By now, it’s fairly obvious that butched-up extra-soft-roady crossovers are the new hotness among mainstream cars. Almost all automakers offer at least one and many offer multiple, so when Honda announced a compact crossover with this treatment, people got cautiously excited. Well, here’s the 2026 Honda CR-V TrailSport and it looks pretty much like a regular CR-V. While people who own hiking poles will probably be disappointed, don’t change the channel yet. There’s more going on here than meets the eye.
If precedent’s anything to go by, the Honda Passport TrailSport and Pilot TrailSport both feature recovery hooks, underbody protection, and unique suspension parts for getting out into the wilderness. In contrast, the CR-V TrailSport adds all-terrain tires in the same 235/60R18 size as the all-seasons on a regular CR-V Sport, standard rubber floor mats, tweaked low-speed traction control, and that’s about it when it comes to functional differences. Compared to the lifted Subaru Forester Wilderness or even the mildly more massaged Nissan Rogue Rock Creek, the CR-V TrailSport seems disappointing in the off-road department. However, it’s possible Honda’s been quite clever here.
See, the majority of visually toughened compact crossovers aren’t driven out into the bush on a regular basis but instead act as style accessories, and Honda’s wisely catered to the primarily on-road use these machines actually see. There’s a little bit of garnish on the front fascia, a bit of black trim here and there, and that’s about it when it comes to cosmetics. Nothing beyond the tires to drag down the efficiency of the 204-horsepower hybrid powertrain, yet a serious boost in the features owners will actually appreciate.
If a trim-walk chart is anything to go by, Honda seems to be positioning the TrailSport between the Sport and Sport-L trims, which for 2025 carry respective sticker prices of $37,545 and $40,545 when equipped with all-wheel drive. While the TrailSport doesn’t get leather seating, it does gain a heated steering wheel previously only available on the top Touring trim, and it adds the power tailgate, 320-watt audio system, and 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster from the Sport-L trim.
Those are features that everyday people actually want, and by packaging the Trailsport trim this way, Honda’s gone from targeting outdoorsy people with this trim to targeting, well, everyone. It’s the right mix of features for most people, and we won’t have to wait long to see if it comes at the right price.
While we’re on the subject of the CR-V, the 2026 model year sees some features downloaded from higher trims, somewhat to the chagrin of our resident Honda CR-V Sport owner, Matt Hardigree. When he took delivery, he noted that “The one item the Sport doesn’t have that I’d want is wireless CarPlay, but that requires going up to the larger infotainment screen.” Well, that larger infotainment screen with wireless CarPlay and wireless Android Auto just became standard, with Honda pulling a bit of a “Too soon, junior” on existing CR-V Sport owners. A standard wireless phone charger complements this added connectivity, giving buyers a little bit more of what they want.
We don’t have exact pricing on the 2026 Honda CR-V yet, but with an on-sale date this Spring, expect an official announcement soon. If Honda prices the TrailSport trim between the Sport and the Sport-L, it’ll absolutely be the CR-V to buy. Looks like we should know in the next few months, yeah?
Top graphic image: Honda
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I test drive a 2025 CRV (base, not the hybrid) and ended up buying a Forester. I was interested in the CRV hybrid, although I thought it was overpriced. The power train packaging sucks. They put the hybrid battery bits under the front in the cargo area. The non-hybrid CRV has a spare back there but the rear compartment is inaccessible and the vehicle has no spare – just an air pump and fix-o-flat.
Not acceptable.
My friends have a CR-V hybrid, though I think it’s the previous bulbuous one, not this slightly sharper looking latest model. I drove it once for about a hundred miles. it was a nice drive, more luxurious than I expected in the city, with pretty good passing power at 70. But I wouldnt buy one.
It only managed 300 or so miles on a tank. They can no longer do a trip they used to without stopping in their previous Accord. And the mileage is apparently nothing to write home about, barely above 30 mpg (I guess that actually great for an SUV, but nowhere near Rav4 great). It’s an overall very nice car, however.
I’m gonna say this is a step backwards.
The CR-V already has 5 trimlines to choose from, and adding a 6th slotted in between two others, with very little differentiation, is NOT the direction that the Trailsport sub-brand has been heading lately. I expected it to mirror the Pilot Trailsport, which genuinely has a little bit of off-road cred (even though nobody will mistake it for a 4Runner. It’s too pretty for that.)
I was anxiously awaiting to see more from Honda on this model, but now it looks like something I could just throw together on my own the next time a more loaded model (like Sport Touring) needs a new set of tires. It could have been a lot more with some different gearing, cameras, skidplates, you name it.
It’ll still sell well, but that’s because it’s a CR-V and not because of any Trailsport usefulness.
Brilliant move by Honda. No one goes off roading in any of these off road trims, they just like to play dress up. Give them what they want and reap profits.
