Honda, keen to reverse a recent slide in European sales, is coming out fighting at the Paris Motor Show this week. Alongside an all-new HR-V crossover, a facelifted Civic and the Civic Type R super-hatch, there's this, the updated CR-V. Out goes the rather American-looking nose styling and in comes a more futuristic Japanese look with LED lights and redesigned bonnet, bumpers, tailgate and rear lights. It should keep the CR-V looking fresh against a horde of new competitors such as Nissan's X-Trail and Land Rover's Discovery Sport.
Beneath the styling, there's something rather more important going on. Remember that 1.6-litre 120hp diesel engine that Honda has, the one we're always going on about how great it is? Yeah, well Honda has just made it even better, by adding more power and torque (it's now up to 160hp and 350Nm of torque) yet reducing emissions. In fact, with a six-speed manual transmission and four-wheel drive, the new 160hp CR-V emits just under 130g/km according to Honda, a figure that should turn out to be class-leading.
If it's an automatic you want, then good news: Honda has ditched the aged, unpleasant old six-speed auto and slotted in a new nine-speed transmission that bumps the emissions figure up to a mere 135g/km.
The front-drive, 1.6-litre 120hp CR-V will stay on sale of course. It gets the new exterior styling too, and has had a few small mechanical tweaks that drop its emissions down to 117g/km. Nice.
Anything else?
The new Honda CR-V goes on sale in the first quarter of 2014.