Even in the anything-goes crossover segment, the 2012 Honda Crosstour teases the imagination.
With its reputation for building somewhat unexciting, albeit high quality and reliable vehicles, we might not expect a crossover with a Honda pedigree to incite double takes, but the Crosstour does just that.
As I drove the $35,900 Crosstour EX-L Navi around my little burg of Greenville, S.C., I could almost hear the collective sucking in of breath from gaggles of gawkers gathered on the street corner as I paused my test Honda for a red light.
When driving the Crosstour, you’re sure not to see yourself coming and going at every intersection. Honda doesn’t sell a lot of them – 15,556 nationally for the first 10 months of 2011.
At first glance, that the Crosstour is a crossover might not be apparent. It looks more like a four-door coupe. In fact, until this year, Honda called Crosstour the Accord Crosstour, which leads me to wonder if Honda is entirely sure Crosstour is a crossover.
But crossover is what Honda calls it in the press materials, so we’ll go with that.
Honda originally named it the Accord Crosstour because it’s heavily based on the Accord. It looks sort of like an Accord might if its family lived next to a nuclear plant with a heavy-water leak.
Under the skin, though, are where the similarities to Accord really stand out. If you’re familiar with Accord, you know that being infused with a healthy dose of its DNA isn’t a bad thing.
Crosstour is very car-like in its road manners and drivability. It uses the same 271-horsepower 3.5-liter V6, and five-speed, driver-shiftable automatic transmission for propulsion that are available in the Accord. In the Crosstour this V6 and tranny combine to deliver a 0-60 acceleration time of less than eight seconds – about the same as a Toyota Highlander.
Fuel economy is respectable for a crossover. The EPA estimates its mileage as 18 mpg in the city and 27 mpg on the highway. This is better highway performance than the V6 Highlander and better overall fuel performance than the Chevrolet Traverse.
In the spirit of being a crossover, Crosstour can be armed with all-wheel drive for a $1,450 boost to the bottom line. This is a transparent system engineered for foul weather that doesn’t include low gearing for serious off-road adventure.
Behaving very much like a car, it rides on Accord’s four-wheel independent suspension with a double-wishbone setup in front and a multilink arrangement in the rear. Falling soundly on the side of ride comfort, the suspension tuning sacrifices a degree of handling to achieve its goal of insulating passengers from most pavement inconsistencies.
The EX-L’s four 18-inch alloy wheels and rubber hide antilock disc brakes. Traction control, stability control, emergency brake assist and electronic brake force distribution are standard. Other safety features include six airbags and anti-whiplash front-seat head restraints.
Although not exactly the same, the similarities between the cabin of the Accord sedan and the Crosstour far outnumber the differences. It’s sort of like if your best buddy suddenly began parting his hair on the other side; you would probably realize something was different, but couldn’t quite put your finger on it. Again, this isn’t a bad thing. Accord’s styling is tasteful and handsome, the seats exceedingly comfortable, and convenience features abound – all of this is reflected in Crosstour.
Crosstour and Highlander wheelbases are only a fraction of an inch apart, but Crosstour is about 8 inches longer overall. Sitting a couple of inches higher off the ground, Highlander is 2.5 inches taller and an inch or so wider.
Despite Crosstour’s notably longer length, its 42.2 inches and 37.4 inches respectively of front- and rear-seat legroom is roughly an inch less in both measures than Highlander. At 51.3 cubic feet, its maximum cargo capacity far outstrips that of Accord, but is less than Highlander and other small crossovers, such as the Chevrolet Equinox.
As is typical of Honda, Crosstour has no factory options. You choose a trim level based on the content you want; to get more standard features, you must move up to the next trim level. The choices for the level of standard features are really two: the $31,150 EX and the $33,800 EX-L. The one I drove was priced out as a second EX-L trim level and had the voice-activated navigation system.
All Crosstours come with full power accessories, remote keyless entry, dual-zone automatic climate control, power sunroof, Bluetooth connectivity, rear backup camera, power-adjustable front seats, tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel with redundant audio controls and a seven speaker audio system with an in-dash six-disc CD changer, auxiliary input jack and a USB audio interface.
Springing for the EX-L upgrade adds leather seating, heated front seats, driver-seat memory and an auto-dimming rearview mirror.
Essentially, Crosstour is an Accord with a larger cargo-carrying capacity and an easier-to-access cargo hold. Crosstour’s rear hatch opens wide for easy loading and unloading. Otherwise, Crosstour is basically an Accord. A bit heavier and taller than Accord, it isn’t as crisp in the turns as the sedan, but still delivers Accord’s level of quiet and passenger comfort.
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