... When we had one dog and a Honda Civic the dog would get into the back of the car, and sit there quietly, until she was sick that is, but that’s another story. We then acquired Rosie, who’s a Rhodesian Ridgeback, and she decided that sitting on the back seat wasn’t such ... Read review
Advantages: Spacious, economical to run with good handling. A fun ride. Disadvantages: See text of opinion.
...had one dog and a Honda Civic the dog would get into the back of the car, and sit there quietly, until she was sick that is, but that’s another story. We then acquired Rosie, who’s a Rhodesian Ridgeback, and she decided that sitting on the back seat wasn’t such a good idea, when there were all sorts of other places that looked so much more interesting. We tried harnessing them, but getting two dogs who don’t want to be harnessed ... ...then this is our third Honda on the trot, and there is more than a passing similarity between them. Everything seems to come easily to hand. Driving the car is easy – particularly as you’re that bit higher up on the road than you are in a normal saloon car.
You’re wondering if it’s got an engine, aren’t you? Well, I’m told it has. It 1973cc and the published fuel economy figures on manual transmission ... more
I’d better warn you now that this isn’t going to be one of those very technical reviews that are done about cars. My technical knowledge ends roughly where the ignition key goes in and certainly doesn’t extend to putting petrol into the tank. When people talk about “overhead camshaft” I gaze upwards and wonder where it is. I’d simply like to tell you why we got the car, the good bits and the odd niggle.
We’ve got two big dogs. When we had one dog and a Honda Civic the dog would get into the back of the car, and sit there quietly, until she was sick that is, but that’s another story. We then acquired Rosie, who’s a Rhodesian Ridgeback, and she decided that sitting on the back seat wasn’t such a good idea, when there were all sorts of other places that looked so much more interesting. We tried harnessing them, but getting two dogs who don’t want to be harnessed into the car in a public place isn’t easy. I then read about someone who’d been killed whilst driving a car when the person behind her was catapulted into her neck when she braked suddenly. As the car was due for a change we decided to look at either an estate car, or a sports utility vehicle, as I believe they’re called, so that we could fit a dog grid.
We looked at the RAV4 first, but it didn’t handle well, and the dogs would have had to go on a diet to get in the back comfortably. The CR-V wouldn’t necessarily have been the next choice, but we spotted this one, aged six months, with automatic transmission which I need, and at a considerable discount. We drove it and liked it, and the dogs gave their consent, so it came home with us.
Why does anyone get rid of a good car when it’s only six months old, you’ll be asking! We did too. Apparently the previous owner had bought it with the intention of using it to tow a horsebox, but found that it wasn’t suitable. I suspect that this might have had something to do with the kerb weight of what he was towing and the fact that it was possibly unbraked, but we didn’t intend to use the car to tow anything, so it didn’t really concern us. If you were intending to use it to tow a caravan it’s something I’d clarify with the dealer.
The CR-V manoeuvres well. There’s power-assisted steering and it has a low front and rear overhang and seems to turn on the proverbial sixpence. One problem I have found, and it will be common to all SUV’s is that it’s difficult to see obstacles below window level on the passenger side. This explains the passionate encounter that I had with a trolley-park rail in Asda’s car park which took a moment to perform and a frightening amount of time and money to put right.
It’s an all-wheel drive vehicle but I’m not going to give you tales of my off-road exploits, as you might find the location vaguely reminiscent of Tesco’s car park. I have had it down rough country tracks, and it handled well. My daughter, who lives in Nepal where she drives a Discovery from necessity, has regularly driven the CR-V. She likes the car, but says that she doesn’t think it would cope with what the Nepalese laughingly refer to as road, but which we would call rough terrain with potholes. The car copes with snow well, but not so well with ice. I had one memorable morning when the car slid off down a road that I hadn’t been down for years, and I was left wondering if we’d bought a rather expensive sledge.
The ride is very comfortable, and the seats well-upholstered. We’ve got a radio-cassette player with a detachable front, but it’s fiddly to fit, and only having one good hand at the moment I usually end up swearing at it, and, in consequence, don’t use it as much as I would like – it’s not worth the hassle on a relatively short journey.
