[pineapple_ameet]

Hi All

This post ended up having a superbly long one. So here's a quick take of the things i liked and some that I didn't:

Thumbs Up:

1. The look! I know it's a like it or Hate it design, specially because of that rear, but i love it!
2. Very Car like to Drive
3. Has almost all the features of a fully loaded contemporary car.
4. Built to last. Almost all things looks and feel sturdy.
5. Has the old world Honda charm which has worn off in the current times sadly.

Thumbs Down

1. It's a Guzzler and How!
2. Bumps come in at low speeds. Not the HEXA material here.
3. No DRL's despite having the provisions in the assembly :(
4. Availablity of Costly Spares is a big hinderance thanks to this one falling in a 'bombed' car unlike Civic.

In January 2020, if anyone would have asked why don't you own a car in Mumbai, I would have told plenty of reasons of happily not owning one, some of them being:

• Cramped Roads of Bombay can never offer the 'joy of driving'
• It's better to have Ola's and Uber's of the world with you having all the time at the rear seat instead of being on the driver's seat
• The self driving apps give you ample of choices to play around with different rides.

Boom - And then Corona Happened! Suddenly, without a Car, you were simply not safe on the road!

And after four months of crazy twists and turns between new vs. old, Sedan vs. C-SUV's and Crossovers, it finally resulted in this:





The Prelude

I used to own a pre-owned 8th gen Civic that i bought from a fellow TBHPian. Civic was a dream come true for me!
It was a car that i first experienced after learning how to drive, when i was in school. So was pretty much a first love!
And that was the car that literally made me say to myself - "One day!"
The deal just happened out of nowhere as if it was destined to, and suddenly, I was driving THE civic!




Quite simply, a Civic still sets my heart racing with it's 'spacecraft'ish' looks, go-kart'ish stance and pure bliss behind the wheels of a rev happy motor.





I've had some really memorable, largely hassle-free time with the vehicle.




While on the lookout for the new car, I actually quite seriously considered buying another 2012 AT civic that I saw at a dealership in pune. It looked like it was coming straight out of factory, but then an extra hard steering on that, plus the resistance from family towards buying a 2012 vehicle made me let it pass.

From No Car to Which Car?

I love driving, but not in Mumbai (wonder who does, specially at these times when the already cramped roads are now dug up, thanks to Metro). I sold my civic in 2016 and quite frankly, the uber's and the Ola's were keeping me happy with the new found charm of sitting on the backseat and doing things other than driving for a change! Despite the occasional irritants like some unkempt cars, some idiotic drivers and 'kaha jana hai' based cancellations from drivers, I had a pretty okay experience of 'not owning a car'.

In this journey, i even subscribed to Zoomcar's Zap Subscription by getting a Creta manual for almost 9 months just to explore.

Guess what, being an early adapter to the platform, i got a perk from zoomcar to attend the one day Mahinda Adventure Academy Experience too courtesy Zoomcar.
Yes those were the days for this company which seems to be struggling sadly in the current times, pretty much like this jeep that i found myself in at the Mahindra Adventure Academy in Nashik:



Coming back to the main topic, I was completely clueless which car to buy ,and of course, like most of us, ended up spending way more hours on TBHP trying to figure out which car.

I tried answering it in my head:

• I definitely wanted a 'fun to drive' car.
• If it wasn't Covid and if I were to still buy a car, the criteria was pretty simple then - A weekend, fun to drive Sedan! I'm not a SUV guy, thanks to my fun times with go cartish Civic stance. Driving the Creta via the Zap Subscription only cemented that thought! (no offence to creta owners!)
• Since the purchase was during Covid, the thought of having an absolute workhorse was a strong one. (Read 'It was clear that i should be going for a no nonsense VFM Car following only the mind, not the heart!' How little do i know myself haha!)
• The budget was anything between 9-12 Lakhs, however was keeping it open.
• The mind said, go ahead and buy a decent Hatch (and save funds), the Heart was stuck on a Lateral Upgrade!

The Contenders

I kept my options open with respect to the body type and the segments.

Around that time itself, Skoda had launched the refreshed Rapid, which i did seriously considered. I even waited for the Automatic version to get launched, despite knowing what Skoda can do with it's ownership troubles.

