It’s not that you can’t see what’s in the blind spots it’s that you have to be outside the car to do so.įinally, the brakes have been swiped from the smaller, lighter CR-V, and the Crosstour’s extra weight makes them work extra hard for results that are merely adequate. The Crosstour’s blind spots are gargantuan, too, the result of seriously chubby D-pillars. A rearview camera helps when backing up, but it comes only with the woeful navigation system. Honda’s designers fitted a second, lower tinted-glass window, à la Toyota Prius (or Honda’s own Insight and CR-Z), which helps a bit, but that means there’s a big crossbar where the two pieces of glass meet. Visibility is just tolerable to the direct rear, with the sloping backlight providing a slim viewing area. You could also carry many, many smaller items-400 canned hams, for example-arranged to fill the entire space. They severely bite into the available width, meaning you can only take advantage of the Crosstour’s full 51.3 cubic feet of cargo volume if you’re hauling, say, a ginormous, shape-conforming bag of water. In practice, though, the cargo area is compromised by vertical plastic monoliths that hide the rear shock towers. Of course, the sedan’s rear seats fold to swallow more stuff, but the open hatch of the Crosstour is more practical for larger items. With the rear seats folded, the Crosstour can handle 51 cubic feet of cargo volume, a huge jump over the 14 cubic feet of trunk space in the Accord sedan. Go by the spec-sheet volume numbers, and all seems well. We get to the bad stuff when evaluating the Crosstour’s unique aspects, largely the cargo area. It has antiquated map graphics and slow input, and it was unable to find several locations that popped up instantly on a smartphone loaded with Google Maps.īut all of that-the stuff shared with the conventional Accord-is actually the good news. We believe that the navigation system, a $2200 option in our test car, is based on the same model that was standard on the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. Unfortunately, this also means that, as in the current Accord sedan, drivers of the Crosstour must set sail on a sea of gray buttons seemingly organized to satisfy someone obsessed with symmetry rather than ergonomics. The instrument panel and the dash are shared, and that means the Crosstour is blessed with the same well-assembled, high-grade plastics as in the sedan. The interior is similar-if not identical-to the Accord sedan’s ahead of the second row. In brisk cornering, there is significant body roll, and urgent braking will toss your cargo like a salad. The ride is comfortable, but the handling is as disappointing as you’d expect from a vehicle seemingly inspired by the top-heavy, high-riding Imperial Walkers from Star Wars. The steering ratio has been increased, though, which kills some of the precision, and the Crosstour’s rack feels less talkative, too. Like the Accord sedan’s, the Crosstour’s steering is light but direct. The Crosstour dispatches 60 mph in a respectable 7.2 seconds, the same 0-to-60 figure turned in by the all-wheel-drive version, which was 200 pounds heavier but aided by its off-the-line traction advantage. The Crosstour’s gearbox is smooth, and the gears are spaced well enough for zipping away from stoplights as well as comfortable, quiet cruising on the highway. At some point, Honda will have to keep up with the Joneses (or the Toyotas, GMs, and Fords) and offer a more bragworthy six-, seven-, or 8 -speed gearbox, but the truth is that five are plenty here. That comparison is apt, because under the hood you’ll find the same refined 3.5-liter six-cylinder as in the Accord V-6 sedan (no four-cylinder is available on the Crosstour), making 271 hp, and the same five-speed automatic transmission.
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