Fresh and available! Two Honda CR-V special edition versions land with extra kit and expected quick delivery times to lure buyers away from the Toyota RAV4, Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson, Mazda CX-5, VW Tiguan and Subaru Forester

Honda has pulled a surprise out of the box with not one but two special-edition versions of its evergreen CR-V, complete with more equipment and ­expected shorter delivery times than what we are currently used to across the industry.

However, you’ll need to act fast if you want one sooner than later, because while Honda presently has supply in dealerships for now, the situation may change, as production numbers may alter at any time.

That said, there is no stated cap on how many of the Thai-sourced CR-V special editions (SE) will arrive in Australia this year or during 2023, leading us to believe they may have a run of up to 12 months or longer.

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Priced from $43,700 driveaway and $44,600 driveaway, the new VTi 7 +Luxe seven-seater and VTi Black Edition five-seater SEs command premiums of $3000 and $5800 respectively over their donor cars.

In the case of the VTi 7, +Luxe means electrified cow hide, thanks to the fitment of leather seat trim and heated front seats with powered adjustability and memory settings on the driver’s side.

Meanwhile, and clearly inspired by the likes of the Toyota RAV4 XSE and Hyundai Tucson N Line, the VTi Black Edition takes on a sportier appearance, with items like gloss-black 18-inch alloy wheels, blacked-out bumper inserts, smoked headlight surrounds, special chrome finishes, black headlining, piano black cabin trim peppered throughout the interior, and matte-finish dark wood treatments in the console and on the door and dashboard.

Further helping to justify the Black Edition’s $5800 ask over the standard VTi are LED headlights with cornering capability, LED fog lights, leather upholstery, heated front seats, rear privacy glass, roof rails and Honda’s excellent LaneWatch side camera system.

Both CR-V SEs are powered by a 140kW/240Nm 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine, driving the front wheels via a continuously variable transmission (CVT). Suitable to run on standard unleaded petrol, their corresponding grade equivalents return a combined official average fuel consumption figure of 7.3 litres per 100km regardless of seating, as the Black’s 18-inch wheels bump consumption up to the same as the 17-inch-wheeled VTi 7’s.

Whether they remain as a permanent part of the current, RW-series range is unknown, although they won’t last forever, since a completely redesigned, sixth-generation CR-V is in the pipeline and believed slated for release in Australia later next year or in early 2024.

That model is expected to grow slightly and move further upmarket, to make space for the as-yet unconfirmed ZR-V – an all-new addition to the Honda SUV family that’s derived from the latest-gen Civic small-car range. North American-based readers may know this vehicle as the MY23 HR-V, but that is unrelated to the smaller, third HR-V series that was released in Australia earlier in 2022.

Although the RW-series CR-V has been a consistent seller for Honda Australia since its mid-2017 release, it is getting on in years, and is currently ranked ninth in sales this year with 3339 registrations. This puts the midsized SUV behind the Toyota RAV4 (17,787), Mazda CX-5 (12,898), Mitsubishi Outlander (7529), Kia Sportage (6727), Subaru Forester (4866), Hyundai Tucson (4515), MG HS (3745) and Nissan X-Trail (3522).