Somehow the heart was never convinced, the mind did find some solid rationale in buying a rev happy 9 L rupee car which is a 10 year old design.

And that's why, three things became important while looking at used cars:

1. Sorted Driving Dynamics
2. Spacious Cabin + an old world ~2L Engine
3. Preferably a Direct deal (with lot more patience) as I really saw the crazy manipulations that the dealers do.

Cars that I considered and turned down:

Skoda Octavia - Can't rule out the absolute performer, but then, the cars which were under warranty were simply out of my budget, and i did not want to bring an octavia with out of warranty worries.

2018 Manual SX Elantra - I got a fantastic deal on a 2018 Elantra. Under warranty, single owner car used by a young musician with 20Kms on Odo. Got it checked at Hyundai ASS and got all thumbs up! Paid the token for an agreed price of 9.6 L!!! The guy was in urgent need of money. I asked him that i can pay only after getting the NOC from HDFC Bank Loan. That proved to be a miss as the person ended up selling the car to a dealer, who happily paid the amount to him without waiting for NOC. That really made me wonder if i played a lil too safe on this deal, as the car was in real good shape!

Hyundai Creta The true popularity of Creta shines through in the used car Market. One can literally buy any model, any color, any variant that one fancies. I, with my 9 months of 'ownership' wasn't very sure if I wanted one, but it seemed that it was perhaps the only choice that I could practically make considering my budget and the need for a fuss-free ownership for a decently specced car.

Tata Hexa I loved the XTA when i test drove it during it's launch. I was seriously considering this but somehow could never decide about any particular deal. This was the case where neither the heart nor the mind was fully in control.

3 Series BMW The thought kept flirting with me to explore the legendary 3. I did speak to someone looking to sell a pristinely maintained 2014 F20 for 14L. I let it pass, as i wanted to keep my budgets under 12, no matter what.

Honda CR-V This car defied all logic and all practical considerations i was having.

But such is the 'power of dreams' as Honda says!

Based on the Civic platform itself, this Crossover indeed is very car-like to drive and if dare I say, has the old-world charm of the blissful Honda Designs, before Honda decided to take the Hyundai Route of excessive busy lines. I loved CR-V when it was launched and this is indeed THE car that i wanted along with Civic

My previous ownership of Civic + the usual niggles it comes with; the usual Honda Service issues etc. is something that gave me further confidence in going for it. It was a known, comfortable territory within the used car universe!

I may sound biased, but I genuinely feel that one can easily tell that Honda saw a change of Design leadership, when we witnessed the 10th Gen civic missing the benchmarks set by it's predecessor. Ditto for most of other models. CRV got the brunt of the same by a non performing diesel engine that was offered more as an afterthought IMHO. I seriously started looking out for 2016/17 petrol models, despite knowing it's guzzling nature!

There's a serious dearth of CR-V's in Mumbai. Not many are crazy to go for a petrol guzzler that does not offer serious butch off-roading capabilities!!!

Specially if you're looking for 2016/17 models. Most of the models offered by dealers are in 2014 bracket, and because we're talking about dealers, one can never be sure of what the real journey of car has been.Also, most of the CR-V's are company leased vehicles that are being sold to dealers after the tenure ends. This means almost all the deals that you get are 1L + on odo.

I gave a very very serious search online for almost 3 months, including approaching a few brokers who sounded genuinely interested in getting me a clean vehicle. One of them really tried his genuine efforts indeed and i actually missed 2 2015 2.4L models by a whisker.

During my search online, I had visited Cars24 too, and had shortlisted a couple of cars including Elantras, Tucsons, Hexa's and a few more. I had a fairly decent experience with Cars24 earlier while selling my Civic to them, and that surely helped.

Time was running out.

I wanted to initiate the process to evaluate the car in person, with an intention that if I end up liking any good one out of the shortlisted ones, i'll seal the deal.

Sadly, when i was eager to give business to Cars24, their sales/support staff seamed least interested in getting the deals done. I literally followed up for each car with the relationship manager on my own, but they were simply not keen to act on it.

In between I had come across the Elantra i mentioned above. The lockdown was coming to an end, and there were instances when the need for a vehicle was felt, specially for outstation trips. I ended up giving the Token, but after two days the seller backed out and i was back to square one!

