diff --git a/src/async_impl/response.rs b/src/async_impl/response.rs
index e3b2cec..e727eb8 100644
--- a/src/async_impl/response.rs
+++ b/src/async_impl/response.rs
@@ -167,6 +167,38 @@ impl Response {
             Ok(self)
         }
     }
+
+    /// Turn a reference to a response into an error if the server returned an error.
+    ///
+    /// # Example
+    ///
+    /// ```
+    /// # use reqwest::async::Response;
+    /// fn on_response(res: &Response) {
+    ///     match res.error_for_status_ref() {
+    ///         Ok(_res) => (),
+    ///         Err(err) => {
+    ///             // asserting a 400 as an example
+    ///             // it could be any status between 400...599
+    ///             assert_eq!(
+    ///                 err.status(),
+    ///                 Some(reqwest::StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST)
+    ///             );
+    ///         }
+    ///     }
+    /// }
+    /// # fn main() {}
+    /// ```
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn error_for_status_ref(&self) -> ::Result<&Self> {
+        if self.status.is_client_error() {
+            Err(::error::client_error(*self.url.clone(), self.status))
+        } else if self.status.is_server_error() {
+            Err(::error::server_error(*self.url.clone(), self.status))
+        } else {
+            Ok(self)
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 impl fmt::Debug for Response {
diff --git a/src/response.rs b/src/response.rs
index 57e9087..e2d7e79 100644
--- a/src/response.rs
+++ b/src/response.rs
@@ -329,6 +329,27 @@ impl Response {
             }
         })
     }
+
+    /// Turn a reference to a response into an error if the server returned an error.
+    ///
+    /// # Example
+    ///
+    /// ```rust,no_run
+    /// # extern crate reqwest;
+    /// # fn run() -> Result<(), Box<::std::error::Error>> {
+    /// let res = reqwest::get("http://httpbin.org/status/400")?;
+    /// let res = res.error_for_status_ref();
+    /// if let Err(err) = res {
+    ///     assert_eq!(err.status(), Some(reqwest::StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST));
+    /// }
+    /// # Ok(())
+    /// # }
+    /// # fn main() {}
+    /// ```
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn error_for_status_ref(&self) -> ::Result<&Self> {
+        self.inner.error_for_status_ref().and_then(|_| Ok(self))
+    }
 }
 
 impl Read for Response {