CRV- what a vehicle

Author's Rating:

Pros: You have to love AWD, ABS and the safety rating.

Cons: Road noise, fixed with undercoating

The Bottom Line: 
This is a awesome vehicle.

Author's Review
I recently purchased a 2006 CRV SE. I did research on the CRV as well as the RAV4. The crash results and safety rating of the CRV as well as its looks sold me. Taking the vehicle for a test drive proved very interesting. The ABS brakes are impressive. No pulsing of the pedal. Just a good clean stop. The power of the vehicle also suprised me. I would have thought that with 156HP it would have been a little sluggish. Not so, it will get right up and merge on the interstate with no problems. The honda puts the 5 speed automatic transmission to good use.

Speeking of the transmission. It is silky smoth but it does shift alot on the highway. The only way you can tell this is by watching the Tach. The inside of the vehicle is spacious and confortable. Its hard to believe the room in the back seat. My son-in-law who is 6'2" and 240Lbs had no trouble getting into the vehicle. He had plenty of room to spread out and had room for his legs without being cramped. He said that the back seat was very comfortable and was supprised at the room he had. Even with him in the back seat there is quite a bit of storage behind the back seat. I was suprised at how much luggage it would hold even with the seat back. The reclining back seat backs were a wonderful discovery. Long distance driving for the rear passengers just got a lot better. The center arm rest with cup holders in the rear is also nice.

In the front drivers seat all controls are all laid out and well organized. The lights on the turn signal stalk took some getting used to as did the windshield wipers on the right side of the steering wheel. The cruise controls and audio controls on the steering colum are just right and work perfectly. The radio controls on the dash are a little bit of a reach but not bad.

The drivers seat does quite a bit of adjusting so anyone should be able to find a comfortable position. The leather seating on the SE is very well done and comfortable. I thought that the interior was very well laid out and comfortable.

We purchased the CRV SE about three weeks ago and have about 700 miles on the vehicle now. It performs flawlessly. We recently had a snow storm and if I didn't know better I would have thought that the vehicle was driving on dry pavement. The Real 4WD worked perfectly. You don't even notice it coming on. The vehicle just stays stable and does not slip even under hard acceleration and lane changes. The ABS Brakes again stop just like they should, you have complete control.

Knowing that my wife will be driving this vehicle in all sorts of mountain weather gives me some comfort. If the worst happens I know she has ABS, AWD and side and front air bags for her safety. Very reassuring. I am very pleased with the vehicle.

I did have a little concern about the road noise. It seemed a little louder than a new car should be. Undercoating the vehicle fixed this. There is some road noise but it is not bothersome. You can easily have a conversation at highway speeds without raiseing your voice.

I would recommed this vehicle to any one who needs the cargo space and safety. I forgot to mention my average MPG around town and highway (mostly around town) is 26 MPG.