Yet while Honda does have leadership in many areas, including having Canada's best-selling car for nine straight years in the Civic, the Crosstour is an example of Honda chasing the competition.
This may be because Honda has been reluctant to tamper with its current lineup. In Honda's world, the Crosstour fits in between the Honda CR-V compact crossover and the Honda Pilot SUV. Honda apparently did not feel it needed something to fill that gap – until now.
It's possible Honda is not offering the Crosstour with a four-banger in order to avoid competing against the CR-V and hurting sales of the latter. Honda isn't saying. But the body language of company types suggests Honda Canada would rather have a four-cylinder Crosstour and let the CR-V – given a facelift for 2010, by the way – fend for itself.
The Crosstour, in fact, is a perfectly sensible Honda Accord hatchback. Moreover, it looks much better in person than any of the pictures might suggest. The newest Honda isn't quite as large and heavy as the Pilot or the Odyssey minivan. Yet it has roomier passenger quarters than the CR-V.
In terms of dimensions, well, the Crosstour is similar in width and height to the likes of the Venza, Murano and Outback, though the Honda has less ground clearance than these three rivals. Nonetheless, the Honda sits higher off the ground than a normal Accord sedan.
The whole point of the ride height here is twofold: It makes entry and exit easier for the targeted baby boomer buyers; and when equipped with the Real Time four-wheel-drive system from the CR-V, the tall-ish Crosstour gives you a shot at escaping your driveway after a snowstorm.
As a family ride – or an empty-nester baby boomer utility wagon – the Crosstour is just excellent. With 2,871 litres of cargo space when the 60/40-split rear seats are folded, the Crosstour has more space than a Venza and Outback. The rear seats fold completely flat, too – with an easy pull of handles that are an easy reach in the cargo hold.
On the other hand, with the rears up, the Crosstour‘s cargo hold is 728 litres, versus 869 and 972 respectively in the Toyota and Subaru. That means if you load up four sets of golf clubs, you'll need to pull out the drivers and tuck them here and there, creatively. Honda has included tie-down hooks, which are useful, indeed.
Moreover, Honda put the spare tire under the car and it has a plastic cover down there to keep it clean. With the spare out of the way, there is additional storage space below the rear floor in the cargo hold. A deep and hidden removable utility box provides storage, while on each side there are two recessed areas providing some hidden space, also.
Up front, ahead of the back seats, everything is essentially an Accord. That's good. The design here is clean and completely sensible, the materials durable looking and nicely put together. You will not find yourself looking for a knob or a control.
The cabin's soft-touch plastic material looks and feels fairly expensive and the steering wheel is meaty, fitting nicely into your hands. The dials are big and thoroughly legible. The dash has a simple flow across it. With Honda, function trumps art.
Not only is the Crosstour functional, it is a fine car to drive. Ride quality is almost identical to the Accord, which should not be a surprise; these Hondas share basic suspension components. Honda says minor revisions to the chassis have yielded a 20-per-cent increase in bending rigidity, along with a 3-per-cent increase in torsional or twisting rigidity.
The V-6 is plenty powerful and has Honda's fuel-saving cylinder-deactivation feature (Honda's Variable Cylinder Management). Mated to a standard five-speed automatic transmission – the only downside to this tranny is a hesitance to downshift – the Crosstour boasts pretty decent fuel economy using regular fuel: 11.5 litres per 100 km city/7.2 highway for the front-driver and 12.3 city/8.0 highway for the AWD version. The Honda is slightly more efficient than the six-cylinder Venza and Outback.
Honda expects the Crosstour to have all the best scores in crash tests and it certainly comes with the full range of active and passive safety features – from airbags all over to an anti-skid system. So it really is the full package.
Honda is late with the Crosstour and still lacking a four-banger, too. Nonetheless, the competition should be taking notice. In its niche, this new crossover is a standout.