Compare the2024 Honda CR-VVS 2023 Kia Sportage

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Honda CR-V have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The Kia Sportage doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

The Honda CR-V has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Sportage doesn’t offer knee airbags.

Using vehicle speed sensors and seat sensors, smart airbags in the CR-V deploy with different levels of force or don’t deploy at all to help better protect passengers of all sizes in different collisions. The CR-V’s side airbags will shut off if a child is leaning against the door. The Sportage’s side airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.

Both the CR-V and the Sportage have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors, available all wheel drive, blind spot warning systems, rear parking sensors and rear cross-path warning.

For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, daytime pedestrian crash prevention, and nighttime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the CR-V its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2023, a rating granted to only 30 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Sportage last would have qualified as only a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2019.

The CR-V’s 5 year corrosion warranty has no mileage limitations, but the corrosion warranty on the Sportage runs out after 100,000 miles.

Honda pays for scheduled maintenance on the CR-V for 2 years and 24,000 miles. Honda will pay for oil changes, tire rotations, air filter replacements, cabin filter replacement, brake fluid replacement, inspections, and any other required maintenance. Kia doesn’t pay scheduled maintenance for the Sportage.

There are over 37 percent more Honda dealers than there are Kia dealers, which makes it easier should you ever need service under the CR-V’s warranty.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2023 Auto Issue reports that Honda vehicles are more reliable than Kia vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Honda 4 places higher in reliability than Kia.

The CR-V’s standard 1.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 3 more horsepower (190 vs. 187) and 1 lbs.-ft. more torque (179 vs. 178) than the Sportage’s 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder. The CR-V Hybrid’s standard 2.0 DOHC 4-cylinder hybrid produces 17 more horsepower (204 vs. 187) and 69 lbs.-ft. more torque (247 vs. 178) than the Sportage’s 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder.

As tested in Consumer Reports the Honda CR-V is faster than the Kia Sportage:

On the EPA test cycle the CR-V gets better mileage than the Sportage:

Regenerative brakes improve the CR-V Hybrid’s fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The Sportage doesn’t offer a regenerative braking system.

The CR-V has a standard cap-less fueling system. The fuel filler is automatically opened when the fuel nozzle is inserted and automatically closed when it’s removed. This eliminates the need to unscrew and replace the cap and it reduces fuel evaporation, which causes pollution. The Sportage doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

In its Green Vehicle Guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the Honda CR-V higher (6 to 7 out of 10) than the Kia Sportage (5). This means the CR-V produces up to 8 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the Sportage every 15,000 miles.

The CR-V has a standard continuously variable transmission (CVT). With no “steps” between gears, it can keep the engine at the most efficient speed for fuel economy, or keep it at its peak horsepower indefinitely for maximum acceleration. The Sportage doesn’t offer a CVT.

The CR-V stops much shorter than the Sportage:

The CR-V EX-L AWD handles at .84 G’s, while the Sportage X-Pro pulls only .81 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The CR-V EX-L AWD executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver quicker than the Sportage X-Pro (27.4 seconds @ .61 average G’s vs. 27.9 seconds @ .58 average G’s).

For better maneuverability, the CR-V’s turning circle is 1.3 feet tighter than the Sportage’s (37.3 feet vs. 38.6 feet).

The CR-V uses computer-generated active noise cancellation to help remove annoying noise and vibration from the passenger compartment, especially at low frequencies. The Sportage doesn’t offer active noise cancellation.

The CR-V has .4 inches more front headroom, .8 inches more front hip room, .2 inches more front shoulder room and .3 inches more rear shoulder room than the Sportage.

The CR-V has a larger cargo volume with its rear seat folded than the Sportage with its rear seat folded (76.5 vs. 74.1 cubic feet).

A standard locking glovebox (which can’t be accessed with the valet key) keeps your small valuables safer in the CR-V. The Sportage doesn’t offer locking storage for small valuables.

The CR-V uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Sportage uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The CR-V’s standard front power windows open or close fully with one touch of the switches, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths, or when talking with someone outside the car. The Sportage’s standard power window switches have to be held the entire time to close them fully. Only its driver’s window opens automatically. The CR-V EX-L/Sport-L/Sport Touring’s front and rear power windows all open or close fully with one touch of the switches. With the Sportage EX/SX/Prestige/X-Line/X-Pro’s power windows, only the front windows open or close automatically.

The CR-V’s standard speed-sensitive wipers speed up when the vehicle does, so that the driver doesn’t have to continually adjust the speed of the wipers. The Sportage’s manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted. The CR-V Sport Touring’s standard wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically according to the amount of rainfall on the windshield.

Consumer Reports rated the CR-V’s headlight performance “Good,” a higher rating than the Sportage’s headlights, which were rated “Fair.”

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducts detailed tests on headlights for their range both straight ahead and in curves and to be certain they don’t exceed acceptable amounts of glare to oncoming drivers. The CR-V’s headlights were rated “Good” by the IIHS, while the Sportage’s headlights are rated “Acceptable” to “Poor.”

Consumer Reports® recommends both the Honda CR-V and the Kia Sportage, based on reliability, safety and performance.

Motor Trend performed a comparison test in its June 2023 issue and they ranked the Honda CR-V EX-L AWD higher than the Kia Sportage X-Pro Prestige.

The CR-V was chosen as a Car and Driver’s “5Best Trucks/10Best” for 2023 and 3 more times in the last 22 years. The Sportage has never been chosen by Car and Driver in their “10Best” issue.

Motor Trend selected the CR-V as their 2018 Sport Utility of the Year. The Sportage has never been chosen.

The Honda CR-V outsold the Kia Sportage by almost two to one during 2022.