Emsonian's reply to 428349_Christian B's Comment

Written on: 25/07/2014

I bought this car - first registered Sept 06 - in July 2012. It had done 37k and is now on £56k. It is the first of its type I've owned: my two previous cars were a Montego estate (1990 - 2000) and an Astra 2 litre diesel (2000-2012). What does that tell you about me? The Honda is a comfortable, spacious car, pleasant if not exciting to drive, good for long journeys, and economical - overall average around 42 mpg.
Serious bad points though: reliability: just before the 12-month warranty expired the ABS failed, and the mirrors went into reverse - closed every time you switched on the ignition and had to be pushed into position manually. Everyone - except the dealer - said it was an electrical problem: the dealer said I needed new mirrors. They took 8 weeks to appear: a few weeks later and the two problems would have cost me close on 2 grand. Then a few weeks ago (I'm writing in July '14) I had the brake calliper problem someone else referred to; my local one-man garage charged £180.
Other hates: Gearbox!! Why do you need 6 gears? and if you've got six why isn't the top one a motorway overdrive, to bring down the revs at 70 mph? and the ratios! Chosen by picking numbers out of a hat? So inferior to the Astra in that respect.
Rear seats: yes they fold easily - and then block anything larger than a small briefcase being put into the loadspace via the rear side doors.
Side-hinged rear-door: a matter of taste this, and does offer some storage space, but so big and heavy.
Would I buy another CR-V? I'd want at least two of my "hates" addressed, but I like the high driving position (as much for sitting as driving) and I suspect most of its rivals have their own drawbacks.