Honda is giving the CR-V a spruce up for the 2015 model year and is introducing a new 1.6-litre diesel engine that manages to combine four-wheel drive with lower emissions.
Currently, if you want a CR-V with all-paw traction, you have to have the 2.2-litre 150hp diesel which has a Co2 rating of 144g/km and consequently a €390 annual motor tax bill.
The new 1.6-litre engine, based on the much-admired 120hp unit found in the front wheel-drive versions of the CR-V, has more power (160hp now, and a useful 350Nm of torque) yet even with the extra weight and mechanical drag of four-wheel drive it has a 129g/km Co2 rating, dropping your tax cost to €270 a year.
If you go for the new nine-speed automatic gearbox option, it bumps Co2 emissions up to 134g/km (€280 a year) compared with the 2.2 auto 4WD's 169g/km and €570 motor tax.
The four-wheel-drive manual 1.6 iDTEC CR-V will go on sale in Ireland from the middle of March, with prices starting from €37,495 while those seeking the automatic will have to wait till June and will need to shell out €39,995.
The CR-V is hugely significant for Honda in Ireland – it's the brand's second best-selling model after the Civic, accounting for almost a quarter of sales in 2014.
