COULD ANYONE HELP ME TO GET THE RADIO CODE PLEASE THE SERIAL CODE IS M072061 THANKS. Read more

Thought some of you might find this interesting. I actually think it looks quite sleek! Much better looking than the Evoque but not a patch on a Wrangler or Defender soft top.

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I’ve mostly kept motoring costs down by sticking to used cars, mostly sub £5,000 Japanese petrol models where depreciation is minimal and reliability high. But new bambino and image conscious younger wife forced an upgrade four years ago and a new Honda CRV was decided upon.

I looked at buying nearly new but as the model was very recent prices were high and new discounts were low so I shopped around online among leasing firms then called round Honda dealers to see if any would match and one did, Phoenix in Glasgow £259 a month instead of the £309 Honda contract lease wanted to start with. People often forget to negotiate on leasing, just like buying there’s always money to be saved. Polite friendly and well informed salesman took us for a test drive and processed the order without a problem.

The car itself a 64 plate 1.6 DTEC SE-T in red metallic arrived shortly and proved a very comfortable, practical and amazingly economical big family car. Space in the rear seats is almost limo like and the boot is vast. Ride although a little bouncy as is the norm for SUV’s is very comfortable and it is a particularly pleasant big car to be driven in especially in the back.

Interior quality is excellent with high quality plastics and trim far superior to anything else we looked at including the Mercedes C Class estate. Paintwork is a weak point on Honda’s with stone chips easily building up despite the high bonnet but the car still looks fresh and scuff free amazingly enough despite swmbo’s enthusiastic driving style. I’ve recently looked at loads of previous generation examples with the intention of buying older and lacquer peel and minor rust is common at 7yrs plus, seems the CRV is the worst Honda for this, not sure it’s the type of owner or a quality issue on the model. Similar aged Accords and Civic's don’t seem to be affected.

On the road it’s a great mile muncher with excellent high speed stability, low engine and road noise a large fuel tank, easy 60mpg economy and surprisingly torquey engine. It’s no fireball but it pulls along with the flow of traffic and overtakes without much effort. It is as with most SUV’s utterly dull to pilot however with numb steering, little cornering grip and more roll than you’d experience in say a Civic. That said no one buys one of these for B road fun and I also had a V6 Ford Cougar at the time for entertainment.

Reliability wasn’t flawless but it was in general a very well made big car. There’s no rattles or squeaks, no loose trim or worrying noises after 4 years and 42,000 miles and the car has never let us down. The only issue, and it’s a common one on CRV’s was clutch judder from cold. It started around 6mths into ownership and quickly got to the point where it was a real irritant. From cold the car was horrid to drive when pulling away, juddering badly but after warming up and a bit of clutch riding it (not ideal) would clear which tells me that the clutch was contaminated with oil, likely through the input shaft oil seal.

I raised this with our local dealer (not Phoenix) but they repeatedly fobbed me off. They either hadn’t done as instructed and checked the thing initially finding no fault after me giving it to them the night before to drive from cold, then they decided that it was just a “characteristic of the model sir.” This although a known fault is not a characteristic, had this been so it would’ve done it from new! The final straw came when the very young lassie behind the service desk stated that it was “down to my driving style.” I was outraged! I then bypassed the clearly useless dealer who can’t even wash the car properly when returning it from a service (the dirt is just moved around the car a bit) and went direct to Honda customer services who arranged for it to be reassessed. They quickly agreed that it was faulty and had a new clutch fitted. I reminded the dealer that I believe there was oil contamination but was told that the clutch itself was faulty. Sure enough it drove perfectly when I picked it up but within a short period it started juddering again... oil contamination as I said. It isn’t as bad as it was but is still wholly unacceptable on a £26,000 car.

To sum up, it’s a comfortable, spacious, well made and economical big family wagon with probably the best 4cyl Diesel engine on the market for economy and longterm reliability in mind but it’s a bland thing to drive, it’s much better to be chauffeured around in. Something I’m quite happy to do.

Would I buy another? Yes, I’d buy a used one and I’d thoroughly check the clutch for judder by driving it from stone cold on the demonstration then by doing so again before accepting delivery or better yet I’d buy an auto. I looked at a few but found autos hard to come by and too many tatty poorly serviced examples where owners have treated them as cheap appliances rather then the complex vehicles they are. Recently looked at a 1.6 Twin turbo DTEC at a non-franchise dealer that had not one dealer stamp in the book! It was all a small backstreet garage which would have no idea what to do with something like this. The local main dealer has a few but most are at heavily over book prices and my confidence in them has already been shattered.

We’ve also both recently changed jobs which now involve very short commutes and really a diesel is no longer suitable and the petrol CRV although very robust is very thirsty and with all the hysteria about diesels barely any cheaper used than the more plentiful diesels. I’ve now gone back to roots with a good used Japanese petrol model instead. A Toyota Avensis Estate for half the cost of an equivalent age CRV. The wife isn’t over the moon but if she wants that Volvo XC60/90 or another CRV then she can stump up for it, I’m done losing thousands every year on cars. Read more

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38,000 miles, 2008.

At low speed at the end of the steering travel especially turning to straighten up from full lock there’s a loud “crack”. Also rumblings at low speed on poor surfaces.... Read more