Used 2018 Honda CR-V EX-L 4dr SUV AWD (1.5L 4cyl Turbo CVT) Consumer Reviews
Used CR-V for sale
Great Car With A Big Problem For Some
Jim, Honolulu, HI, 02/12/2019
updated 08/18/2025
Honda CR-V EX-L 4dr SUV AWD (1.5L 4cyl Turbo CVT)
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
I bought a new 2018 in August 2018. So far mine is trouble free, less the A/C compressor seal leak, which Honda extended the warranty to 10 years, nice! The 2018 1.5 engine has an engine oil dilution problem in some cases. The fuel injectors emit too much fuel and the excess fuel goes into the crankcase. My car is slow to warm up below 40°F. I wish I knew this before I purchased the car. Fortunately mine is not in the bad engine club. At 26000 miles OEM tires are almost ready for replacement. Never has such low tire mileage on properly inflated tires. Learned battery is not maintenance free and is physically small and like many it died at 3 years but is only $100 at Honda so no big deal. Overall I am pleased with the car. I am 67 years old and this is the best car I have ever owned. Getting 33 mpg overall. In August 2025 I traded the Honda CR-V for a new 2025 Subaru Outback. My 70th birthday is in 3 month so this is my birthday present to myself. The reason I dumped the CR-V is the engines are blowing head gaskets due to inadequate engine design. Not enough metal between pistons. The direct injection and turbo on the CR-V induce more heat contributing to head gasket failure. It is $5000 to fix a head gasket. I rather use the money to buy a new car, worry about it, and I believe the CR-V engine is a good bet to achieve high mileage. Also the CR-V was the slowest engine to heat up in the winter I have ever owned, to the point of being annoying. I tried the Subaru Forester but found I preferred the seating position of the Outback. The Outback is being updated for 2026 so Subaru is clearing out remaining stock by offering a 0.9% financing for 3 year. I accepted that free money.
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2018 CR-V - worst Honda of over 10 we've owned
Unhappy CR-V owner, East Greenwich, RI, 05/08/2021
Honda CR-V EX-L 4dr SUV AWD (1.5L 4cyl Turbo CVT)
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
There were lots of things to like about the new CR-V. Nice fit and finish, good styling, great gas mileage and ergonomics. Sadly it faded fast as the miles grew. Lots of infotainment issues - freezing up and other numerous glitches with it. The Android auto never worked right and was basically useless. Now, the major issues. A bad suspension bushing with only 9000 miles on it - caused a horrible creaking noise that wouldn't go away. Fixed under warranty but was a red flag at this point. Then, winter came and the heat wouldn't work. Not good. Plus a strange gas smell would come and go. The dealer said this was normal. What? Not acceptable. These 1.5 earth dream engines are somehow mixing oil and gas. Then the collision mitigation decided it would brake unexpectedly when it wasn't supposed to. Happened to my wife first, I thought she was crazy. Then it happened to me! Dealership did a software update and it seemed to go away, but who wants to experiment with that? Once trust is lost on a vehicle I get rid of them. Fourth CR-V we owned, and never had these kinds of problems with the other three. Ever. I know there is more technology and things to go wrong but I truly did not expect this from a Honda product. At 18,000 miles I gave up and dumped it. We love our Subaru Outback and never looked back on that lemon CR-V. Buyers beware!! 2017 and 2018 are noted to have these issues.
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Repeat Customer and really liking it.
Clutch, Clifton Park, NY, 11/29/2018
Honda CR-V EX-L 4dr SUV AWD (1.5L 4cyl Turbo CVT)
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
A few of my Good not Great comments concerned the short wheelbase. Can't be helped. I wished the front USB ports were 2.4a rather than 1.5a and 1.0a too.
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After 1 month
Honda 2018 EXL AWD, San Jose, CA, 08/22/2018
Honda CR-V EX-L 4dr SUV AWD (1.5L 4cyl Turbo CVT)
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
I went from VW tiguan 2013 SE to 2018 EXL CRV , That being said I am sure there where a lot of upgrades to the newer Tiguans . For me getting into this crv was definitely a step up . I keep in mind that it is not a sports car . There is less delay in the turbo than my last car .. If any at all , The steering is also felt a lot less.. I will call it tippy coming into a turn and coming out . Not much after sway. There much more I like about this car and still haven't really tried the cruse control yet. Time will tell . I hope this will be one of Honda's long lasting reliable cars .
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Problems with infotainment screen on 2018 CRV
Regretful Honda Owner, Jacksonville, FL, 03/27/2019
Honda CR-V EX-L 4dr SUV AWD (1.5L 4cyl Turbo CVT)
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
I bought my car in December of 2018. I switched from being a long time Toyota owner (never had any problems with my cars) to a Honda owner. I have two major complaints with my CRV. FIRST, it does not get the advertised mileage. I drive 70 hwy miles to and from work every day and I'm only getting 28mpg. Honda advertises 28mpg City/34 mpg Hwy. This just simply is not true and that infuriates me to see big business getting away with blatant false advertising as such. The hwy mpg was a major factor in me choosing the CRV over the Rav4. But the numbers were lies. Both Toyota's I had previously owned did get the advertised city/hwy mpg. The SECOND major complaint I have is a problem that started a few weeks ago. The center console infotainment screen will just randomly start shuffling through the bright/dim/off settings of the screen. It beeps when doing so, and it seems to have a mind of its own. Once it starts, it will just continue beeping and screen blinking until I actually turn off the car and then turn it back on (and hopefully it stops). This is obviously super annoying when it starts at the beginning of my 35 minute commute on the highway. I just have to listen to the beeping for 35 minutes - trying not to lose my mind. I have brought it into the Honda dealer twice when the problem was actually happening and both times, the response by the technicians has been "Honda is aware of the problem but there is no current fix for it. So you just have to live with it." Seriously? That's totally unacceptable. I just bought a brand new car for $30,000 and only a couple of months later it's having a pretty significant technical issue that affects the driver in a pretty significant way. And they are like, yeah, sorry. Deal with it. I'm sorry - but I'm super frustrated and honestly, I wish I would've just stuck with Toyota.
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