[pineapple_ameet]

Originally Posted by kamilharis

Congrats ameet. Excellent car and a Beautiful review!
...Cars like this for around Creta / Seltos price is a no brainer, any day.

Thanks kamilharis! Glad you liked.

I think it's about where do you find yourself at peace as there are pros and flip sides of each choice.

[pgsagar]

You're welcome Ameet! You should never have even a small cleaning rag under the hood. These things are known to have burnt down cars. There are several plastic/rubber components next to hot engine. We don't want those to ignite. Also, a mechanic once told me that it is better to pop open hood after spirited or long drive, to dissipate the heat and lengthen life of those plastic/rubber hoses, tubings, clips etc.

Your CRV looks majestic in white. Hondas age very well and you can get the max out of it for years. Just change ATF every 3 years or 30,000 kms, whichever comes up first. Honda manual may say 60k km but our stop and go traffic is not kind on transmission. You may look up US videos on youtube. Since CRV, Civic, Accords are very popular there, you will see tons of DIY videos on CRVs, from changing a bulb to working on transmission / engine. Just type a question in youtube window and see how many videos pop up. You may not DIY but the knowledge will make you a Honda doctor, which will come in handy next time you interact with mechanic.

[pineapple_ameet]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

will come in handy next time you interact with mechanic.

Couldn't agree with you more!

Honda communities are full of DIY videos and that surely helps. Case in point, the hydraulic (boot) struts I got changed. It is supremely easy to change, so while i paid 8k for the parts,I didn't mind paying 100 rs as labour charge as that seemed fair for the task.

Procuring Honda orginal parts is the task. There a post on tbhp where a person did recieve a mail that one can actually buy Honda genuine parts from authorised service stations and install it themselves at their own risk.But then, it's obviously a different story when you visit the dealerships.

The service adviser at Arya Honda Bhandup clearly told me that he doesn't keep even a pin of CR-V parts because there is so less vehicles come to him, so they order it and normally it takes 4-10 working days depending upon part. In my case it took 5 working days considering there was a Diwali vacation break.

On a different note, there's an international fb community (primarily US+Europe) Page, a Thai CR-V parts and components sourcing fb page and an Indian CR-V owners community fb Page as well, which is decently active too!

[pineapple_ameet]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

Are you sure it's a full time AWD?
My 2010 is an on demand AWD, it is FWD by default, rear wheels kick in when front start to lose traction.
Have driven it many times in snow, and this is how it behaves; pretty sure, yours runs the same underpinnings.

It's a fairly effective system, i haven't felt the need of a manual AWD Selector/Button even in snow.

Have scanned the owner's manual again and I don't think there's an option to switch AWD on 'n off. Also, in one of the review videos of 2020 crv by Faisal Khan, he did mention about it being a full time AWD. I'm presuming the same for 2015 then as mechanically it's having almost the same specs if I'm not mistaken.

[RT13]

Originally Posted by pineapple_ameet

This is the first automatic I own and I took my sweet lil time to get used to it. The sheer absence of the clutch (and the uncanny habit of keeping the hands always at the gearstick) gives you a feeler that you're in a different space. I think it will still take some more time before the mind will really be 'at home' on that front!

The official Seasucker distributor in India is Happy Earth.

http://happyearth.in/store/seasucker...el-straps.html

Ping them. Great guys. They'll sort you out.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by pineapple_ameet

Have scanned the owner's manual again and I don't think there's an option to switch AWD on 'n off. Also, in one of the review videos of 2020 crv by Faisal Khan, he did mention about it being a full time AWD. I'm presuming the same for 2015 then as mechanically it's having almost the same specs if I'm not mistaken.

It's not a Full Time AWD like Subaru's.
FWD by default and AWD, as in when needed, the transition is smooth.
I haven't noticed the switch from FWD to AWD in mine ever.

Details here:

https://www.earnhardthonda.com/blog/...d-system-work/

[Carpainter]

Congratulations on your new car and a very good write up. You have found a second hand car in very good condition. Specially from the exterior your car looks brand new. Your patience really paid off. I was a fan of previous gen CRV and Civic and you have owned them both. Really jealous of you. Do post the mileage you are getting.

Wishing you many happy miles.

[pineapple_ameet]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

It's not a Full Time AWD like Subaru's.
FWD by default and AWD, as in when needed, the transition is smooth.
I haven't noticed the switch from FWD to AWD in mine ever.

Details here:

https://www.earnhardthonda.com/blog/...d-system-work/

thanks for the link but i couldn't make out much. Isn't real time AWD equates to all time AWD? In either case it's talking about 2020 models, so still unsure about the previous gen models.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by pineapple_ameet

thanks for the link but i couldn't make out much. Isn't real time AWD equates to all time AWD? In either case it's talking about 2020 models, so still unsure about the previous gen models.

Nope, Honda AWD's are on demand or real time as they call it.
FWD by default and AWD when front wheels start to lose traction.
This should answer all your queries
Afaik My 2010 has Dual Pump System AWD, the later ones were electronically controlled. Btw, what transmission does yours have CVT or Torque Converter?

https://gearsmagazine.com/magazine/h...drive-systems/

[pineapple_ameet]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

Btw, what transmission does yours have CVT or Torque Converter?

