[krreddy]

We test drove the CRV Diesel before buying the 2020 Fortuner. The engine was underpowered, middle seats were sedan like with very little under thigh support and the third row seats were pointless. We did like the interior built quality though. The metallic brown would have been our pick had we gone ahead with the CRV. Honda were offering some great discounts too but felt the Toyota would holdup/serve us better in the long run. Deep down we knew Honda were going to discontinue the CRV.

Our Civic (Diesel) test drive meanwhile was great. Very practical and mod friendly car but needs a price correction of 5-7 lakhs.

[abumani]

I have a 2019 CRV in Canada. It is a good car and one of the top selling cars there in its segment for many years consistently. Canadian market gets a 1.5 litre turbo petrol engine with or without AWD option. It retails from 27800 CAD to 42500 CAD approximately which comes to 15 -23 lakhs in the Indian market. Also Indian CRV miss out many niceties that what it have in Canadian market. I think the higher tax quotient and the intention of the company to get higher margins killed its possibilities here.
The seven seater version of the CRV was a stupid idea as customers who pays for this luxury car don't want to squeeze into that tight space. They have much better options in the market now.

[4x4addict]

Just out of curiosity, How much does a manufacturer save on deleting the second turbo on a 30 plus lakh car? Surprised that Ford did the same on a 40 lakh car.

[itwasntme]

Just to give an idea, I had noted the price of my 2011 Cruze turbo. In 2014 GM quoted 88K landed for a new OEM unit. This was from GMDAT, Korea at MRP.

So with the bulk OEM price, even with inflation and high tech advances, an additional turbo should be 100K? The issue could be far more intrinsic changes required like beefed up internals to handle the extra power.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

Just out of curiosity, How much does a manufacturer save on deleting the second turbo on a 30 plus lakh car? Surprised that Ford did the same on a 40 lakh car.

I’d like to think it is not about actual costs but about marketing and positioning and perhaps also about reliability. Indian driving conditions with all the heat and dust and stop go traffic are among the toughest in the world. Add to it our often adulterated fuel. Perhaps it is difficult to meet the long term reliability and durability requirements with highly strung twin turbo diesels. A twin turbo diesel in a CRV or Endy will see much more and much harsher use than one in, say a BMW or Mercedes It will also have to ensure long lasting and reliable performance while keeping maintenance costs in check in comparison.

But then again, if you are uncertain about the reliability of your new high performance small turbo engines, work on them. And provide bigger engines in meanwhile. Undersized and underpowered engines simply don’t cut it anymore, especially in the premium segments.

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

But then again, if you are uncertain about the reliability of your new high performance small turbo engines, work on them.

Dust and rough usage is not unique to India. Generally global models are testing and varying conditions across the world. The Endeavour/Everest for example must be operating under heavy load and dusty conditions in rural Australia. I still think it is a stupid cost saving measure.

[landcruiser123]

I hope this is not the beginning of the end for Honda.Similar to "If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,"

If you don't have anything nice to offer, don't offer anything at all.

Makes me think why they even bothered to launch this CR-V? Except City and Amaze, no other product is competing in the segment.

They blew it with the Civic by not offering the right engine + gearbox combo. Even if they wanted to launch fewer combinations, they should have started by offering petrol MT and diesel AT.

[gururajrv]

Honestly, Honda in India have clearly lost their vision and seems so disinterested in offering competitive products. I dislike every single car line up currently on their stable here in India. Don’t like the civic too! They’re here for namesake reasons and I wouldn’t even regret if they pack their bags and quit like Chevy did.

[msdivy]

The right time for diesel CRV launch was before 2010 (before or around Fortuner launch). So it came late. The only way for success was to offer more than the competition at the same price point (like Kia Seltos). But CRV was poor in matching competition let alone beat it. CRV gets added to the list of failed car launches in India.

[TheCatalyst]

OK. I am going to go against the tide here and say that the current CRV is not as bad as it made out to be. How do I know? I own one and have driven about 5000 kms till date. Before everyone pounces onto me, let me explain in brief why it was the most suitable vehicle for my needs.

Lets make one thing clear, I wouldn't have bought it at the price it was launched, but the 2019 deals made it a sweet offer. It was all inclusive Rs.32 Lakhs on-road Mumbai, which makes it 25.xx ex-showroom for the top-end all-wheel-drive model. Fortuner and Endeavour though tempting, were out of picture due to the size and parking restrictions (length and height). That left me with only Compass, Tucson, CR-V and Kodiaq. Some others too, but those got democratically voted down.

I am family man with two young kids, so got voted out JC due to rear seat space issue, even though I personally liked the car. Tucson was a beast, though the gearbox was slow to respond at times. Interiors dated and wifey didn't approve the rear seat ride with high window line. Kodiaq was the favorite, but with no BS4 deals (on-road of 42L+) and brand aversion, slowly it pushed aside too.

Now coming to the CR-V, it got a thumb-ups from the family due to the space and rear seat comfort and those 'out-of-reach' third row seats were snatched by my young one.

Coming to the car, sure enough, it looks bad on paper (Isn't the new Endeavor with its 2.0 single turbo engine, in the same category with similar bhp and torque/ton?). But if you didn't know the specs, I would go as far as to say it even fun to drive within the city. This is driving in Mumbai where reaching 80+ kmph has become a dream. In fact due to the gearbox using the correct power band, I have never felt the need for more power in quickly closing those traffic gaps. I am a fairly aggressive driver within city, and I feel the city is where a gearbox plays a more important role than the engine. With sufficient low end torque and shorter gear ratios, its a breeze in traffic. I am not sure its fair to compare Mumbai city traffic with lets say Delhi, where you might still find open stretches. One thing to note, is that the gearbox learns your driving habits, so a short test drive may or may not please you. And the icing on the cake is the frugality of the engine, easily giving 14kmpl mileage (tankful method) even with a fairly heavy foot.

