Honda CR-V 2025 review: e:HEV RS long-term | Part 3

In the final days of my Honda CR-V loan I found a chink in its mighty armour.

The CR-V e:HEV RS has proved to be a stellar family hauler, with space and practicality few can match but a lack of a spare tyre has proved its undoing.

The northern approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge have been a construction site for many months and an errant piece of debris caused havoc one sunny Sydney spring morning.

A tyre pressure warning flicked on the digital driver display as I entered the bridge and within seconds a full blown alert was appearing as I could feel and hear the tyre deflating at an alarming rate.

With a few hundred metres to the other side of the bridge I was able to flick on my hazards and nurse the vehicle into the CBD where I could pull over safely.

On close inspection a gash in the front left tyre’s side wall was the culprit. 

Opening the boot I was greeted by a tyre inflation kit and no spare tyre of any sort.

Tyre inflation kits work by pumping 'goo' into the puncture to temporarily seal it long enough to inflate and get you to a tyre repair shop.

As the CR-V’s owner manual said this works for smaller punctures caused by items such as nails but big holes or damage to the sidewall needs a replacement.

In Australia with its vast distances this simply isn’t good enough for a family car.

The petrol powered CR-Vs have a spare tyre either full size or temporary depending on if it has five or seven seats.

The e:HEV RS’s hybrid arrangement gobbles up the space reserved for the spare leaving it inadequately equipped to deal with such situations.

Luckily the CR-V comes with complementary roadside assistance, which can be dispatched to lend a hand but this can leave you and your family stranded on the side of the road for some time.

This isn’t just a Honda problem, either. The majority of hybrids on sale in Australia go without a spare tyre, including big names such as the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Nissan X-Trail e-Power, Subaru Forester Hybrid, Toyota Corolla Cross AWD and most luxury options, too.

Electric cars also ditch the spare tyre, which ironically I was driving the last time I had a severe flat tyre that again needed a roadside callout.

It’s not a great result for consumers and I’m sure most people in that situation would happily forgo some boot space for the convenience of at least a temporary spare.

Toyota, Kia and Hyundai manage to fit at least a temporary spare tyre in most of their hybrid models.

It’s a shame as the CR-V e:HEV RS had been a trusty family chariot up until that point.

It was a pleasure to drive around town and on the open road with above average dynamics and refinement. The lack of an all-wheel drive option was the only complaint.

It was relatively thrifty, drinking about 6.5L/100km over the roughly 1600km I covered, but this is well below previous readings achieved in its main competitor, the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.

It also has one of the most practical cabins in the game with clever features such as 90-degree opening rear doors to assist with loading precious cargo. This is aided by large windows and stadium seating, which has the rear seat up higher than the front two, to help reduce motion sickness for littlies.

Build quality is top-notch, too, with no noticeable creaks or rattles despite the odometer passing 18,000km on my test vehicle.

Acquired: July, 2024

Distance travelled this month: 662km

Odometer: 18,575km

Average fuel use this month: 6.5L/100km

After three months behind the wheel the CR-V e:HEV RS is clearly one of the best family hybrid SUVs on the market, but can we please put in a spare tyre in future upgrades.