Honda is well-known for making great cars that anyone can buy. That’s exactly what happened when Honda started making the CR-V, which is now one of the most popular SUVs on the market. And, while Honda continues to improve on the beloved CR-V, it just earned itself yet another award.

Kelley Blue Book’s Best Buy of 2020

As the Kelley Blue Book editors said in their post about why the Honda CR-V won this coveted award, the CR-V is simply better than its competitors in the segment. The CR-V is a compact SUV, so it’s competing against the likes of the Toyota RAV4 and the Subaru Forester. While that’s some tough competition, Kelley Blue Book decided that the CR-V was still the best compact SUV of them all. 

One of the main things that Kelley Blue Book praised Honda for was not sitting on its laurels. This is the fifth time that Kelley Blue Book has given the CR-V its Best Buy award, and Honda responded by continuously upgrading the CR-V.

One of the changes that Kelley Blue Book mentioned was that the CR-V got another facelift despite the fact that Honda gave it a facelift two years ago. On top of that, Honda will be producing a hybrid version of the CR-V very soon. Additionally, all of the good things that Kelly Blue Book liked about the CR-V in the past hasn’t changed.

Why Kelley Blue Book likes the 2020 Honda CR-V

As Kelley Blue Book said, the “winning formula” of the CR-V is unchanged in the 2020 model year. The fact that the interior of the CR-V is still roomy and well-equipped, and the fact that the CR-V drives very well are big reasons why Kelley Blue Book likes the CR-V so much.

But, the fact that Honda is never content with the CR-V and is always making changes, whether they’re big or small, is also another reason why the CR-V remains at the top. For example, in the EX trim of the CR-V, Kelley Blue Book says that Honda improved its base engine. It will now have a 1.5-liter turbocharged engine that gets 190 hp and 179 lb-ft of torque. 

This more powerful standard engine is also very fuel-efficient, as it gets 33 MPG on the highway. But the biggest change, according to Kelley Blue Book, is the fact that the CR-V will get a hybrid version soon. This hybrid version will put it a step ahead of its competitors once again. 

Kelley Blue Book says that the CR-V hybrid will have a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and two electric motors. Combined, they will generate 212 hp and should improve the CR-V’s fuel economy by 50 percent. 

The Honda CR-V’s consistent quality 

Not changing what works while adding stuff that puts it ahead of its competition is largely why the CR-V has managed to stay at the top. However, those are not the only reasons. 

At the end of the day, the Honda CR-V is still a Honda, and that means two things in particular: safety and reliability. As Kelley Blue Book said, the CR-V has a lot of standard smart safety features that other automakers only have as options for their cars. For example, technologies such as adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, and automatic emergency braking are all standard on the 2020 CR-V.

Furthermore, even though many Honda CR-V owners love their CR-Vs, if they want to sell their CR-V, Kelley Blue Book says that the CR-V also has a very high resale value.

All of these factors mean that the $26,000 base price tag of the CR-V gives the new owner access to almost everything that they’d want from an SUV, and that’s why Kelley Blue Book likes the CR-V so much.