Honda kills entry-level CR-V trims, BMW will make cars out of trash, Ram kills the EcoDiesel. All this and more in today’s issue of The Morning Dump.
Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday.
Holy Crap, The New Honda CR-V Is Expensive
Compact crossovers are as popular as ever, and we finally know how much the latest version of a segment pioneer will cost. Honda announced pricing for the new CR-V and it seems that the Japanese company has pulled a bit of a disappearing act.
See, Honda is focusing on trims with higher margins, so the base LX and value-minded Special Edition trims have been cast aside, with the decidedly mid-range EX now positioned as the CR-V’s entry point. This takes the base price up to $32,355 including a $1,245 freight charge. That works out to $1,800 more than a 2022 CR-V EX-L, a rather significant price jump. Moving up the lineup, the EX-L trim now starts at $35,005 or $1,860 more than before. The Sport Touring trim replaces the Touring trim at the top of the CR-V pyramid with a price of $39,845, or $2,000 more than the Touring. Also new for 2023 is the Sport hybrid trim, which carries a fairly reasonable list price of $33,695.
While the old CR-V is one of America’s most popular compact crossovers, this new pricing scheme may affect sheer sales volume. There are still some entry-level versions of the outgoing CR-V running about, and axing those trims will likely send shoppers running into the arms of competitors. Still, if a CR-V with a little more luxury sounds exactly your cup of tea, the 2023 model will be rolling into showrooms later in September.
BMW Will Make Electric Cars From Trash
If you’ve been around BMWs long enough, you’re probably thinking that some of the company’s parts are already trash. While that’s definitely true when it comes to N62 valve stem seals and S65 rod bearings, BMW actually plans on making plastics using garbage from the ocean.
According to a press release, the German automakers has teamed up with Danish company PLASTIX to make new parts using maritime plastic waste. Fishing nets, ropes, that sort of stuff. Plastic pulled from the ocean gets turned into granules, which can then be used to make injection-molded parts, pretty novel stuff considering maritime waste was previously only used for fibers.
So where does BMW plan on using plastics made from old fish nets first? Well, the upcoming Neue Klasse EV platform is said to put a focus on sustainability, so expect to see these recycled plastics in an electric 3-Series-sized car come 2025.
Ram Kills The EcoDiesel
If you’re looking to buy a new diesel half-ton pickup truck, your options are dwindling. Stellantis has announced that Ram will end 1500 EcoDiesel production in January 2023, so anyone looking to buy one should get their order in now.
While the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel was certainly innovative when it burst onto the scene for 2014, it grew mired in emissions scandal and will effectively be superseded by the upcoming electric Ram pickup truck. It’s a bit sad seeing the little diesel six make an exit from the Ram lineup as electric vehicles just don’t have the energy density of diesel, leading to low towing range. For half-ton buyers looking to both tow and save money at the pumps, diesel really does have a place.
What’s more, this is the second diesel half-ton to die in recent years. Ford discontinued the diesel F-150 in 2021 in favor of its hybrid Powerboost V6 powertrain. However, if you like diesel half-tons and aren’t a brand loyalist, there is some good news. General Motors still offers a diesel engine in its Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 half-ton pickup trucks.
German Court Tosses Climate Change Suit Against Mercedes
Here’s a bizarre story out of Germany. Reuters reports that the Stuttgart district court has tossed out a lawsuit that an NGO brought against Mercedes-Benz [Ed Note: A court in Stuttgart siding with Mercedes? I’m shocked! – MH] over climate change. Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) sued Mercedes for exacerbating climate change, a bold decision for an NGO with such a poor choice of acronym.
The case had demanded that Mercedes-Benz adhere to a tighter carbon emissions budget and commit to ending production of combustion engine cars by November 2030.
The DUH said it plans to appeal the ruling in the higher regional court of Stuttgart.
“Even if this ruling did not turn out in our favour, we hope for a quick resolution in the higher court, for the climate crisis does not leave us much time,” said DUH lawyer Remo Klinger.
