There’s a war happening in the crossover segment, with new revisions to the Toyota RAV4, Hyundai Santa Fe and Ford Escape all gunning for the popular Honda CR-V.

The all-new CR-V isn’t packing a drastic update, but still maintains a lot of family friendly features which go great with its $22,795 starting price. Add AWD, like our LX tester was equipped with, and the CR-V costs $24,045.

Powered by a responsive 2.4L four-cylinder engine, the CR-V puts out 185 hp. If driving around town, you won’t need all that power, so fortunately Honda equips the CR-V with an ECON button, which dulls throttle response in favor of fuel-savings.

The results are pretty impressive. The CR-V earned 27 mpg during our time with it, which included a mix of both highway driving and city driving. This is slightly better than the EPA rating of 22 mpg city, 30 mpg highway and 25 mpg combined.

Simplicity is an underrated feature in cars these days. With the CR-V, all the essential buttons, controls and information are laid out in front of you in an easy to see and quick to understand manner. Everything from changing radio stations to finding information on the displays is dead simple. Even actions like folding the rear seats are done with ease. As a result, living with the CR-V is stress free.

The CR-V has a lot of family friendly touches, including a spacious rear-seating area. Rear passenger space is plentiful and goes well with the CR-V’s comfortable seats and nice, big windows. Front passengers also have a handy convex mirror to check on the back seat – making the CR-V ideal for young families.

Despite the comfy space in the back, the lack of armrest for front passengers is a bit of a disappointment.

 

One of the few complaints about the way the CR-V drives is its steering feel. Thanks to a new electric power steering system, the CR-V’s wheel has a limp feel, with minimal feedback. In regular driving this isn’t too bad, but once the snow hits, or when driving in looser road conditions, this dead-feeling steering wheel is definitely an issue.

With a starting price that’s on par with just about every other vehicle in the crossover segment, and no ‘killer-feature’ so to speak, it might be hard to see why the CR-V should be your next family friendly SUV.

The competition boasts everything from a turbocharged engine, to a clever AWD system, to high-tech gadgets, to hot styling. Arguably the CR-V has none of these, but at the same time it does blend capability, efficiency and Honda’s track record of excellent reliability. The CR-V stands on its merits alone, making some of the more attractive features of its rivals feel like gimmicks.

Still want to know more about the 2013 Honda CR-V? The AutoGuide new car shopping section has all the details you need, and you can even build your own vehicle, and compare the CR-V against other models. Shop for your Honda CR-V here.

Discuss the 2013 CR-V at crvownersclub.com