...hey gang, our Odyssey has been a faithful steed for over seven years now, when we got it the kids were smaller and younger, it was mom's taxi, it hauled kids and their friends and it pulled our tent trailer all over the place, went up and down the pacific coast from Victoria to San Diego numerous times, and has never let us down once. But we no longer need that much room in a vehicle, as its usually just my wife and my daughter riding in it. I'm thinking it would be a good move to get a CRV to replace it with, we still need something to haul our trailer and I like the 'part time' all wheel drive for when the roads get a bit on the slippery side. The CRV still has a four banger in it and I like four bangers...which explains why I like the TSX. As many of you know the motor in the CRV is a 2.4 liter DOHC four pumping out 160 horses, quite similar to the one in the TSX, not sure, but some say its the same block with a different head on it. I spent some time looking one over the other day and think its a vehicle we could easily live with, a good compliment to a TSX. What have you heard from anyone you know that has one, are they happy? Do any of you have close at hand experience with a CRV yourselves? Let me know what you think and toss some thoughts at me...

Lorne Miller

 

A friend of ours has a CRV and she really likes it. When we played with the idea of buying an SUV I took hers for a spin and found it to be very underpowered. It had a good ride and felt well made, but it was slow. This was the previous-generation CRV though... I don't know the specs on the engine but I think it was 146 HP or something like that. The current generation is supposed to be considerably more peppy.

I don't think you could go wrong with a CRV - a well-made, reliable, fuel-efficient vehicle with good crash-test scores. The perfect appliance for any driveway (and I mean that in a good way).

 

I know that suggesting this is grounds for crucifixion on this board, but if I were in the market for a mini-ute, I'd take a good hard look at the Ford Escape. It's roomier than the CR-V and with the V6 it's got some cajones too - 201hp/196lb-ft. If you're really stuck on a 4 cyl then maybe that's meaningless to you, but it would be nice to have that on tap when you're towing. Subjectively, I think the Escape looks better than the CR-V too. I'm sure the CR-V is a good quality vehicle and a solid buy. I like Hondas (duh) but the CR-V just doesn't do it for me.

 

I wont crucify majormojo, but I would check out a few other japaneese makers first, possibly a rav4, they dont look half bad in my opinion. Then check out the fords, I think american reliabily is getting better, and it would sure have more get up and go that any 4 banger suv. just dont by a tracker

 

I've been researching for a suv to tow a boat with, and the CRV is on the list. They've increased the towing capacity this year by 50%! But, I'm still not sure how well it will handle lauching and towing the boat with it.
I'm not sure I am ready to buy domestics yet, non of their ergonomics and reliability has me convinced yet.
Other options on my list is the Pilot, Nissan Murano, and the Tribute. If the CRV had another 10-20 HP, I'd think my choice would be obvious.
Does any one know of or have a CRV used for towing a boat?

 

The Escape and CR-V are pretty much the same size, neglible differences here and there. These two have the largest interiors in this segment. I think the Escape looks nice, but I like the Mazda Tribute's sheetmetal better than both the Escape and CR-V.

 

Visorboy, how heavy is the boat/trailer you want to pull? IMO, no short-wheelbase, fwd, unibody vehicle is suitable for serious towing, no matter what the manufacturer rates the capacity as. The tow ratings are mostly a marketing exercise on those vehicles, so take them with a grain of salt. Think about it - what was changed to give the CR-V a 50% increase in rated towing cap this year? Most likely just the brochure.

A tent trailer or utility trailer is probably fine, but more than that is pushing your luck. If you have some real weight to pull, you want a solid frame to bolt the weight-distributing hitch to (true weight distrib hitches for unibody vehicles can be expensive!), you want wheelbase to minimize the sway induced by the trailer (esp in crosswinds) and you want lots of torque to get things moving. HP is less important overall. Think Diesel!

 

OK, the Subaru Forester XT, which claims 210HP. But these aren't just 210 ordinary horses, these are 210 horses on crack cocaine! C/D printed a 0-60 time of an amazing 5.3 seconds for one in it's manual transmission form. Also, it's not just 5.3 seconds, it's an unguided missile kind of 5.3 seconds, there's NO skid control - VSA available! Sound exciting?

Less exciting is the Ford Escape. We rented one in Hawaii last year, I liked it better than any of the other Ford products we rented on the other islands. Only reservation I have is that it's a FORD not a Honda or Toyota, so if you keep cars for 6 years, I'm fairly certain you'll have it in the shop for more than oil changes.

Your Oddy is '97? That's the original small one with the 4-banger and the normally-opening rear doors?

Ours is the large one with the V6. Wife chose it rather than a LS400 (seriously) in the fall of '00 because she was still a Girl Scout leader and her troop would fit inside, and because our daughter was going to be heading to college in a couple of years. The GS troop is now disbanded, but ONE daughter heading to ONE college for ONE semester will fill up ONE Honda Odyssey to a level waaaaay above the window line!

