Honda CR-V Review

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Honda CR-V
★★★★☆
4.1
93.0% of users recommend this
  • Performance

  • Practicality

  • Reliability

  • Value For Money

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Chazzmeister's review of Honda CR-V

Honda CR-V 2002, Petrol. Having driven Hondas for many...”

★★★★☆

written by Chazzmeister on 07/01/2010

Honda CR-V 2002, Petrol. Having driven Hondas for many years this was a move up from an HR-V which, although a great little car, was just a bit too small and only had 3 doors. The CR-V is a great crossover vehicle and will never take the place of a full blown Landrover but what I asked myself was 'How often do I actaully need real mud plugging 4WD?' my answer was 'can't remember the last time I did, if ever'... Despite living out in the Norfolk (UK) countryside and with more than a little winter snow (this year at least) I can honestly say the the CR-V has never let me down or caused me any concern. Don't expect masses of miles to the gallon/litre as mid 30's is a good yardstick (mine is a petrol model but I couldn't justify the massive cost hike for a diesel and am still well in pocket after more than 25k miles). These cars are wonderful for long journeys and waft along at 85mph all day (yes I know about the 70mph National Speed Limit but 85 is just keeping up with traffic on motorways nowadays). On a run I get 330 - 350 miles to 40 litres of ordinary unleaded and I'm normally quite well loaded down. I am certain that it is physically possible to fully pack a CR-V boot but, with the 60/40 split rear seats I've never been able to (brought a garden bench more than 6' long back from London and the chap who made it confidently shook his head and told me that it would never fit - he went strangely quiet when it slid in, the rear door closed and I set off merrily for Norfolk). Roof rack weight capacity is a slight limitation with a maximum of 40kg on genuine roof bars (and DO get the genuine ones or at least Thule - cheap ones represent false economy).I regularly tow a 4m Avon Searider RIB boat with a 50hp outboard and dive gear with no difficulty although I have fitted Grayston coil spring assistors (£20 the pair) to stop the rear bottoming out with the extra nose weight of the trailer - a cheap and totally satisfactory solution to a costly spring uprating alternative. Reliability has always been Honda's strong suit and this model is no different - a chain driven rather belt driven engine, 150bhp, fantastic V-Tec performance and torque from nearly nowhere together with 12,500 mile service intervals make this a car that will just keep going and going. Performance is strong rather than exhilarating with masses of torque and oomph as soon as the VTec kicks in at around 3k rpm, all the way up to the red line over 7k (revving is something that this engine loves to do but it's not really needed beyond 5-5.5k and you WILL notice drop in fuel economy). I recently had a front oxygen sensor failure (the first fault in 2 years and 25k miles) and was quoted in excess of £250 for supply and fitting but sourced the proper part through a very helpful supplier called HGL Motors and the whole job (with fitting locally) came to £80. This is the case with a lot of Honda parts - patterns are available and, while I would always fit genuine and certified service items, some pattern parts are genuinely OK and much much cheaper. Do I like it? - I love it, Would I have another? Oh yes! An interesting byproduct of the slightly anodyne looks is that there is much less aggression shown towards a CR-V than there is to the 'real' Chelsea Tractor models. Also it is the most pedestrian friendly vehicle in its' class - there are some crash test videos from MIRA and similar on Youtube and if you watch them you'll feel wonderfully reassured. This car will take you almost anywhere in comfort and with minimum fuss...I can't say fairer than that :-)

  • 2002

    Year Manufactured

  • 2 Years

    Length of ownership

  • 5

    Doors

  • Performance

  • Practicality

  • Reliability

  • Value For Money

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Caroann's Response to Chazzmeister's Review

Written on: 08/06/2010

I found this review very helpful because...I totally agree with it!

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