Price
Winner: 2018 Subaru Forester
The Subaru Forester’s base price of $22,795 is among the lowest in the class, though that number comes with an asterisk. While all-wheel drive is included, an automatic transmission is not. Adding an automatic costs $1,000, bringing the total cost to $23,795. Still, the base price of a Honda CR-V is $24,150, and that’s without all-wheel drive, which is a $1,400 option. That’s more than enough to give the Forester the win in this category.
The Forester’s advantage persists in higher trims. To get anything other than a bare-bones CR-V, you’ll want to jump up to at least the EX trim ($26,950). It adds conveniences like a proximity key, dual-zone automatic climate control, a moonroof, a power-adjustable driver’s seat, and a 7-inch touch-screen infotainment system. A similarly equipped Forester Premium starts at $25,695.
Reliability
Winner: 2018 Honda CR-V
Both the Subaru Forester and Honda CR-V come with a three-year/36,000-mile basic warranty and a five-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty. But the CR-V is a little less likely to have you in the shop.
The 2017 CR-V received a score of 3.5 out of five from J.D. Power, which is a little better than average. Since the CR-V has had no major changes since, the 2018 model should fare the same.
This generation of Subaru Forester has consistently gotten a 2.5 out of five for predicted reliability from J.D. Power, putting it below average in its class and giving the CR-V a clear advantage.
Seat Comfort
Winner: 2018 Honda CR-V
The seats in the Honda CR-V were designed with long drives in mind, and they handle the job easily, with a good blend of support and comfort. There is plenty of legroom, front and rear, and the seating position gives the driver a good view of the road. The Forester’s seats are also supportive with good visibility and an abundance of rear legroom.
Most drivers will be satisfied with the Forester’s seats, but Honda got everything right with the interior layout, from seating position and visibility to legroom, comfort, and even rear doors that swing out 90 degrees to make it easier to get in and out of those seats.
Cargo Space
Winner: 2018 Honda CR-V
The Forester has excellent cargo space, but nothing in the class can top the CR-V. The CR-V has 39.2 cubic feet behind the rear seats (the Forester has 34) and 75.8 cubic feet with the rear seats down (the Forester has 75).
But it doesn’t stop there. The CR-V has a low bumper and an adjustable trunk floor that can be lowered for hauling tall stuff. There also is an available hands-free liftgate that opens with a wave of your foot.
Both of these vehicles are excellent choices if you plan to haul a lot of stuff. But not only does the CR-V have more space, the CR-V’s space is easier to access and use.
Interior Quality
Winner: 2018 Honda CR-V
A full redesign of the CR-V in 2017 addressed one of the major complaints about the outgoing generation: the interior. Gone are the abundant hard plastics, replaced by high-quality, soft-touch materials. This is true even in the base model, but upper trims are especially opulent.
The Forester’s interior might strike some as dull, with a mix of hard plastics and softer materials and an understated design. The supportive seats are a strong point, but Honda was aiming for the top of the class with the CR-V’s interior, and got there, leaving the Forester a couple slots behind.
Interior Features
Winner: 2018 Honda CR-V
In base form, the Forester is the better-equipped vehicle, but only slightly, with a USB port, Bluetooth, and an infotainment system with a 6.2-inch touch screen. The CR-V has a USB port, Bluetooth, and a 5-inch audio display screen.
The infotainment system in the CR-V is standard in all but the base trim. Options include a premium audio system, push-button start, satellite radio, and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay compatibility.
Both vehicles offer the technology you expect to see in this class, but the increased convenience of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay give the CR-V this category by the skin of its Bluetooth.
Acceleration
Winner: 2018 Subaru Forester
With a newly available 190-horsepower, 1.5-liter turbocharged engine, the CR-V is peppier than ever. However, it can’t stand up to the optional 250-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder in the Subaru Forester. That engine gives the Forester a level of aggression the CR-V can’t touch.
In base trim, it’s a closer contest. The standard engine in the CR-V makes 184 horsepower, a significant advantage over the 170 horsepower in the base Forester. But torque is a lot closer, with the CR-V making 180 pound-feet to the Forester’s 174. Plus, the Forester comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission to take full advantage of the power, and all-wheel drive for better traction, while the CR-V comes with a mushier continuously variable transmission (CVT) and front-wheel drive.
