Honda CRV – The Popular Medium-Sized Honda CRV is Revitalised
The Honda CRV has always been popular as a medium-sized SUV in this country, and the new model is a revitalisation of the model. With many new features, and improvements, it is expected to garner more sales for the Honda brand. With a slightly wider stance, a lowered centre of gravity, and a new suspension set-up with improved bushes and longer stroke suspension (relative to the outgoing model), the new CRV offers a more refined handling and ride package.
We got one from Honda Malaysia for an evaluation and test drive. Our very demanding tester (who will remain anonymous, but on our word, he is a very accomplished driver who knows his nuts and bolts) took it to Pangkor for a shakedown along the coastal road, and came back with his report, which we will share with you here.
“ The CRV appears to be geared for fuel economy, with top gear yielding a very tall 50 km/hr per one thousand RPM”, he reports. “Acceleration is smooth, and the gear changes are seamless, but it is not a road burner; the best time we managed, with two adults and with the air-conditioner on was 13.5 seconds, which is respectable for a SUV of this size.” Checking on the kerb weight, we find it to be 1,540 kg, which is 30 kg lighter than the previous model. Size-wise, the CRV is slightly wider than the older model, but this is mainly in the tread width, which is plus 30 mm at the front, and plus 20mm at the rear. However, some redesign in the interior specifications has seemingly given the CRV an increased amount of space inside. Translated to the occupants, it means more legroom, more headroom, and no feelings of claustrophobia.
“The ride is on the firm side of comfortable, allowing for good handling, yet is kind to the bottom,” said our man at the wheel. He went on to say that it handles quite well around the corners, and on the coastal road up north, the undulating surfaces was not a problem at all. Our subsequent runs around the Klang Valley confirmed this. This is a vehicle that would be great for a man to use as a family runabout, or for his wife to send the kids to school, after which she can go visit her friends and play mahjong, arrange flowers, or do things that housewives do while waiting to pick their kids up again from school.
The good handling comes from the 4-wheel independent suspension made up of Macpherson struts in front and what Honda calls a ‘Reactive Link Double Wishbone’ set-up at the rear. All four wheels are sprung on coil springs. We do note that the rear transverse links are short, which implies that the rear suspension travel is limited. In real world terms, this means that any aspirations to go off-road will be limited to light duty stuff only, which is exactly what the Honda design engineers meant for the CRV to be.
In terms of engine design, the CRV is powered by an all-aluminium, SOHC (Single Overhead Camshaft) i-VTEC engine that is based on the current Civic 1.8 litre engine. Although the base engine is designed for fuel economy, the 2.0 litre engine for the CRV gives out a respectable 150PS and 190Nm of torque; much of this credit goes to the Honda Variable Valve technology, the reduction of friction in the engine and the accompanying electronic control unit (ECU) that sends frugal amounts of fuel to the cylinders. There is some sacrifice where out and out power is concerned, but I am sure we all agree that the target market for this vehicle is ‘Family’. On our test, we managed to get 8.2 kilometres per litre, which works out to be 23.4 miles per gallon for those who still are on the old system, or 23 sen per kilometre for those who think in ringgit and sen.
The automatic gearbox features five forward speeds, but again the gear ratios are designed for frugal fuel consumption. The fourth and fifth gears are already overdrive gears, being 0.772:1 and 0.592:1 respectively. On the road, if you maintain a steady throttle, the gears would climb through the box to hit fifth, and stay there maintain speed, but the moment you put a demand for power on the throttle, the Transmission Control Unit (TCU) electronically shifts down two gears to third, skipping fourth gear in the process (at least that’s what we experienced all those times we tried it), since fourth is also an overdrive gear. The implications of this is that heavy-footed drivers may find the fuel consumption figures not so favourable, because them you would be running in the lower range of gears a lot of the time.
The CRV is officially has a 4WD drive train, but in reality, it is in FWD (Front Wheel Drive) most of the time. Nothing wrong with this, really, as it saves wear and tear on the drive train components, in addition to saving fuel. Four Wheel drive engages automatically whenever the electronics detect unequal wheel speeds between front and rear wheels; if the front wheels begin to slip, then the transmission sends power to the rear wheels to help traction. This process goes on automatically, without any driver input.
A few words on the looks: the overall front does look a little more masculine than the previous model, but the new nose instills a ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ feeling. I am neutral to it, but the front does remind me a little of the Chrysler PT Cruiser, somewhat of a cult car in the US, which does suggest that the Honda people do have some aspirations insofar as the CRV is concerned, over there. Anyway, the people here don’t seem to mind, or is it the Honda brand glossing over everything else?
Inside the CRV, one can see the careful selection of specifications and materials, all to get a good balance between cost and luxury. It is not the most luxurious SUV that you can buy, but is kind of ‘middle of the road’, intended to give you a certain standard of trim that is above ‘cheap’, but below ‘unaffordable’, and I will not argue about that at all. The seats are large enough for above-average sized Malaysians; yet even the tiny little ladies who are vertically challenged can find a suitable sitting position wherein they can still reach the pedals that matter.
Overall, the team thinks that the Honda CRV would be quite a good vehicle to have as a family runabout. It gives a good all round performance, offers good value for the RM147,800 asking price, and being a Honda, resale value is pretty good.