Associated NGOs LOL, GTFO, and ROFLCOPTER were unavailable for comment on the matter. In all seriousness, this lawsuit seems a bit absurd given incoming Euro 7 emissions regulations and a plan to phase out new combustion engines by 2035. While it’s certainly a stunt that got a lot of eyes on DUH, it doesn’t paint the NGO in a particularly flattering light.
The Flush
Whelp, time to drop the lid on today’s edition of The Morning Dump. It’s media day at the Detroit Auto Show, which means I’m probably on the show floor by the time you read this. Growing up, auto show season was always an important one for me. My dad and I would head to Toronto for the latest and greatest, from the astonishing Magic Seat system in the first-generation Honda Fit to the eye-opening Bang & Olufsen audio system on the D3 Audi A8. I’d like to know what your favorite auto show memories are. Whether you got a signed poster from a pro driver or simply marveled at your favorite new car of the moment, interactive experiences shape our enthusiasm.
Lead photo credit: Honda
Great commentary and exactly why I come to this site. Keep on keepin’ on.
A friend of mine is getting a 2022 CRV delivered next week. Eager to tell him how clever he is.
No one will read this, but I must reply regarding auto shows. I used to go to the Washington DC Auto show with my dad and brother from about 1990 through 1998 (til end of HS, basically.) It’s not a great show, nor particularly famous; no one debuts anything, no manufacturers try. But it’s perhaps where I began to love everything car. Now – well, covid has messed with everyone’s “now” – I get to take my boys to it. So long live the auto show.????
Regarding the Ecodiesel being discontinued… it doesn’t help that the price premium for diesel fuel has gotten much bigger in recent years… negating much of the savings from the lower fuel consumption.
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Love my 2020 Rebel Diesel.
Highway driving routinely sees 28mpg. The $4000 cdn up charge over the hemi has already paid for itself.
If they’re not making anymore I guess I’ll have to keep this one for as long as possible since I don’t ever see a future where an electric pickup will make sense on the Alaska Highway.
Seeing as how the HRV is now Civic based instead of Fit based, I was wondering what the difference would be between it and the also Civic based CRV. Seems like the answer is that the HRV is replacing the lower trims of the CRV. The price jump makes more sense to me when I look at it like that.
For about 10 seasons in the 90s and 00s, I installed lighting and video equipment at NAIAS. That meant I got to see most of the new intros before even the press did. I saw the Scion xB in January of ’03 before anyone else, and I vowed to one day own one. I bought mine used in ’13, and it was the best around town car I’ve ever owned. Too bad it was positively miserable on the highway, or I’d probably still own it.
Regarding your diesel comments, diesel where I live in FL is at 4.64 so it’s already below what you stated. Also, Stellantis uses that engine in more than just the 1500 so I’m sure they’re getting at least some of their money back.
“this new pricing scheme may affect sheer sales volume.”
Doubtful. They probably dropped the lower trims because they can still everything they can manage to build as without bothering with the low trim.
Starting in approx. 1994 a group of friends and I would go to the SF auto show every year, until Covid killed the tradition in 2020. Hope to be back this November.
We would always see how many people we could cram into a Buick, then fiddle with its headliner. Or take pictures with our heads stuck through Subaru’s ridiculously large STI wings.
Sheesh, is it your job to write overly drawn out, angst filled articles? I could barely get through the first paragraph. TLDR
Honestly I look forward to root’s comments. I generally learn something new from him and enjoyix of humor and angst. I’ve been lobbying to give him a truly unhinged opinion column here on the site.
No one is forcing you to read it.
Even disagreeing with about 50% of what Root says I still find it worthwhile to read. The whole idea of this site is for people who like cars to shoot the shit about them. Seems like you would do better at the old hot-take site.
Ford- “Our 1/2 ton diesel sucks. Give it the axe.”
Ram- “Same”.
GM- “We have a belt driven oil pump in ours. What could go wrong?”
Toyota- “This is why we don’t have a diesel truck.”
I went to the Portland Auto Show shortly after the new Jag F-Type dropped, tried to sit in it and had my dreams crushed as my 6’7″ self couldn’t pretzel in. Great show otherwise!