On the highway, I will be honest, the performance is adequate. Its fine till about 120-130kmph, but above that progress is slow. Honestly I don't remember driving above those limits. I would prefer a sedan at those speeds anyway. But I still like the car on the expressway for its 'cruiser' personality. And the ride quality is so good, keeping you feeling fresh even after hours of driving.

Few things I miss though.
- memory driver seat. Even a single preset would have been ok.
- front sensors
- auto open/close boot. Just because others have it.
- Hyundaish level of refinement? Its close, but not quite there.
- Engine remaps. I did see few tuners who have remapped the 120bhp to 160bhp, keeping the single turbo. Not sure how authentic though.

Anyway, lets hope the CR-V launches in the BS6 avatar with international spec engine further down the road .

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by TheCatalyst

OK. I am going to go against the tide here and say that the current CRV is not as bad as it made out to be. How do I know? I own one and have driven about 5000 kms till date. Before everyone pounces onto me, let me explain in brief why it was the most suitable vehicle for my needs.

Lets make one thing clear, I wouldn't have bought it at the price it was launched, but the 2019 deals made it a sweet offer. It was all inclusive Rs.32 Lakhs on-road Mumbai, which makes it 25.xx ex-showroom for the top-end all-wheel-drive model.

That's the whole point. At the price you got it at, the CR-V starts making sense.

As you mentioned for 32L on road, it is not a bad option at all and all those negatives you can overlook.

The launch price was close to 40L on road and that was in no man's land for a 1.6L engine in a much smaller vehicle.

[TRANSAM]

I still recollect a few friends scrambling to get their hands on the last few cars available, when they offered 5/6 lacs off, they made calls to several dealers and most of them had none available, so it indeed was a great buy at under 33 lacs OTR.
For a soft roader it's great value and has the ever loyal Honda badge IMO

[CarguyNish]

According to Autocar India,

Honda CR-V to be petrol-only model in BS6 era, No Diesel BS6 planned

In a response to an email query from Autocar India, Honda has now confirmed the CR-V will continue as a petrol-only model. “Our CR-V customers continue to show natural preference for the petrol model and in order to maintain a lean variant line-up and stay focused on our core customer category, we have decided to retain only petrol variant for CR-V,” said Rajesh Goel, senior vice president, marketing and sales, Honda Cars India Ltd.

Interestingly, since its launch in October 2018 till January 2020, Honda sold 638 CR-V petrols versus 975 CR-V diesels, though periodic offers on the diesel versions led to variant-specific sales spikes in certain months.

BS6 Honda CR-V will be front-wheel drive only

Unlike Diesel, No 7-seat Petrol CR-V in India

BS6 Civic diesel coming soon

The CR-V diesel might be gone but the Civic diesel, which uses the same 120hp, 1.6-litre engine, will make a comeback in BS6 form. “The petrol version of the Civic was already BS6 compliant since its launch in March 2019. We will soon be launching the diesel BS6 Civic, depending on the production resumption for the model after COVID-19-related lockdown,” Goel stated.

The launch of BS6 Diesel might be the reason why we are not seeing Diesel CR-V

To make it simpler, Honda is upgrading the Civic Diesel to BS6 due to lack of options in the segment. With Corolla discontinued, Octavia being Petrol Only, the only rival left is Elantra Diesel. Honda might be desperate for numbers since it wants to keep its focus on Sedans.

What Honda might be doing is address the lack of Diesel AT in Civic by offering that 1.6 Diesel with 9 Speed AT gearbox. Honda didn't launch it initially because of CR-V, now they may have thought about it. I am not sure if it'll come or not, but if it does it'll increase the appeal, provided Honda doesn't overprice it. Any day Civic is better than Elantra if one considers the core aspects in cars.

Similar opinion was expressed by me (link (Scoop: Honda Civic spotted testing in India! Edit: Launched @ 17.69 lakhs)) in Feb 2019 when Civic was about to be launched. Looks like it may become reality soon.

It's the CR-V that is preventing Civic from getting Diesel AT. Just as simple as that.

The 40 lakhs priced CR-V with its 120 bhp Diesel AT Powertrain won't be worth it's asking price if the same thing is made available in Civic costing 24 lakhs.

[sgm]

I would say the product was good for City and family usage pattern and a decent vehicle for higway runs but was let down by the high price tag. The discounts were 5L+ during the last year end.
For the Petrol models, by not offering the brilliant 1.5Turbo for Civic and CR-V, Honda missed a golden chance for revival in India. It would have given the fan following that it managed in India with the 8th Gen Civiv and the 2nd gen CR-V a decade back. The 0-100kmph performane numbers are really good for 1.5Turbo version, around 8.6s for CRV and 6.8s for Civic, faster than Octavia 1.8TSI
Is it due to the existing reliability concerns and the Indian fuel ?
In US, Honda still has issues with their 1.5T
https://www.torquenews.com/1084/hond...-should-do-now

[RaghavEvoX]

Good products help in building the image of the manufacturers and Honda in the 2000s just did that.

The brand image of the manufacturers helps in selling its products and the Honda in the last 2 decades just did that.

Price, features and quality of the products (compared to its competition) will bring down the brand image of the products which took years to build and currently Honda is just doing that.