Video: 2026 Honda CR-V Up Close: New TrailSport Trim Takes a Step Off-Road

That's right, the uber popular C-RV is Honda's next model to receive the off-road focused TrailSport trim, perhaps making this your next new off-road adventure mobile. Let's see what we're working with. (upbeat music) now, no off-road trim is worth its weight in dirt if it doesn't add at least a little bit of visual flare as well, and it appears this new TrailSport is no different. Inside, you'll get some embroidered logos on the seats, some ambient lighting, and some all-weather mats for the floor. Now, there's a new face up front with what Honda calls a silver skid garnish, contrasted by some darkened exterior trim and a pair of orange TrailSport badges on the grill and the tailgate, all looking quite sharp, especially on the new trim-exclusive ash green metallic paint. Now we got new wheels too, and those are wrapped in a set of Continental cross-contact all-terrain tires. That is going to greatly improve off-road traction over the standard CR-V, even if the right height is left unchanged. Now, as you'd imagine, the TrailSport can only be had with all-wheel drive, and in this case, specifically with the hybrid all-wheel drive powertrain. Now, thankfully, though this is a hybrid, it still retains the CR-V's mechanical all-wheel drive setup versus some other hybrid crossovers' E all-wheel drive system, like the Toyota RAV4. Honda says that all 2026 CR-Vs with all-wheel drive get a revised traction management for the drivetrain, but does not levy any unique upgrades or tuning to the TrailSport's all-wheel drive system, nor does it really even add any terrain driving modes. Now, the benefits of the hybrid drivetrain carry over, as this is while the same powertrain as we had last year, so the same two-liter naturally aspirated four cylinder with dual electric motors is still here with the same combined 204 horsepower and 247 pounds-feet of torque. That is pretty good, but I'm most excited to talk about the excellent fuel economy of the hybrid system, which is, well, it's not known yet, but when we do learn about that, you can be sure that it's probably not too far off the 37 miles per gallon combined EPA rating of last year. Now, the offered stuff is pretty cool, but I think because of those tires, the TrailSport is not gonna be for every CR-V buyer, and in that regard, Honda has you covered, because it did some model-wide updates to the 2026 CR-V, starting with and primarily focused on the interior connectivity and infotainment stuff. The biggest change is right here on the center of the dash. We've got a standard, across the board, nine-inch center infotainment touchscreen that also includes standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Now, compare the new nine-inch infotainment touchscreen to the previous base infotainment touchscreen, and this is larger by two inches. That's pretty good. Also pretty good is the inclusion of standard wireless device charging to offset the wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. That's pretty great. Now, if you hop up to at least the EXL trim level, you are gonna get a 10.2-inch digital display cluster, which looks pretty good. Now, we don't have any official pricing information, nor do we have any insight on the official EPA-rated fuel economy figures, but Honda has said when you can expect the refreshed 2026 Honda CR-V to roll into dealers, and they say that is sometime later this spring. It's coming up pretty soon. Now, when we do have information on the fuel economy and pricing, you can read all about it at cars.com/news.