position, it’s quite hard to judge where its corners are. The side windows are quite narrow, while rear visibility is hampered by the second-row headrests and the letterbox rear glass.

Still, now that the range starts at Honda’s SR specification, you get front and rear parking sensors, a rear-view camera as standard and automatically tilting door mirrors as standard, which helps a lot when reversing into a narrow multi-storey car park bay.

This kit should be enough to allow most drivers to park the CR-V effectively. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that the top-spec versions of the Sportage and RAV4 feature 360-degree parking cameras. You can’t have a 360-degree camera on any version of the CR-V.

Safety

• Five-star Euro NCAP rating
• Lots of standard safety equipment
• Excellent adult crash protection

The Honda CR-V was last crash-tested by Euro NCAP in 2019 – and its smouldering wreckages left the assessment centre with five-star safety ratings. That looks great on paper but bear in mind that Euro NCAP has tightened up its test protocols since then. That means newer five-star family SUVs, like the Mazda CX-60 and Kia Sportage, could fare better in an accident.

Still, the CR-V achieved some convincing results when it was last tested, with a 93% adult occupant protection score and an 83% child occupant protection score. Children are particularly well-isolated in side impacts, although the testers voiced some concerns on their safety in frontal offset crashes.

But the CR-V compensates for this with an arsenal of safety technology designed to stop you from having an accident in the first place. The standard kit-list includes autonomous emergency braking, lane-departure warning, adaptive cruise control, blindspot monitoring and traffic sign recognition. Road departure mitigation will also nudge the car back into its lane if you’re about to leave the road.

Watch: Honda CR-V Euro NCAP crash test