1977 Honda Cvcc 1.5 Liter 4 Door Wagon on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Best compact SUVs of 2023 and 2024

Compact SUVs are now the go-to choice for family transportation. Actually, considering how popular they are, they have clearly moved beyond only family duty. With such popularity, though, comes an awful lot of competitors, and it can be difficult to figure out which one might be the best compact SUV for you.  It's important to note that by "compact SUV" we're talking about a specific segment. As we describe in our more comprehensive "Best small SUVs" list, there are also subcompact SUVs that vary widely in size amongst themselves, but are clearly smaller than the SUVs below. Frankly, today's segment of compact SUVs isn't exactly compact — some have more cargo space than vehicles that are considered midsize based on their exterior dimensions. They've all grown considerably over the years. While many lists out there just rattle off every vehicle available in a segment, we thought we'd be a bit more helpful and curate your shopping a bit with the top-recommended choices reviewed by Autoblog. We've included both mainstream and compact luxury SUV choices. Best compact SUVs of 2023 and 2024 2024 Honda CR-V Why it stands out: Best-in-class space; excellent hybrid powertrain; sharp interior style; Honda dependabilityCould be better: No lower-price base trim levels; no sporty or off-road niche models; no plug-in hybrid Read our full 2024 Honda CR-V Review Consider the CR-V the baseline for any compact SUV search, and look extra closely at the superb CR-V Hybrid option. Objectively speaking, it's tough to beat due to its massive cargo capacity, voluminous back seat, strong-yet-efficient engines, well-balanced driving dynamics, competitive pricing and features,  and well-regarded reliability. It's easy to see why it continues to be such a best-seller: for the vast majority of compact SUV buyers, and especially families, it checks every box. That's been the case for many years now, however. The all-new 2023 Honda CR-V changes things up by adding a bit more style and character, particularly in terms of its interior design and how surprisingly enjoyable the Sport and Sport Touring hybrid trim levels are to drive.

Honda, Acura lay out future plans: HR-V and more coming in 2022

Automakers and PR representatives are notoriously tight-lipped about upcoming vehicles. The infamous line that all of us in the car news business are familiar with is, "We cannot comment on future product." But this week, Honda opened up a little bit and laid out its big reveals for the coming year, and it's going to be a busy one. It all starts with the 2023 Honda HR-V, shown in the renderings above. The company didn't share a whole lot of details since it was focusing on the broad product plans, but it did note that it will be "unique to North America." It's not clear if it's just styling, which is abundantly obvious compared to the European HR-V and Japanese Vezel shown below, or if it will have a different platform and powertrains. We suspect the latter, since looking at the renderings, not only does it have a meaner, more aggressive look, but the glass in the greenhouse is different, as are the door handles. The HR-V is only the start of the big product rollout. More SUVs follow starting with the new CR-V, and then the new Pilot. A new Accord is coming, and of course there's the imminent Civic Type R. Acura's rollout is a bit more modest, with the big launches being the new Integra and the Type-S version of the MDX. Honda HR-V / Vezel View 11 Photos Plug-in hybrids aren't part of the plan There's one thing that Honda isn't including in its plans, and that's plug-in hybrids. When asked why, American Honda's executive Vice President of National Operations Dave Gardner noted that public and governmental feelings have moved from just reducing emissions to eliminating them entirely. As such, the time and effort to develop plug-in hybrids doesn't make sense when that could be applied to fully electric cars. Conventional, non-plug-in hybrids are still planned, and Honda is expecting ever increasing hybrid sales in the next few years. The company is expecting half of Accord sales will eventually be hybrid. As for Acura, hybrids aren't planned to be a big part of sales, with the brand jumping straight to EVs. Speaking of EVs, Honda's first North American electric car is still planned to be the Prologue. It's the electric model that's going to be based on a General Motors product. It's slated for the 2024 model year, and Honda is anticipating around 70,000 annual sales for it to start. Acura will get a counterpart to the Prologue, which may be named ADX. Related video:

Honda shifts CR-V production to Canada as UK focuses on Civic

Honda is reshuffling its global production in a somewhat bizarre way. Under the newly announced plans, the European version of the CR-V will no longer be assembled locally, but the region will become the hub for some Civic production. As part of this new strategy, Honda's Canadian manufacturing operations will become responsible for building the next-gen version of the European CR-V. Once assembled, the popular crossovers will then be exported back across the Atlantic. The investment to make these changes comes from 875 million Canadian dollars ($690 million) already allocated by Honda for expansion there. The current European CR-V (pictured above) is made in Swindon, England, and with that model moving to Canada, the site fulfills the second part of this production shuffle. Honda will invest 200 million pounds ($300 million) there to make the location a global production hub specifically for the next-gen Civic five-door hatchback. The examples made in the UK will be not just for Europe but also will be "exported to key global markets," according to the automaker. Honda now confirms one of those markets to be the US, and a recent rumor suggests the company sending over around 40,000 of them a year. Related Video: HONDA OF CANADA MFG. EXPANDS EXPORT DESTINATIONS WITH EUROPEAN SPEC CR-V ALLISTON, ON (March 30, 2015) – Honda of Canada Mfg. (HCM), a division of Honda Canada Inc., announced today that it will produce the next generation CR-V model for the European market. This will be the first time that HCM will export vehicles to Europe. Today's news follows Honda's recent announcement that it will invest $857M in its Canadian facilities, as it prepares for production as the global lead plant for the next generation Honda Civic, Canada's best-selling passenger car for the past 17 years. "Honda is thrilled to once again have good news for automotive manufacturing in Canada by broadening our production portfolio to include exports to the European market," said Jerry Chenkin, President and CEO of Honda Canada Inc. "This expansion decision was made possible due to our deep, mature, and rich talent pool with nearly 30 years of automotive manufacturing experience. We are so proud that our Canadian associates have the reputation of producing high quality vehicles that will meet the needs of the discerning European customer." The announcement further solidifies Honda's already deep roots and commitment to Canada.