1.6i-DTEC SE-T 120 2WD 5dr SUV

Perfect big family wagon

Over ruled by hierarchy when I desired a sporty hatch for a family car she demanded a lofty driving position to Lord it over other road users so SUV shopping we went. RAV4 was deemed ugly and too small, BMW too unreliable and costly, the Ford Kugar too fragile with its cheapo plastic interior and Volvo's XC60 was nice but prices were substantially higher.

So a new CRV was chosen and it hasn't disappointed as a robust, outstandingly economical and very spacious big family hold-all. We get 56mpg on average without driving like a nun and it will easily better 60mpg on a run. Performance while not exactly in hot hatch territory is surprisingly strong and high speed stability is excellent.

Downsides really are limited to the typical SUV numb steering and the surprisingly notchy gearchange which although not genuinely bad and worthy of a moan it isn't as good as other Honda's I've owned.

Only reliability issues we've had were an annoying rattle it took the dealer a couple of attempts to fix and clutch judder which the dealer tried to fob us off with "it's a characteristic of the car sir" and "it's your driving style." Sorry but if either were true then it would've done it from day one and it did not. Quick email to Honda customer services about useless dealer and a reassessment then a new clutch was duly fitted foc. No other problems and I have faith that this big car will be around in two decades.

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