For a long time, Honda eschewed the diesel engine but when it bowed to customer demand it brought out a cracker.
Now it has a new version on its hands and the British-built Honda CR-V is the next model in the marque’s line-up to receive the Earth Dreams Technology 1.6 i-DTEC diesel engine.
Unveiled at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, the Honda CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC is available in two-wheel drive with manual transmission and will feature 300Nm of torque and 120 PS with CO2 emissions of only 119g/km to provide an exceptional balance of performance and economy.
That’s a very impressive rate of emissions for the size of the vehicle.
This new derivative will be built exclusively for Europe at Honda’s production facility in Swindon and will go on sale later this year.
When it comes to European buyers, the UK provides the biggest market for diesels.
And this 1.6 i-DTEC diesel, which was launched in the Civic in January, is the lightest diesel engine in its class and will deliver energetic performance, agile handling and lower running costs including an annual road tax bill of only £30 for Honda CR-V customers.
With the increasing demand for lower cost motoring, the trend for two-wheel drive diesel SUVs has grown and now makes up a quarter of the total C-SUV market in the UK.
Rising fuel prices combined with increasingly stringent environmental performance targets have led to greater customer preference for low emission vehicles. Honda’s Earth Dreams Technology series addresses these concerns whilst also delivering enjoyable driving performance.
The new Honda CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC is still faithful to the original CR-V concept of delivering a balance between the efficiency and performance of a car and the functionality and security of an SUV.
The Honda CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC’s styling maintains the confident stance adopted when the new CR-V was launched last year and retains the impressive practicality with a spacious 1648 litres of luggage capacity.
To help with the loading, the Honda CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC has easy fold-down 60/40 split rear seats which can be folded flat in one movement. At the pull of a handle, the CR-V can be transformed from a five-seater passenger car into a versatile load-lugger.
Features on the new derivative include Honda’s Econ mode which helps minimise fuel consumption and the Eco Assist system which advises drivers on how their driving style is impacting on fuel economy. Idle Stop technology will also be standard on the new CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC.
More than five million Honda CR-Vs have been sold in 160 countries across the world since its introduction in 1995 to become one of the world’s top-selling SUVs. Prices and a more detailed tech spec for the Honda CR-V will be announced closer to its sale date.