I find most of the current Honda crop to be quite good looking. And I appreciate the restraint from going full-Wilderness (never go full-Wilderness). But boy, this thing is blander than Thanksgiving at the in-laws. The roof rack in the press pics is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
I like the CRV and it’s on the shortlist of future vehicles but I’d pass on this option pack as my ‘soft road’ experience involves transiting my gravel driveway and the occasional circuit de house to offload bags of soil and mulch.
I ended up doing a little soft roading in my FWD Honda CR-V on my last road trip to get around in some slightly less traveled parts of state and national parks. It did so well, I actually had the thought that a package like this for the AWD version would be just right for anything I would realistically do in my daily driver CUV. It’s not an off-roader or for the hobby of off-roading but for camping father down the trail or taking a slightly neglected dirt road without worrying as much about getting stuck, it seems just right.
That said, the TrailSport branding is a bit much for this. It’s just not capable enough. Even without more aggressive styling, it’s definitely out of step with expectations set by that badge on the Passport.
From what I understand, the AWD system they put in the Pilot/Passport/Ridgeline is different than the CRV. I’m interested in seeing the off road reviews come in for this. Hope the CRV is able to perform better than the Hyundai and Kia offerings. It should do better than the Toyota with their electrically driven rear ends.
While not having done true off-roading, the AWD in the Pilot and Ridgeline I’ve driven has been very capable in snow, ice, mud and messed up dirt roads. As long as the snow and mud weren’t too deep and the ruts were less than the ride height, I didn’t sweat too much. I’ve pulled my 3300lb boat up lake ramps where similar sized boats pulled by full size RWD trucks struggled.
I’ve heard the same. Probably some nuance I’m leaving out but I’ve seen i-VTM4 as in the Pilot et al. described as essentially a version of Acura SH-AWD, in how it can distribute a bulk of torque to the rear wheels and between those wheels. The CR-V/HR-V “Real-Time AWD” is your typical on-demand system that just sends power back when slip is detected.
I liked that grey when it felt different. Now it feels like it’s just another random shade of grey along with the other grey/silver/black/white cars.
Damn, I feel like I fell for a trap when it came out – only to realize it was all the same, all along.
Can we have colourful cars back, please?
The weird thing about CR-V (I’m shopping them heavily now) is that the LAST generation had a lot better color combos, both interior and exterior. The car is perenially popular, but they seem bent on making it a little less interesting now, too. Maybe a little more butch and less “senior citizeny” than previous versions.
I saw a comment somewhere that suggested an orange would appear on the ’26, but full colors aren’t out yet and seems like something the release would mention. Especially since the Passport has an orange but guess they’re reserving that as a hero color and maybe CR-V will get a more subdued ‘burnt orange’ hue.
As you mention, Honda interiors really went backwards with regard to color choices – “any color you want as long as it’s black” usually. LX Civic and CR-V are black-only inside, the hybrid CR-Vs only allow light interior in top trim. Perhaps that will also change with the refresh, since the Civic hybrid lets you get a light interior in either trim and the Accord offers an EX-L Hybrid with light interior.
Seems like an unnecessary trim. But I’m sure some people will go for it as evidenced in the comments.
I would probably select this trim for the color alone. I also dig heated seats/steering wheel without leather.
Black wheels! Innovative!!
It is milder against the other TrailSports, although when Passport and Pilot first added TrailSports they also came in the middle of a generation and didn’t necessarily add much in the way of capability at first, it got added over time and in particular the full redesigns. Whether or not that’s the plan for the CR-V, guess we’ll see.
Seems a bit at odds having an off-roady trim with all-terrain tires and no spare though. But if the crossbars are included, probably ends up almost being a wash in cost between the trims if you were to add that and all-weather mats to a non-TS.
Also seems they could have added a couple pieces of tech like the 360-degree camera, at least on TS and Sport Touring. That’s something most other competitors have had for a while, and Honda does have on other models.
I was around at Honda when Trailsport was transforming from an appearance package to a full-blown capability improvement. The first Passport Trailsport was basically just tires and some trim (like this CRV) but the Pilot Trailsport went through serious development to be capable off-road and was designed from the beginning for adding those features, and all of that was carried over into the new Passport.
One thing to note is that Japan and Ohio split vehicle developments for the US market. The large SUVs and Odyssey are all developed here, but CRV, HRV, Civic, and Accord are usually done in Japan, so the people who did the Pilot/Passport Trailsport probably didn’t work on this at all. I’m sure if they were allowed to the “real” Trailsport team in Ohio could have added some decent capability to the CRV, but this will probably sell just as many if not more.
I’m actually pleased by the restraint in not going all-in on appearance that the hardware can’t back up. The Subaru “skid plate” is an abomination.