Honda isn’t going to lose any sleep over potential LX buyers switching brands. They’ll still be selling CR-Vs as fast as they can make them, so producing the LX trim just means wasting factory time on a lower margin vehicle. America is so horny for crossovers that the old strategy of selling base models to customers who will eventually come back for something more expensive is obsolete.
Great car show memories:
My then girlfriend, now wife, took me to meet her dad at the Milwaukee Auto Show. She ended up being a third wheel as he & I wandered the show and talked about all the new stuff on display. It was a great afternoon.
3rd Gen CRV LX owner here. I can tell you that price isn’t keeping me out of the new CRVs, it’s three little letters: CVT. As far as pricing, I’d get a Hyundai Tucson instead, way better interior and tech than Honda offers. Finally, why does the new CRV look like a badge engineered Tiguan? Or is it just me?
I prefer the posts about the souls of dead Methodist ministers you can use to freak the shit out of your children to keep them off or on drugs.
When I was younger and didn’t realize these are all bots, I used to reply to porn spam messages by going into crazy hellfire street preacher mode.
It would’ve been worth mentioning the base price of a 2022 CR-V LX, too. It starts at 26k.
Speaking of gouging, Honda dealers absolutely REFUSE to sell you a FWD version even though Honda makes them. They only want to sell you an AWD HRV/CRV/Pilot.
And now, the new CRV is too close to the RDX in terms of price.
Too bad Ford and Dodge dropped their half-ton diesels.
Honda doesn’t do special orders. So if a dealer won’t sell you a FWD version it’s because in THEORY Honda makes them, but in practice they aren’t actually building them or it not sending them to the region you’re in.
Always went to the Philly Auto show, and made a point to get the free Porsche poster every year. I used to have about 8 of them on my childhood bedroom walls. Also fond memories of Concept cars like the Nomad, and Jeepster.
Regarding the EcoDiesel, my father in law owned a Ram with one for a couple years. It sounds like it did pretty good in terms of power and economy, but it always seemed to have a nagging problem. One of the more prominent ones was a leaking crankshaft seal. It was out of his possession for weeks due to parts availability and the dealer blocking off enough time to do the big job (and because who cares about warranty work). I think it was not long after that, he decided to sell it. He bought a 2017(?) F150 with the 2.7 EB and has been satisfied with that since then. That has been a fair amount less needy, although it did have a pretty bad rich-running condition based on the exhaust.
Anyway, I get it, it’s hard to make cars today. Components are expensive. Labor is expensive. But they keep packing more crap into base models so they’re virtually indistinguishable from upper trims, outside of a couple gimmicky features. I understand, profits, shareholders, margin per unit…but even with idiots with evidently more money than patience, the shoe has to drop at some point. It sounds like the Fed is looking into a possible 100 basis point, 1 percent, increase in the Federal interest rate. That makes a difference and means these already expensive vehicles will be even further out of reach for an increasingly larger segment of the population.
Also, BMW making cars out of trash practically writes itself. I appreciate the intention of implementing sustainable materials in auto manufacturing, but this smacks of The Emperor’s New Clothes, at least as far as the rich is concerned…which I guess is appropriate.
I used to take the train to NYC for the auto show for no other reason than to just look at the nice, shiny new cars. I also went to the show in Chicago once and was mesmerized by how big it was and how many cars were there (and how cold it was in Chicago in February, I’m from the northeast, but was not prepared for the wind and cold)!
My wife drives a CRV and a company I used to work for had several of them that we’d use, so I’m quite familiar with them. They’re the most NPC of all NPC cars. They have absolutely no driving character, their styling might as well have been AI generated, and they’re just remarkably boring things. I get that not everyone is an enthusiast and the most basic of basic transportation is what probably 75% of people want/need …so I understand the role the car fills, even if I refuse to take ours on any road trips because of how sleep inducing of an experience it is.