On the very next day, I get a call from a very young chap from Cars24 called Craig. He probably was cold calling, as he must have seen that i was aggressively searching for various models some time back but then it did not materialise into anything. He's a young chap who is super enthusiastic about cars. I ended up telling him my experience of the cancelled elantra deal apart from the fact that how hard i was looking for a good CR-V in mumbai, but seems that there's no models left from 16-17 crop.

And that's when, on the same day he tells me to checkout this December 2015 registered car with 27K on odo, which is company registered, maintained and owned. He said that there are already 3 more buyers lined up for the same from Cars 24 itself (via other relationship managers). It may sound a lil over the top, but he felt the pain of me missing out on Elantra, and he said I'll do my best to get you this CR-V since you love the vehicle, to make up for the lost deal.

We went the very next morning at 8:30 am to check the car.

I could see the drive with which Craig was approaching this deal too.(there were 2 more guys chasing this within cars24! I initially thought of it as a sales tactic but later on learnt that it was indeed the case while casually talking to the seller after the deal!)

Car looked clean from head to toe. There was a CA doing the deal on the company's behalf. He could see that I'm genuinely interested in the Car. I requested him that despite Cars24's test, I'd still want to get the car evaluated at Honda ASS. If all cleared, i was ready to do the transaction the same day. He agreed.
I took a good long test drive from Andheri to Sewri (arya honda) to get it checked from a trusted Honda supervisor i know there.

I was given a huge Green Signal on the condition. The car had a very detailed maintenance history that was corroborated with Honda ASS too.

The only thing that was malfunctioning were the Boot open/close struts, which costed 8K for the pair.

The deal was sealed.

[pineapple_ameet]

Honda CR-V 2.4 AWD is powered by a 2.4 litre 4-cylinder i-VTEC engine, producing 185 hp at 7,000 rpm, and 220 Nm of torque at 4,400 rpm.
The engine is mated exclusively to a 5-Speed Automatic Transmission.
The 5 gears doesn't in any way feel cramped, and the overall experience is seamless.
You don't get any stretchy or notch'y feeling during the gearshifts.











Internationally CR-V is known as a 'compact crossover' or that was couple of years back when the world did not discover the size of the 'C' segments SUV's!
Whatever be the case, It's got decent volume.









I liked the detailing that the Typography meets the overall product characteristics. Notice the C and the Bums:



The Projector headlamps are not LED in it's stock avatar, though internationally it's available thanks to it's wide spares availability. The Daytime Running lamps provisioning is there too but it's absent in the Indian version. DIY stuff in the making?!!




The Trailer hook is provided and the capacity is 1500 Kgs


The Keyless Entry sensors are provided at both driver + passenger side and at the Boot




Notice the li'l arrow that points the user where to put the Latch (in the second pic below), nice detailing eh?




Learnt the new art of tackling the rat menace, Tobacco potli!:





The Foglights for the indian version looks different...


...than their western counterparts.

Err...no this would mean the bumper itself had a different version looking at the contouring above, right?

The Tyres are 17" with conventional alloys


The new 2020 CRV comes with 18" Diamond Cut alloys. Must say it adds a totally new character to the vehicles. A question for the '20 owners. Have you driven both the vehicles (pre facelift and the '20 one). Does the increased tyre size affect the ride quality? I checked with Honda ASS about the same, and they said that Honda made the adjustments in the suspension to accommodate 18"ers. Disc brakes on all the four wheels.

[pineapple_ameet]

The post getting too long ?? No? then here's more.

The Dashboard layout screams of old world Honda, with spot on ergo's


This car is driven 3K already. Only joyrides!


The steering is nice to hold and weighs well - very familiar territory again. I love the steering that the cars have these days, but I can live with this.

The steering buttons are typical honda too. The Indian version never got adaptive cruise control, unlike the western counterparts.


Loved the pedal Shifters specially at the khandala ghats!


The right pedal has additional grip which is missing on the left.


The Auto Climate Control layout specially the On/OFF dials reminded me of Civic!


Something that i really missed in Civic, 10years back


This ECon button is for Moral support for the inflated petrol bills, more than anything else!
The Blank button close to the traction control button is an eyesore.

