"Cebu" (animoo)
09/23/2014 at 11:28 • Filed to: only slightly fatuous, cebu
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"Cebu" (animoo)
09/23/2014 at 11:28 • Filed to: only slightly fatuous, cebu | 1
| 2 |
Lately, a string of "Why Your Car Sucks" posts have been making the Popular Stories sidebar. I deign to, if not reverse that trend, at least make a humorous riff on it- with an honest review of this, my mother's 2005 Honda CR-V.
Surprisingly the 2005 CR-V mimics several important characteristics of many sports cars. The 2.4 liter VTEC engine makes some of the most entertaining cabin noises I've ever heard- it start grunting, then whistling (even though it's not a turbo...), trilling, and if you get it right up to the redline, even goes "bruuuuup". This auditory amusement is lost on the outside onlookers, thanks to a fabulously effective exhaust addition known as a "muffler".
Contrary to popular belief, this model of VTEC pokes the Honda along at a respectable pace, harnessing a useful 166 horsepower to grant a 0-60 time of 9.9 seconds. If the foot is kept in, it will demolish a quarter-mile in 18.3 seconds. This awesome performance, thanks to the valiantly variable VTEC, doesn't make an impact on fuel economy, for it manages an awesome 36.2mpg on the EU cycle.
Unusually for the crossover segment, the steering is rather feelsome. While it doesn't keep up, say, a 911's constant, clear chatter, it's far better than the mute, impassive wheel of many other cars in the segment. Sadly, said tiller is hooked up to, as far as I can tell, a truck rack, taking a vein-popping 3.22 turns to get from lock to lock. In time, I learned to chuck the properly massive wheel around in time, but not without killing a few innocent kerbs along the way.
Cornering behavior, in a word, is dignified. As could be expected, the CR-V has body-roll. It's unusually well-controlled for a crossover, especially if one loads up the springs with a swipe of Scandinavian Flick beforehand. It puts me in mind of an old Chevelle for some reason... I only ever managed to get the tires squealing once after turning into a subdivision- and if anything, that was a bit of oversteer. A colleague of mine once commented that he could get the ass out on it easily, but then again, he's a far braver man than I.
The interior, in the basic spec I recieved the car in, is, and there's only one word for it, beige. Beige as a baby's bottom berries. Only occasionally broken up by even browner stretches of vinyl, it's an unoffensive mistake that does more to ruin the car than if they'd had Piers Morgan autograph every one as it came off the line. I can't say that, though- it does have one really bad point- the seats. They're absolutely impossible to sit in during a long-haul trip without getting the mother of all neckaches. I've sat in the facelift model's interior, and it's roughly ten times better, oozing with refined leather and much sat-navvery.
However, this interior is fabulously easy to clean- a key qualifier for the soccer-mom target market. As our long-term reviewer/mother can attest, the only obscene odor to have defeated this pinnacle of purity is cat wee.
The exterior, on the other hand, is properly Tuff. With a full-size spare on the back (no space-saver nonsense here), false foglights, and roof ribs, the Honda CR-V would look at home amongst other, more dedicated off-roaders. Surface details aside, its overall look lends it a certain styling savvy with no detail or proportion too overblown nor too understated- living up perfectly to Oscar Wilde's "Do everything in moderation, including moderation" styling nous.
Overall, the CR-V is a pleasant prodigy, an entertaining oddity among the increasingly insufferable crossover category.
Takuro Spirit
> Cebu
09/23/2014 at 12:51 |
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They suck when trees fall on them, that's been my experience.
Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
> Cebu
09/23/2014 at 20:18 |
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That is the best gen crv ever, they ruined it with the 3rd gen IMO