Hi Akshay! there was a mid cycle refresh from 2015 and honda switched to CVT from there on. you're correct abt the AWD bit - "When torque transfer to the rear wheels is not required such as when cruising, drive to the rear wheels is decoupled for reduced drag."
got a very informative honda official release about it. link here

[123.rishabh]

Many Congratulations on the amazing purchase, you are really lucky to get such a clean vehicle at an amazing price.
Wishing you many more happy miles ahead.
Do you plan to stick to Honda ASS or get it serviced outside? Also let me know about the charges for regular service from the ASS & what oil are they using.

[pineapple_ameet]

Originally Posted by 123.rishabh

Many Congratulations on the amazing purchase, you are really lucky to get such a clean vehicle at an amazing price.
Wishing you many more happy miles ahead.
Do you plan to stick to Honda ASS or get it serviced outside? Also let me know about the charges for regular service from the ASS & what oil are they using.

thanks 123.rishabh! For all things important I'm planning to stick to Honda ASS. As i mentioned, i got the struts replaced, costed only 100 bucks for labour. the cost of OEM on boodmo and Honda ASS was exactly the same...so i think it makes sense to stick to Honda where the labour isn't complicated. For things which may call for complicated labour, i will then look outside.

the bigger challenge is to source OEM parts... I called Honda 121 but all they do is to route the calls to Honda ASS, and they parrot it out that they are not authorised to retail the parts. So that's a menace.

[pineapple_ameet]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

Btw, my CRV has rear seats that can be reclined, how come the facelift doesnt have them, or may be they are ommited on indian versions?

Super silly of me! just discovered that the same latch for seat folding is used for 2 steps reclining as well...

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by pineapple_ameet

Super silly of me! just discovered that the same latch for seat folding is used for 2 steps reclining as well...

I also discovered it in a similar way; when a friend who had a CRV, sat and reclined the seat, and I was like, you broke it

Only then i realized, that seats can be reclined.

[pineapple_ameet]

Hi

Some quick update on some regular maintenance front + How Twitter can make companies respond!

60 months / 100K schedule maintenance was due.

Thanks to Covid, the actual run after previously done service (54months/ 90Kms, done in Dec.2019) was a measly ~2500 kms!

And hence decided not to go for Engine Oil + filter change. (maybe in another 20K? Don't think the car being stationery for a couple of weeks would still require an oil change? At the time of me buying the vehicle the Honda ASS said it doesn't require an oil change)

Went for Rear Differential Fluid change (HG DPSF-II by Nippon oil) which was an important replacement at 60 Months.

Still a few things pending which i am planning to sync up for weekend.

- Spark Plug Replacement (part of scheduled maintenance at 60 months, in two minds on this cus the car hasn't run 60K actually, so do i need to actually change it?)

- Wheel Balancing + Alignment.

- The AVN is really dated, but highly detailed when it comes to diagnostics. You can practically check every aspect of Engine/AirCon/TPMS/Other more complex engine related things checked. There are a lot of videos about the tips and the tricks people have done with the AVN specially to integrate google Navigation, however in India, Honda decided to not even provide their basic 'Honda Link' feature which otherwise came standard across all AVN units worldwide. And thanks to that, it's really looks seemingly impossible to go for any hacks like:

these

If there are any Head unit Nerds who can help me with installing Honda Link in 2015's CRV, would be great!

- The AVN unit also provides a feature to set any jpeg as a 'desktop wallpaper'. However there seems to be some glitch on that front too. It just simply shows the below message:
Barring these two issues, the Head unit works great featuring the grandpa era UI that it sports!

Important Point for all Honda Owners:

The goodfellas at Honda Ass will straight away refuse you if you ask for Honda Genuine (HG) parts from them over the counter. I checked at three Honda ASS before i decided to take this one up a lil further. In fact one of the guys said that even if you decide to purchase the parts and don't avail any service, you will still have to pay for the mandatory labour charges weather.

This, in the times when Maruti is eager to deliver MGP at your doorstep!

I called Honda 121 and that was another experience. I told them that i don't want to be routed to any of the Dealerships as they have obviously refused to sell me parts OTC and I would want a Honda Representative to clearly tell me if Honda does not sell it's genuine parts over the counter if a consumer wishes to buy the same?

They just kept going round and round on this with no clear answer. The representative hung up saying we will get back to you on this if you can provide the mandatory 'nearest dealership' information. 2 different dealerships called me the same evening asking "Sir we got an update that you want to get your vehicle serviced, when can I book the appointment for you"

I finally tweeted to Honda India asking exactly the same question. I also mentioned the response that I've got from the dealerships which was always in ambiguity laced negative.

The very same evening i received a call from the 'Quality Manager' stating that the parts can be bought over the counter. I requested for an email stating the same.

Here's what i got on email:

"Dear Sir,

This is in reference to your requirement of spare parts over the counter.

We wish to inform you that we would assist you in the same.Below points are for your reference:

1.As the vehicle is not in our workshop, we would only be able to order and procure the part against 100 percent Advance payment.

2.We would also like to inform you that as correct fitment of part is equally important in vehicle repairs, parts which are bought over the counter and are fitted outside the workshop will not have any warranty."

I not only got the the oil changed, I was not charged any labour as a complimentary gesture!

It took one tweet!