Any hacks to put some functionality there? I was thinking of the Powered Boot opening struts but then, to find the assembly for that is a task (not keen on aliexpress supplies):
The other two buttons are for Traction Control and Headlight Washer!


The front speakers do their job well. I have queries for the rear speaks, which I shall post a lil later in the day.




sunroof is strictly adequate, going by the massive ones in today's times


This works really well, something that i missed in my '06 Civic.


Sufficiently sized Glovebox, a light over here would have been perfect.


Nifty central console with decent cup slot


The cupholders doesn't have a 'foldable' functionality which used to be there in Civic.


The Central armrest slides with 2 step action. perfect fit wrt ergonomics


Front seats are very comfy with decent under thigh support.


This 8 way gadgetry works well to find the right comfort. Memory missing :(


Airbags and more airbags.



Honda India tried to save some switches here, compared to their european teams, which comes either with heated seat controls here or with additional USBs.

Though, under the central armrest, you'll get 2 USB, 1 Power Socket, and one HDMI slot, to help you plug in Miracast/Chromecast devices to mirror your phones. the internet is full of hacks for the same, and that's another DIY project in pipeline


Overall still a decent space management layout. Notice the 2 slots underneath the central armrest for easy passage of the wires. The newer versions received a major overhaul of this which used to completly open the entire box into one



I Loved the 'handbrake' of Civic, which set the style for others to follow.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED the 'leg brake' here! simply press the pedal to apply the 'leg brake' (visible right on top of the foot rest). cool na!



The two screens here are surely dated. though they serve their purpose still. but this is indeed screaming for a major upgrade, but i'm not in a hurry!







I intend to, in fact, dust off some CD's and put them to good use!


Overall, a happy space to be in!

[pineapple_ameet]

The Height adjusters sometime makes a 'trrrr' vibrating noise. Any ideas why?



I loved this detailing too. As you can see, there are two hooks here, for the central passenger. The smaller hooks to be fastened first, followed by the bigger one, like how you usually place other seatbelts. Neat!





Like the Double Decker slots!


Typical Button setup. Buttons are plasticy.


Rear AC vents. The usual USB + power socket is inside the Armrest, however you need lengthier chords to make them accessible to the rear passenger. They should have given a slit under the armrest for the rear passengers to access the power chords.


The rear bench are nice and wide. Can easily accommodate 3. I didn't like the extra wide hand rest


Civic had the foldable cupholders with volume control buttons for the Audio. Really missing those here


The floor is flat. No problem for the middle passenger.


Here's another feature that i really liked - sorta magic seats!
Notice the grooves under the headrest?


This is it's normal position


When you pull the chord below, the first thing it does is to fold like this


then the bench drops ahead.


followed by the backrest (you can see the string here)


do the same from the other side of the 60:40 split seats


I noticed this velcro covered component under the seats. Subwoofer?


Hate the gap between the seats. This is not only an eyesore but also catches a lot of small articles.


welcome to my studio apartment!


The sweet lil utilities




Loved this. Need to buy a Bungee Mesh now.


the 2.4 AWD model came with this tonneau cover. I personally don't see much of a utility of this.



No cost cutting done by honda here. Full marks for the alloy:


The michelins are still easily having 12-15K left in them.


overall the R17's provide great comfort, though, i'm seriously gonna consider 18" as mentioned above. please let me know in case you have had any experience with the upgrades.

[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!

Coming to some of the observations / issues that I would sincerely hope i will get some inputs from the fellow BHP'ians here:

1. The Rear Bench's angle is something which is very different from, say, of Sedans. The new CRV offers Recline adjustments. Is there any Hack to get the same done to this? Are there any DIY's wrt Recline adjustments done in the group? Since there's acres of space at the back. I really am wondering if this can / should be explored ?
2. The Audio volume on the rear doors does not match that of the front speakers. Is that how it was designed to be? Or there's some issues with the wiring/ speakers? The sound from the front speakers are a delight, would prefer the same experience at the rear too.
3. There are a lot of hacks that makes use of HDMI socket to connect the phone to wirelessly mirror phone screen (for Navigation). Anybody done it? I intend to also plan to use a casting device to do the same. Again, if anybody has done this, would love to connect before i try to do this.
4. What's the ideal tyre pressure? The sticker in the car shows 30 psi (which i've done now), however the seller told that he used to always keep it to 35 psi. I personally found 30 to be better.
5. What's the best way to use bike carriers on this? For CRV / SUV's, There are normally four ways - 1. trunk based carriers 2. trail hitch mounted (in case of CR-V);3. Roof Rail Mounted 4. SeaSuckers. Anybody using sea suckers? They are Mighty expensive, but perhaps the most effective option to the trunk mounted ones. checkout Seasuckers here (Hope i can post? else request moderators to kindly remove it) Any leads to check these here in Mumbai?

