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Thursday, February 14, 2013

The New Honda CRV Review

Honda's premium SUV, the CR-V has gone through a lot of change with the fourth generation. On sale in India since 2003, Honda has managed to sell 14,000 units of the SUV to date and it hopes to continue making an impact on the small, premium petrol SUV market.

First things first, the CR-V is now assembled in India and that should bring down the price considerably. The bad news is, you don't still get a diesel option. On offer are the same 2.0 litre and 2.4-litre, four-cylinder i-VTEC petrols. The former comes with a 6-speed manual and 5-speed auto option while the latter is a 5-speed auto only with paddle shifters. There is quite some power jump too; the 2.0 now produces 155 bhp of peak power, up from 143 bhp, while the 2.4 now churns out 188 bhp, up from the 166 earlier. Fuel economy is now 13.7 kpl for the 2.0 and 12 kpl for the 2.4, all ARAI.

While it does look larger on the outside, it actually is 30 mm shorter in length, while the wheelbase is identical. Honda claims the car is lighter than the last car, but gives no number to it. It also has 9 per cent better torsional rigidity. The looks though are more evolutionary, yet it makes the CR-V more aggressive from the front and svelte from the rear - Volvo XC60 like in fact.

On the inside, Honda has tried to make amends by stacking it up with features. All versions come with six airbags, cruise control and an audio system with lots of features. The top-end 2.4 auto gets a touchscreen with bluetooth and navigation too! Changes to the seating layout have meant better headroom and more luggage room too. In fact, the second row of seats can be flipped forward using a lever in the boot. Clever! Sadly, there is still no third row of seats, though.











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