I look for economy/comfort/safety/AND it must have a normal-sized spare tire, not one of those half-sized ones -- called a donut I think?  Very hard to find these days.

I'll continue to stick with the tried and true - petrol, four cylinder to save on registration; no turbo, no DSG gearbox (both too complicated and liable to failure), no more than six gears, decent balloon tyres for ride comfort, good ground clearance to avoid hitting these horrible kerbs; leather bound steering wheel, gear lever and brake lever (proper brake lever); good all-round visibility, reversing camera and beepers. Don't need sat-nav, bluetooth, silly stop-start mechanism or any of that stuff. Would like a CD player though, and a big boot.

Is there anything current to better my 2013 Honda CR-V?

I have a 2018 diesel KIA sportage. It is brilliant. It has economy, comfort, safety, great power and just about every technical assistance you could dream of (except head up display, and I think the current ones have this) Much of the tech stuff I don't use, or don't know how to use. LOL! It also has a full size spare and 7 year warranty. So friends, don't discount a Kia when you next go for a car.  

2006 isn't exactly current, Suze (and I don't mean anything to do with electrics!). I have a lot of regard for Kia, Toby, from what I've seen. I'm trending towards a Honda HR-V to replace the CR-V (which is actually my wife's) before they exchange petrol for electric. I forgot about full-size spare being a prerequisite amongst my other preferences. Not sure how Honda's new marketing policy is going to change things though.

Lucky for those who can afford a new car. I stick with used car, cheaper and not contributing to the big "buy everything new" mentality. I might buy new one day and hopefully will not run on polluting petrol or diesel.

From 1 September 2021, purchasers of new and used battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles purchased for under $78,000 (incl GST) will not pay stamp duty. This will put up to $3,000 back into the pocket of EV purchasers.

This incentive, along with the removal of stamp duty will save eligible EV purchasers up to $5,540, and help drive the uptake of EVs to more than 50 per cent of all car sales by 2030-31.

nsw.gov.au

That's still too expensive for the average person and I still don't have any faith in the range of an EV. Also the cost of replacement batteries, after, say, eight years, is prohibitive. The makers and governments are barking up the wrong tree. The only real alternative to petrol is hydrogen, once sufficient infrastructure is in place.

Incidentally, referring back to comments on Kia cars, when we were in the UK two years ago we hired a Kia station wagon - a model not available in Oz - and it was a very satisfactory vehicle, taking us all around England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.