The tailgate is split – the top half lifts up, whilst the bottom half opens as normal. This is quite handy if you’ve just got something small to put in, but annoying if you’ve got two large dogs, as you need three actions to get them into the car: unlock tailgate, lift top section, use handle on bottom section. The boot capacity is 374 litres with the rear seat up, and 668 with them down. Litres mean nothing to me in this context – but the dogs are separated from the main body of the car by a dog grid and there’s adequate room for them both to lie down. We have a cover that fits just under window height so that you can leave your shopping in there without tempting every ne’er-do-well in the neighbourhood. It’s cleverly coloured so that it doesn’t actually look as though there’s a cover there at all. There’s also a boot tray in case you’re transporting anything messy (no – not the dogs: they refused!), but it’s not an easy thing to store when you’re not using it. There are cargo anchoring points in the floor of the well, and a cargo hook on the door. I’ve never worked out what you’d use this for, and it has a habit of swinging round in travel. I inevitably end up with a dog lead tangled round it! There’s a well under the carpet in the boot area which is meant to be a repository for dirty boots and the like, but we’ve never used it, simply because of the logistics of it. You have to have everything out of the boot, including the dogs, to use the well, and then replace them afterwards. What do you do with two dogs whilst you’re changing your boots? Perhaps it just doesn’t work for us – you might be more organised. The spare wheel is mounted on the rear of the tailgate, but the mounting is quite low and doesn’t impede rear vision. You can get a stainless steel cover for it, but that costs extra.
The interior of the CR-V has a “flat floor” design, so it’s technically possible to move between the front and the back – or so the literature says. I can’t see that I would want to, and I would have to be a lot more nimble than I am now, but I would imagine that a child could do it quite easily. I’m not certain whether this is a good thing or a bad thing! Between the front seats there’s a fold-down tray, which has a special section for a cup.
ABS is fitted as standard, and there are two full-sized airbags for driver and passenger. The beams in the side doors are impact-resistant and there are the usual crumple zones front and rear.
I like the dashboard layout – but then this is our third Honda on the trot, and there is more than a passing similarity between them. Everything seems to come easily to hand. Driving the car is easy – particularly as you’re that bit higher up on the road than you are in a normal saloon car.
You’re wondering if it’s got an engine, aren’t you? Well, I’m told it has. It 1973cc and the published fuel economy figures on manual transmission are 22.4 mpg for urban, and 32.8mpg extra-urban. Our car has automatic transmission, and we’re more than happy with the fuel consumption: the published figures suggest that the auto transmission is greedier in town, but less of a guzzler once it gets on the open road. The CR-V does like the open road, and with good acceleration there’s no problem about overtaking.
I think the most annoying thing that I’ve found with the CR-V is the “remote keyless entry”. You know – you flick this thing vaguely in the direction of the car, lights flash, and there’s a satisfying “clunk” as all the doors unlock. Yes, I’d like to know about it too! Sometimes you have to get so close to get it to operate that passers-by wonder if you’re trying to nick something. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all. Sometimes the lights flash, but there’s no “clunk”. Once the car battery drained through my efforts, and the RAC had to come to the rescue. We’ve had a faulty car battery replaced under warranty, and I’ve replaced the batteries in the handset – but you’re never quite convinced that it’s reliable.
Over the years we’ve had quite a few cars, from the cheap to the expensive, and this is the one that we both like the best, but I’ll leave you with my Grandson’s description of the car to his father. “It’s got two windbags in the front”.
Advantages: Lovely drive, VFM Disadvantages: Still very expensive
...wonderful deal from our local Honda dealer, Riding & Co, who did everything right.
They gave us an excellent price on a brand new Honda CRV (£18,280, but she only told me much later that she forked out another three hundred quid on all the goodies inside), a great trade in price (all of the three grand she expected) and then just let us get on with it and applied no pressure whatsoever (thanks be to you, but you got your commission anyway – cheers ... ...for a car, and the Honda simply had more to offer on every single front, with the best value for money available. She checked out What Car to be sure (which she always does, being so careful with MY money, what a living doll!) and was suitably impressed. They gave it a great write up and said it had won an award as best in class (but then they all seem to do that, don’t they?) However, in this case the hype seemed to be merited for once at least.
...
dave27 15.08.2002
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Honda CR-V
Advantages: Nice looking car with practical benefits Disadvantages: Rear visibility
I would not think of Honda when it comes to 4 X 4 jeep type off roaders. Landrover,Suzuki and Chrysler Jeep yes! it now seems every motor manufacturer wants to jump on the offroad bandwagon and build a 4 x 4. But the Honda CRV is a nice little car as well as an off roader. I compare it to the Rav 4 and BMW or Mercedes offering. Special edition models of popular cars usually add a number of extra equipment items for little extra cost and that's exactly ... ...the car. With the Honda CRV, there is no bending down as the vehicle is much higher. I think this is why so many mothers drive them to school to drop off their little ones. Its suitable for such operation. Around town it is excellent. Its not too big for parking in tight spaces and the power steering helps out. One thing that does count against it is the lack of rear visibility. These days, there seems to be a 'lifestyle' machine to suit virtually ...
andycharger 09.01.2002
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Honda CR-V
Advantages: A successful much loved vehicle Disadvantages: New models cause eyes to wander off to showrooms
...repairs. Just as well as Honda main dealers are not the cheapest. Of course the good thing about getting an older 4x4 is that you can forget about dings, dents, paint chips and scratches and start enjoying life - using your vehicle to the full to support your hobbies and interests. Most CR-V owners would probably agree with me that buying an older CR-V is likely to be a very safe proposition. ...
