2023 Honda CR-V LX Quietly Arrives With $3,000 Price Cut
Honda revived its LX trim level for a less-expensive version of its top-selling compact SUV.
Honda
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A new, lower-price version of Honda’s popular 2023 CR-V that arrived in dealers in February 2023 offers a more affordable trim level for shoppers willing to trade a few features for a reduced cost of entry.
How the 2023 Honda CR-V LX got a price cut
The 2023 CR-V LX revives a long-used trim level name and slots below the CR-V EX as the anchor of Honda’s compact SUV lineup. At a little less than $30,000, the base LX costs about $3,000 less than the 2023 CR-V EX. All-wheel drive (AWD) runs $1,500 more regardless of trim level.
One side note: Honda increased CR-V prices by $500 across the board at the beginning of 2023.
To achieve that nearly $3,000 discount, Honda sliced some features from the CR-V EX. The CR-V LX trades the EX trim level’s 18-inch alloy wheels for standard 17-inch steel wheels with plastic hubcaps. Gone too are the dark-tinted rear and side windows as well as the power sunroof found in the EX.
Comparative Features Between the LX and EX
Inside, CR-V LX shoppers will find the same 7.0-inch touchscreen, but the LX has four speakers compared to the EX’s six and lacks the higher-end version’s dashboard USB-C input. Additionally, the base CR-V has single-zone (rather than dual-zone) automatic climate control, and it lacks the power-adjustable driver’s seat and the heated front seats of the EX.
Eagle-eyed shoppers might notice a number of minor differences on the LX, too, such as the lack of a seatback pocket and heated exterior mirrors as well as an automatic up/down feature for the front-passenger window.
The base CR-V does retain the bevy of crash-avoidance tech found in other models, including the HondaSensing suite of features including automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitors, and adaptive cruise control.
It also retains the 190-hp turbocharged four-cylinder engine and continuously variable automatic transmission.
Aside from extra-cost metallic paint, Honda doesn’t offer any factory-installed options on any CR-V trim level.
As of yet, there is no LX version of the CR-V Hybrid, which costs about $34,000 in its least-expensive form.
2023 Honda CR-V LX Versus Its Rivals
The new price point aligns the CR-V more closely with some of its major competitors. The base CR-V runs less than $1,000 more than an entry-level Toyota RAV4 LE, and the two models include a largely similar array of standard features.
Some of the CR-V’s top rivals still cost less, though. At about $29,000, the lowest-price Nissan Rogue S undercuts its Honda and Toyota competitors by as much as $1,000, while the base Subaru Forester includes standard AWD for around $28,000 to start. The Hyundai Tucson SE also comes in at around $28,000 before options.
The CR-V brings a fresh design to the playing field, though. A rework for 2023 that went on sale in fall 2022 brought new styling over a more spacious interior than the outgoing model.
All vehicle pricing includes MSRP plus destination charges (set at the time of publication), and will be rounded to the nearest thousand.