[GTO]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line (The "Assembly Line" Forum section) to the Reviews Section. Thanks for sharing!

Congratulations . This is really a superb premium SUV to buy used. Your car is going to our homepage today .

[Sreesh1009]

Congratulations on your purchase! You can never go wrong with a Honda (or ang Japanese car for that instance). The CRV is such a sought after car. You seem to have a gotten a sweet deal.

Here's wishing you infinite kilometres of happiness

[bigron]

Looking good. oh and that white. Fantastic!

I have such a sweet spot for this Crossover. It has almost everything that one demands from a luxury crossover vehicle. Looks good, is comfortable, car like to drive, is reliable and carries a great image. It looks expensive too and is very very effortless to be in either driving or driven.

Over the last so many years I ve come extremely close to picking a used one up. Pristine examples from few years old are going for silly money. The only thing that has stopped me from going forward is the completely abysmal fuel economy and high cost of spares.

At one point we has access to a 2010 CRV for a year or so and boy it gave 6 kmpl in city and around 8 on the highway. It was brutal on the pocket. And God forbid you bang this into a tree.

All said and done, despite its flaws it is a wonderful vehicle to own.

Have a great time with it.

[BMvW.Rajat]

Congratulations. You got a great deal on a great car with barely any kilometres on the odo. This is one of the reasons why I love used cars, you get your money's worth. For the same price, you'd probably get a Rapid or a mid spec Seltos, instead you're cruising in a luxurious living room with those large seats

I've always loved the CRV, even the generation before this was a real looker. Unlike the big boxy SUVs this one isn't trying too hard to look butch and comes across as elegant and has a 'classy' element which adds to it's character.

[landcruiser123]

Great review. CR-V is the perfect upgrade from the Civic. Wish you many trouble-free miles.

One tip: Get AWD fluid changed often.

Originally Posted by pineapple_ameet

I noticed this velcro covered component under the seats...Subwoofer?
Attachment 2085079

Probably access to the fuel pump & the tank.

[EightSix]

Love your writing style, man! Great review! Congrats on the purchase! Like landcruiser123 said, the CRV is a perfect upgrade from the civic. I too love Honda cars of the previous decade (CR-V, Civic, even the old City) they are all very desirable cars to own.

Yours is the perfect example of why used/pre-owned cars are the better than a new car in the same budget. Wishing you millions of happy miles ahead.

[De-Veer]

This is a great car, congrats on the purchase!

Our family was also looking into the CRV but held off because of the high running costs. Personally, I think it's a great vehicle and an better pre owned vehicle.

Enjoy the car, and keep us updated on it's drinking habits!

[car_guy1998]

Car looks clean and yes,congrats for buying this beautifully maintained car.CR-V is one car in Honda which I love apart from Honda City(well we own one presently)and Civic.

Can you please elaborate how much did you pay for this car?And,how much FE are you getting with this car?

[vigsom]

Great buy, @pineapple_ameet. The great things about the CR-V are the engine, and the smooth drive, and the bad thing is the suspension which makes noise post 60k kms (depending on the kind of roads one drives her on).

I have only one recommendation - do not even think of moving to 18" wheels. 225/65R17 is more than adequate. IIRC, this is the same size as the 2.4 Grand Vitara.

[highlander]

Great buy!! Wishing you loads of safe miles.

Originally Posted by pineapple_ameet

.....
The Blank button close to the traction control button is an eyesore...
Any hacks to put some functionality there? I was thinking of the Powered Boot opening struts...but then, to find the assembly for that is a task...

How about TPMS? Here's a relevant tread.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-...l-sensors.html (Honda Civic: OEM-like TPMS with internal sensors)

Could be little tricky to source it in current times.