Honda may be best known for its sedans and minivans, but Honda is working on changing that. Along with introducing the Ridgeline, Honda’s only pickup truck for America, Honda has also spent a lot of money creating and promoting its line of SUVs. One of Honda’s best-selling SUVs is the CR-V, and here’s everything you need to know about what Honda offers on it.

The Honda CR-V’s standard features

Although U.S. News says that the CR-V is the best compact SUV on the market, U.S. News also says that the standard tech inside the CR-V leaves a lot to be desired. One of the biggest things that’s missing from the standard CR-V is a touchscreen. U.S. News reports that the CR-V comes with a 5-inch display, but it’s not a touchscreen display. 

Other than that, Honda offers a single USB port, Bluetooth compatibility, a four-speaker stereo system, and automatic climate control as standard features, according to U.S. News. This low-tech standard version of the CR-V, unfortunately, doesn’t have Apple CarPlay compatibility nor does it have Android Auto compatibility. 

This lackluster offering on the standard version of the CR-V was one of the main issues that car reviewers such as Car and Driver, Autoblog, and Edmunds had with the CR-V, according to U.S. News. 

The Honda CR-V’s optional features

While the standard CR-V may not have many features, including Apple CarPlay compatibility and Android Auto compatibility, the more expensive and premium trims of the CR-V does have those features. U.S. News reports that Honda offers a 7-inch touchscreen that’s compatible with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Honda also offers other upgrades, such as having more USB ports, wireless device charging capability, and a dual-zone automatic climate control system. On top of that, Honda also offers a navigation system, HD radio, satellite radio, as well as a premium stereo system with the choice of six, eight, or nine speakers, according to U.S. News. 

That said, U.S. News reports that there are many flaws with these premium offerings. U.S. News says that asides from a volume knob and buttons for the climate control system, there aren’t any physical controls for these infotainment features. Many car reviewers also noted that the controls on the screens were small and hard to use. Furthermore, U.S. News says that the touchscreen was laggy, slow, and confusing.

The Honda CR-V’s smart safety features

Although the infotainment systems of the CR-V may be bad, Honda is known for how seriously it takes safety, and that’s not an exception for the CR-V. The CR-V offers many standard smart safety features that comparable SUVs don’t offer as standard. 

Some of these standard smart safety features include: adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, and a crash-mitigation braking system, according to U.S. News. Honda also offers several optional smart safety features. Some of these include blind-spot monitoring, front and rear parking sensors, and a rear cross-traffic alert system. 

These smart safety features, when combined with the design of the CR-V, allows the CR-V to get great safety ratings. U.S. News reports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, gave the CR-V 5 out of 5 stars for its overall safety. U.S. News also reports that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, or the IIHS, gave the CR-V a Top Safety Pick award in 2019.

Overall, U.S. News says that when the NHTSA’s results, the IIHS’s results, as well as the large suite of standard smart safety features that Honda offers on the CR-V are added together, the CR-V gets a 9.7 out of 10 for safety. This extremely high safety score was one of the main reasons why U.S. News says that the CR-V is the best compact SUV in its class.