2.2i-DTEC EX 4WD Manual

Perfect family car

Living on a quiet road off a steep hill I wanted 4WD as we don't get gritted in the winter. Previously owned a Discovery 2 TD5 (loved it, but its a Land Rover so got to the stage where we had to part company based on repair costs!), replaced that with a VW Passat Alltrack 2.0TDI 177 DSG (everything said this SHOULD be an amazing car but it was awful, cost more in repairs than the Discovery and the dealer customer service was the worse I've ever experienced! Managed to get it in a saleable condition and got shot of it! Best decision I've ever made!!). So, hunting for a replacement I narrowed it down to Nissan X-Trail, Mazda CX5 or Honda CR-V. As it happens the right spec Honda at the right price came along and, being a little daring, I bought online and had the dealer deliver. With not much change back from £10k after I'd paid tax and insurance this was quite a gamble but absolutely paid off.

We're a reasonably active family, 2 teenage boys, a big dog and also rely on car as I'm a carer for elderly relative who lives in a village about 5 miles away (with very poor public transport).

The CR-V has proven to be excellent. Plenty of space, even with 5 and the dog in the car. Versatile enough to suit our needs (rocky off road carparks, beach, muddy fields, woodland, etc are all dealt with using nothing but normal road tyres). Engine is smooth though I did find it somewhat underpowered and opted for a remap - now superb drive, much more torque so less gear changes and better mpg (real average around town has gone from 28mpg up to 33mpg). I do use around town almost all the time and did have the commonly reported DPF issue - so consider this, but it cost about £250 to have sorted at a local independent specialist and this is the first time in 6 years and 90k miles that it's been needed - so I don't consider it a big issue. I also had to replace the battery - again nothing unusual with a 6 year old car (when it happened) that has electric everything and heavy drain with engine off (power tailgate used regularly when walking the dog - superb additional feature!). Being the EX there is nothing needed that's not fitted - except for personal needs I fitted a roof rack and towbar which are obviously optional - not towed anything large with it as no longer have a caravan, but it feels as if it should tow very well. I found stability, body roll on cornering, poise under braking, etc. all to be exactly as they should be and a significantly more stable ride than many others in this class. Plus it has the added benefit of being insurance friendly and only £205 annual tax - so actually it's wallet friendly too. Other than general servicing and the above couple of repairs it's been very cheap to run, having no issues that weren't expected and generally very good built quality.

Criticisms? Well, the design would have been improved by putting reverse camera display on the upper screen allowing for simpler replacement of the (now, at 7 years old, somewhat outdated) audio/navigation system - but it could be overcome if I could be bothered, Pioneer do a unit with Apple CarPlay that will also incorporate the reverse camera display but I can't really justify the cost of replacing as its not that bad. Otherwise the engine is under powered at 150bhp compared to 177bhp for the Mazda I'd Nissan competitors - but the remap sorted that. Only other complaint is that the paintwork, although flawless application, seems somewhat soft. I've picked up a few sc***es and scratches from branches and brambles - not as tough a finish as other paints and certainly it was a much stronger and resilient finish on the Discovery (10 years older and still less susceptible to scratching).

So if, like us, you want to use it as an all purpose vehicle for an active lifestyle then it will do the job superbly but will bear its battle scars with pride.

Overall opinion - I'm very pleased with the decision we made and would buy a CR-V again without a doubt.

Worthy of note - accessories are quite limited compared to other makes and models. Honda seem to have dropped to ball a little here - had to go to other brands for dog guard, load divider, roof basket (to fit on to Honda roof bars). There's some fairly useless sidesteps that only prove a step for the rear doors, boot spoiler (does nothing but look pretty) and a selection of chrome effect plastic stick on "styling" options available from Honda but limits on what I class as useful accessories. Also, oddly, these are limited from aftermarket manufacturers in the UK so I wonder whether Honda have aimed to deliberately limit this market? Looking online it would appear that the US market has a much greater selection. Maybe the model is used as more "lifestyle" and less "schoolrun" over there?

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