(BTW, I was there for the skid plate durability testing on the Pilot/Passport Trailsport. It’s a serious piece of hardware that will support the full weight of the vehicle)
This fixes the problem with the Sport badge on the CR-V being the only black badge on the car. The first time I saw one in traffic, I assumed it was a stupid dealer added badge for a fake package, but no. Honda decided that the sport badge needs to be black, whilst everything else is chrome. I still want the H to be black too for congruity, but this is a step in the right direction.
That has always irked me as well on the current Hondas. They do this on the HR-V and Pilot as well (the “Pilot” lettering is at least blacked out but the H is not).
I also thought it odd they went to a subtle “AWD” decal on the back window in the current CR-V/HR-V – kinda like they did on CR-Vs until 2010 – when it seems like a tailgate badge touting AWD has been the move for so long.
I’m glad that I am not the only one annoyed by this very minor issue. I guess Honda doesn’t want CR-V owners to be too braggy about all of their features. You can shout SPORT or HYBRID, but we must only whisper about how many wheels are driven.
Bold choice of Honda to select an exclusive green color for their faux-rugged CRV trim that is the world’s smallest dash of pigment away from beige.
The CR-V already has better ground clearance than most of its CUV rivals, so it is not as much in need of a lift.
In looking at cars currently, I’m finding that in most vehicles I am being forced to a higher trim level than I would like in order to get a heated steering wheel, so this seems like a good move by Honda. I was considering the CR-V as too small in the back for my purposes, but now I may take one more look just to be sure.
If you have not sat in a new CR-V it is surprisingly roomy all the way around. Also, the heated steering wheel is able to be installed by a dealer your yourself if you are handy and willing to remove an airbag and several trim pieces. There are lots of OEM upgrades that can be or are designed to be installed at the dealership.
Interesting
Unlike the Subaru Outback and Forester which look big on the outside but have somewhat disappointingly small interiors, the CR-V is bigger on the inside than you would expect.
I agree, it manages to be boxy on the inside (good for space) without looking excessively boxy on the outside (which I don’t mind but some people do in a car). I think the disqualifier is that while the cargo area has enugh headroom for my pup, it is not deep enough to easily turn around in. Other CUVs have too much rear window slant to even consider.
I’ve complained many times in these pages about Honda’s stinginess with the heated steering wheel. It’s only available on higher trims of the CR-V and larger vehicles, and it’s not available at all on Civics and HR-V’s sold in the USA.
Meanwhile, you can get a heated wheel as part of an option package in any trim of the Chevy Trax, for crying out loud.
The most important off-road question for a compact crossover: if my spouse / kid runs over a curb at a reasonably low speed, will the car be perfectly fine?
Crawl over? Yeah, fine. Reasonable low speed? That’s more of a question that they take odds on in Vegas.
FFS at the very least put front recovery points and a hitch or rear points on ANYTHING with an “off road” package. It sucks to unstick these on forest roads without recovery points.
It would be super clever if they put a threaded receptacle behind the front grille Honda logo (that flipped open via a spring-loaded door) for a tow lug to thread into.
LOVE that.
I second this, recovery points could be the only functional improvements, and it would be better than basically any other modifications.
Well said. Recovery points before black plastic cladding.
I have recovered more than a few crossovers from rutted forest roads and ditches and the lack of recovery points SUCKS!
I’m not sure if it’s better or worse than the “i have a winch, but no controller” I’ve encountered a couple times- on a brand new wrangler rubicon; and decked out “overlanding” tacoma, missing a front axle shaft that we had seen in the road a few miles earlier after a river crossing. At least the unpowered winch line can be used as a recovery point/extension, but holy facepalm.
I took a 2014 CR-V offroad (NJ Pine Barrens), and it did reasonably well. Fun in a “can’t believe what we’re doing with Mom’s car” sort of a way. Went much better than when we took it out for snonuts, and every single warning light came on (turned out to just be a low battery, but still).
Grilled chicken breast . . . . with a dollop of mild salsa. Bon appetite.
As NPC cars go, they’re genuinely good to drive and do most things well.
Grilled chicken breast is on a lot of menus for a good reason.
This will be 100% the next car I buy (for my wife).
Checks all the boxes for where we live (outskirts of a suburb of AZ). Cloth seats (leather sucks in the summer), bigger screen, and offroad(ier) tires for when we have to take a back way home (it’s a pretty gnarly dirt road, but doesn’t require 4-low).
Thanks, Honda!
My wife LOVES her 2023 CR-V Sport. It has been a hassle-free experience in our 2 years of ownership and I like it too. I would guess that the non-trailsport version would do just fine with soft-roading as well.
Big question is did they get the engine sludging problem sorted on these yet?
I thought that was the 1.5 turbo. The hybrid is NA.
yawn. Even for a CR-V.