In base form, neither of these vehicles is much of a race car, but if you want to go fast, the Forester has options for that, and the CR-V doesn’t, giving Subaru the edge.
Fuel Economy
Winner: 2018 Honda CR-V
The Subaru Forester gets good gas mileage, despite being all-wheel drive, but the CR-V has an advantage here thanks to that 1.5-liter turbocharged engine. It not only makes more power than the base engine; it improves fuel economy from 26 mpg in the city and 32 mpg on the highway to 28 mpg city/34 highway.
The base Forester gets 26 mpg city/32 highway. Those figures drop to 23/27 with the bigger engine.
Despite the Forester’s strong performance in this category, especially for an all-wheel-drive vehicle, the CR-V with the optional 1.5-liter engine is the clear choice if fuel economy is your priority.
Ride Quality
Winner: Tie
As with the seats, the Honda CR-V’s suspension was designed with the long haul in mind. Smooth and comfortable, the CR-V is a good place to chew up highway miles, with potholes and bumps swallowed up by the suspension and tires.
The Forester is a capable off-road vehicle but has the manners of a family sedan when it’s on the road. It’s smooth and quiet, tuned more for comfort than performance.
Both of these vehicles’ suspensions were tuned for comfortable, drama-free driving, and they hit that mark, making this category too close to call.
Handling
Winner: 2018 Subaru Forester
Neither of these vehicles was designed with curvy mountain roads in mind, but the Forester’s standard all-wheel drive gives it good grip, and its car-like manners make for good stability. The Forester’s basic architecture helps it in this area too. It has a wide track, a rigid shell, and symmetrical all-wheel drive, helping it corner more like a sports car than a top-heavy SUV.
The CR-V has precise steering that inspires confidence for your typical driving maneuvers, as long as they aren’t done at high speed. For typical daily maneuvering the CR-V can be driven with confidence and precision, but if you’re looking to add spirited driving to your commute, the Forester is the better choice.
Safety
Winner: 2018 Honda CR-V
Both vehicles got a five out of five star overall crash test rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and both vehicles got Good scores all around in testing by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
The CR-V got five stars in frontal and side crash tests and four stars in rollover testing, while the Forester got five stars in side crash tests and four stars in frontal and rollover crash tests.
So while both of these SUVs have excellent overall safety scores, the CR-V has a slight edge, because of its better performance in side crash testing.
The Winner Is …
2018 Honda CR-V
Both the CR-V and the Forester are worth considering if you’re in the market for a small SUV. Both offer good gas mileage, excellent cargo storage, and comfortable interiors. And if you want all-wheel drive, the Forester is a relatively good value.
The Honda CR-V has few weaknesses if you’re looking at anything other than the base model. It’s more powerful and has a nicer interior than ever before but maintains good reliability and safety scores and offers the best cargo capacity in its class.
If you’re looking for performance, the Forester is the clear choice. Its optional engine offers far more power than any CR-V. And its suspension, while tuned for comfort, offers more grip than the CR-V.
These are both excellent representations of the class. But overall, the CR-V simply has too much to offer. It has better fuel economy, more cargo space, a nicer interior, and better reliability, making it the clear winner here.
More Shopping Tools From U.S. News & World Report
To learn more about the Subaru Forester and Honda CR-V, check out their reviews. Then, compare them to the competition by exploring our compact SUV rankings. And when you’re ready to make a purchase, use our Best Price Program to get the best deal on your new car purchase.
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Forester vs. CR-V: Which Compact SUV Is Right for You?
The Honda CR-V and Subaru Forester are popular mainstays in what has become a crowded compact SUV market. Even within that market, they appeal to a lot of the same shoppers. However, there are some notable differences in terms of performance and features.
The Honda CR-V is comfortable and cavernous, with excellent crash test scores, a soft ride, and a well-made, upscale cabin. The Forester is also large, with abundant space for passengers and their cargo and standard all-wheel drive, along with an available 250-horsepower engine that gives it uncommon performance for a compact SUV.
To determine which SUV is better, we’ll compare these two SUVs across 11 different categories, from pricing and performance to cargo capacity and interior quality, based on these cars’ individual scores in our rating system.
Just remember that we’re constantly updating the scores on our site as new data becomes available, so some of the scores mentioned in this piece may not match what’s in the reviews.