That being said, they now want friggin 32 grand for a base one? That seems steep to me. The best way to buy this car is to buy a barebones one, and Honda really seems particularly adept and squeezing every single penny they can out of their customers (to be fair most manufacturers are). I imagine that the usual buyer of one of these is pretty firmly middle class, and that seems like a needlessly high point of entry for such a basic car. Are they going to go full Nissan and offer 6-10 year loans on them for sub prime borrowers as well?
Then, a fully loaded one comes in at nearly 40k? That’s an even worse value. Even if you ignore enthusiast cars there are much more compelling options at that price. Don’t get me wrong, they’ll still sell a gajillion of these things to middle/upper middle class suburbanites and Bob from HR….but this seems like a needless cash grab from a company that has developed quite the zest for needless cash grabs.
FWIW, a RAV 4 and a CX5 start around 28, a Tuscan starts around 26, and a Sportage starts 27. You can get into a decent mid tier trim of any for around where the CRV is going to start, and I think all of those cars are more compelling for a variety of reasons…Mazda for the better drive, the Koreans for more interesting style/a better warranty, and the RAV 4 solely because it’s a really good looking car. I honestly think Honda will lose some market share with the price hikes…but I’m not sure if it’ll have a huge effect, as the CRV is like the 911 of NPC cars. It’s an institution at this point.
Holy sportsballs, you can get a new TVR Tuscan for just 26k? Where do I sign up?
Shoot, I remember when the previous gen or two, you could get an LX AWD for about $23-24K. They had all the features you’d ever really want…MAYBE one or two convenience features that would’ve been nice, but worth passing on for the price.
While the CRV technically meets every requirement I have, I am avoiding them like the plague for this very reason. It is one of few cars that invokes absolutely zero emotion out of me. The only redeeming feature is the folding table in the first gen.
I had a CRV as a rental a few months ago, and I honestly can say I recall nothing at all about it. So yeah, NPC AF.
“For half-ton buyers looking to both tow and save money at the pumps, diesel really does have a place.”
Not necessarily true. Diesel is about $1.75-$2/gal pricier than regular gas locally. Comparing 4×4 trims, the Hemi gets 19 combined vs 24 for the diesel. Plugging in $3.75 and $5.50 per gallon, plus 12,000 miles per year, you get a fuel cost of $2750 for diesel, and $2368 for gas.
The tow rating is also lower on the diesel.
Unless you have to tow a metric f**k ton diesel doesn’t really have a place for regular drivers in the American market. It is what it is…I understand why enthusiasts gravitate towards diesels and even daily’d a diesel E320 for a few years, but for probably 98% of regular drivers there really isn’t a benefit right now.
The fuel economy gains are offset by the higher prices of diesel, the engines require more specialized maintenance even if they’ll run forever, and diesel is more scarce than regular gas.
My usual go to is that diesel makes a lot of sense for 1 ton trucks and above, and very little for anything smaller. Even that is more dubious than in years past with a new generation of gas engines (Ford 7.3, GM 6.6) that are seeing increased use in medium duty 450-750 class trucks by operators drawn to lower operating costs.
Diesel made a lot more sense when it had price parity with gas, when there really was a significant difference in capability and engine lifespan, and when maintenance costs weren’t crippling.
Yeah I’m assuming the ridiculous price of diesel is a big factor in these being cancelled. Can only speak to Canadian dollars – and it’s first thing in the morning so I’m not doing math – but it’s a good $0.50/litre more around here. Add to that the higher cost of entry and the diesel’s cost advantages basically don’t exist.
It’s already less popular but now dealers have nothing to work with to sell someone on one.
I drive one of the F150 3.0L diesels and get amazing mileage. Well enough to offset the cost difference in fuel. I am getting about 26-28 MPG empty (real world driving, not EPA tests) and I am getting 14-16 towing a 5k lb trailer.
Comparing that to my old GM 5.3 V8 (3rd gen), I was getting 16-17 empty and 6-9 towing the same trailer.
The price difference here in FL is only $1.30 as well for gas vs. diesel. My calculations for what I drive show me saving over $1k a year.
Does that include the cost of DEF?
The Honda price jump is justified because they want more money.