I'm actually considering trading my Volvo for a CR-V in the spring, this is because my daughter isn't interested in my Volvo because it's a 5-speed and I've finally thrown in the towel on this. (Yup, she plays me better than her baritone saxiphone!) The relatively low power is probably a good thing with a teen. But I'm not planning on towing anything with it, and I'm also not sure all my kid's stuff for college will actually fit inside!

So you might look at the current (the last year for this design) Oddy, it's a 240hp V6 and should tow well. If you think you've outgrown a minivan, it's platform is available cleverly disguised as an SUV in the Acura MDX and Honda Pilot...

 

Get the Element !!!!

 

I think the Escape is a much better looking vehicle as well, but I don't think they're made well. My soon-to-be inlaws have one, and when we took it for a spin I was really shocked by how crude it was. Not crude in a good truck way, but just really loud and it didn't feel solid. I didn't have that impression in the CRV. The Escape was noticeably quicker though and it rode well. CR rates the Escape/Tribute with poor reliability, and they had poor IIHS crash scores I believe. But hey, they like it.

I'd consider the Forester as well if I was shopping in that segment. I couldn't see myself in a RAV4.

 

i agree with mojo & jcg, if i was to get an mini-suv i would take a look at the escape V6. i've been driven in one before and the handling was carlike, better then some other cars i've been in. the only negative is it eats up more gas then the crv, i'm actually looking forward to the escape hybrid coming out and would consider it if i was in the market....good luck!

 

Funny you should mention that. C&D test numbers say

Escape - 0-60 8.8, 1/4 mile 16.8 (July 2000)

CR-V - 0-60 8.4, 1/4 mile 16.4 (November 2001)

I know mag numbers don't mean much and I'm sure the Escape feels quicker with more tourque but I think the numbers show and there are more BTW, that the CR-V is just as quick if not quicker than the Escape. Remeber the CR-V has the same 2.4L that we enjoy with just about as much Tourque and a nice flat curve to boot.

 

I have '97 CRV and it was fine. The 2nd generation CRV is much better for power for sure (2.4L vs 2.0L) which solved my biggest complain about CRV - under power. Yes, the new one is much better than the old one and the engine is the same as TSX except TSX is better tuned into 200HP. (K24A vs K24B)
It's identical to the one found in new 2.4L Accord.

I went down a trip from Vancouver Canada to Portland Oregon and I was driving like crazy on I5 (180km/h max) and my friend's '03 CRV keep up with me no problem while I have 2 ppl in TSX and he has 4 ppl in CRV.

 

I don't know much about CRVs, but I'm sure it was the previous generation one that I drove. I don't think it had that 2.4L engine then. I'll admit that I didn't drive them back-to-back, in fact there was a space of about 10 months between my 2 test drives

I just remember being put off by the acceleration of the CRV, but fine with that of the Escape.

 

I've got an '02 Mazda Tribute ES 4x4. I bought it new back in July '02, it now has 34,000 miles. It's been to the dealer a total of 6 times, only for oil changes. It's really a great vehicle, and it does have great pick-up. The only downside is that it sucks fuel. I get about 230-250 to a tank.

The tribute and escape are now on the CR's "recommended" list.

 

My brother has a 2002 CRV EX and I got a chance to drive it. I have to say that it had plenty of power. I don't understand when people say it doesn't. Compared to what? I'm the type of person to compare the performance to a similar car and not something in a different league. My only gripe is that I could never get comfortabe in the seat. I'm 6'3" so that could be the reason. I do have to say that the seats in both the Pilot and the Element were perfect. I have the same trouble with all my current cars so this is high on my list (when I go to buy again). The TSX seats felt great in case you are wondering.

As for towing, I don't have any knowledge on this subject but I wouldn't use this as a vehicle to tow on a daily basis. Overall very good mini SUV for the money. I personally like the CRV in looks over the Ford or RAV4.

 

I have a 97 Odyssey in my family, it's really great to have. Reasonably good gas mileage, nice ride, and handling. No problems with it whatever, very reliable The strange thing about it that the timing belt broke recently, and it only had around 70k on it. Luckily it broke during startup in the garage, so there was no damage to the valves, etc.

My friend has the newest generation CRV. It's quite spacious, and reminds me of the 97 Odyssey in spaciousness. Rides is refined, similar to the Odyssey. Power is decent. I'd say if you are used to the Odyssey, then the power should be recognizable in the CRV. Acceleration I think is better on the Odyssey (I remember I could haul so ass if I punched the Ody), I head the acceleration on the CRV is not up to snuff..

 

I think I remember those numbers, as they were being thrown around in the Escape vs. CR-V forum on Edmunds. If I remember correctly, the number is for a manual CR-V and the Escape was an automatic.

 

I've driven the latest gen CR-V from Ohio to DC and I can say that in the mountains you will have a hard time keeping above 60 without downshifting to third. The fuel economy suffers tremendously when hauling 3 people and a week's worth of luggage through the mountains. As a local runabout vehicle I think it handles admirably! Great foul-weather compliment to a TSX, though I hear with VSA the TSX does pretty well in foul weather.

There is good pickup around town. On the highway there seems to be no power. = ( Cargo space is really nice. Low load floor. You can actually stand inside the CRV to move packages. If I had a kid going off to college I'd probably get them on of these.