{"id":7935,"date":"2026-05-02T18:35:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T22:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autonocion.com\/us\/?p=7935"},"modified":"2026-05-02T18:35:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T22:35:35","slug":"most-honda-cr-v-owners-never-knew-their-car-had-this-hidden-feature-now-honda-wants-425-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autonocion.com\/us\/most-honda-cr-v-owners-never-knew-their-car-had-this-hidden-feature-now-honda-wants-425-for-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Most Honda CR-V Owners Never Knew Their Car Had This Hidden Feature \u2014 Now Honda Wants $425 for It"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Honda CR-V is mainly seen as a decent rival to the Toyota RAV4<\/a>. A sensible, smaller, SUV that serves as an exceptionally good family car. You\u2019ll get a good amount of cargo space, decent fuel economy, and a few ADAS features that make general driving easier.<\/p>\n

But in its early days, the CR-V (or comfortable runaround vehicle if you\u2019ve ever wondered what that stood for) was aimed at outdoor enthusiasts. Sedans and wagons were family cars in those days, and SUVs were generally aimed at people who enjoyed hiking. To facilitate that kind of active lifestyle, the CR-V came equipped with a pretty nifty outdoorsy feature. It had a hidden picnic table.<\/p>\n

The Honda CR-V had a picnic table stashed in its rear<\/h2>\n

Despite coming as standard on all first and second generation Honda CR-Vs, the picnic table was a bit of a hidden feature. It was generally stored beneath the rear cargo mat, where the spare tire usually went. Early CR-Vs had the spare attached to the tailgate, so owners wouldn\u2019t even stumble across the table when they were unfortunate enough to have a flat. It was very much one of those \u201cif you know, you know\u201d features with only a line or two in the brochure and owner\u2019s manual pointing towards its existence.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t anything particularly fancy either, just a hard plastic top with foldable metal legs. But it did the job and fit neatly in its out of the way storage spot.<\/p>\n

Pricing for used tables varies. On eBay, the tables were selling for between $100 and $200 each at the time of writing. However, there is a way to get one a lot cheaper. Junkyards tend to price things by part, and don\u2019t generally have a category for \u201cpicnic tables.\u201d So you\u2019ll likely see it listed as a spare tire cover or some kind of panel. This means you can snag one for as little as $5 if you dig around enough.<\/p>\n

Honda recently brought the feature back<\/h2>\n

The picnic table was eventually removed in the third generation CR-V. It was a cool feature, but not something Honda made a lot of noise about. Nor was it something that could be described as a \u201cfan favorite\u201d given that many owners drove their CR-Vs for years without even noticing it was there.<\/p>\n

When the spare tire was relocated from the tailgate to the well under the cargo hold, Honda didn\u2019t go to the effort of reworking the table into the redesigned space. Which means if you want to drive a CR-V with this feature, you\u2019ll need to find a first or second generation model built in 2006 or earlier.<\/p>\n

However, there is a Honda with a picnic table still around. The Japanese brand recently revived the feature in the 2026 Honda Passport. Though rather than being included as standard it\u2019s a $425 add on in that case. Because it\u2019s 2026, and quirky fun things don\u2019t come free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Honda CR-V is mainly seen as a decent rival to the Toyota RAV4. A sensible, smaller, SUV that serves … <\/p>\n