Oldfogey 25.03.2008
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Honda CR-V
Advantages: Lovely drive,good alround view comfortable seat Disadvantages: haven't found any yet
...times before we bought our honda CR-V my other half would go and look around the forcourt of the Honda Garage which is 2 mins away in the car from our house and admire them.
I couldn't see what he saw which was a good classy family car with a good boot space etc.
We talked about what we would both like .He liked The CR-V and I wanted the Jazz.We couldn't make our minds up so the only thing left was to go for a test drive in both.
I drove the jazz ... ...reg vetra.I know this wouldn't mean much to all the lads out there but Honda gave me a bunch of flowers :) and 6 months free tax.We are still very pleased with our family car.
Sometimes people ask me about it and make kind remarks wishing they had one !! ...
1pinkpear 02.08.2005 (09.08.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: helpful Review of Honda CR-V
Advantages: plenty of room in cabin and boot. Good climate control. Decent seat upholstery, well laid out cabin Disadvantages: ot as funky looking as the RAV4, wheel spin before 4 wheel drive takes hold.Handbreak is a bit unreliable on hills
...car-it is almost faultless. The Honda is bigger both in the cabin and boot and that is why we changed. It has met our expectations completely and again is difficult to fault.
The engine in the CRV is powerful and reliable. It is smooth, overtakes like a dream and all you should ever need.
The road handling is definately not as good as the RAV. The latter has permanent 4 wheel drive and it shows. The Honda tends to wheel spin sometimes from standing ... ...to kick in when the wheels start to lose traction, but there is a short but perceptable delay before this happen on occasions.
Interior is well laid out but a bit "staid" looking. Controls are easy to operate. We like the rear arm rest with drinks holders. So does our 3 year old!
No room to store compact discs apart from in the doors, and the stereo looks a bit tacky.
The 15 inch wheels which come as standard don't look as good as the RAVs 16 ...
littlebean 12.08.2003
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: helpful Review of Honda CR-V
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The HondaCR-V is not a car your would buy for thrilling driving, it is not a car you would buy for break neck speed, it is not a car you would buy for razor sharp handling.
However if you wish to get from A to B with plenty of space in the boot and plenty of leg room in the back seats then this is the car for you.
The boot has the dimensions you would expect for a 4x4 car offering you room not only width ways but also length ways very useful for plenty of luggage for that long road trip or excessive bags of golf clubs for a long game of golf.
The engine is very reliable with Honda able to boast an incredible record of not one of it's 250,000 Vtec engines having broken down making them THE most reliable 4x4 on the market.
In terms of features on the SE spec leather comes as standard along with climate control, a cd player and front ...
Advantages: Lots of space Disadvantages: Would you use it to 4X4
better if it was a split boot with one part moving up and the other part down.
This car can be very expensive if you are buying new as all Hondas are but I would advise you to get an ex model car as these have been driven by a lot of people but have a lot of extra features and are usually priced well, and if you can haggle you will be able to get the price down a nice bit.
This handles on the road; the speed really kicks in after 40, but no idea what it would handle like on a 4X4 track.
Very good safety rating.
Now for the specifics about the car, I have had to do some research into this as I feel if the car goes when I want it to go and stop when I want it to stop its good enough but here it goes.
Fuel- Unleaded
Miles per gallon- 31
6-disk CD change
Price- customer paid £13000 but had some extras
Model: HondaCR-V 2.0i ES ...
Advantages: Best facilities in its class with max power Disadvantages: boot space is less, No chrome spinners
Honda came up with CR-V and it has proved a Runaway Success. There wasn't much wrong in HondaCR-V (introduced in 2002) but Honda came up with some changes that exactly we are looking for, like changes in front and rear bumpers as well as repositioned fog lights, projector headlamps and a bigger grille with chromed slats. And at rear side of the car there are clear-lensed lights and a spare wheel cover.
The interior is treated with an LCD screen and backlit dials but it's not soo adventurous in looks. The seats are provided with retractable rear headrests and the seats can even recline to a 45 degree angle. These seats tumble forwards into a near-vertical storage position, freeing up enough room to fit two mountain bikes upright without having to remove their front wheels. The versatility of the cabin and the view from the elevated ...
