Test drive Honda CR-V 2002-2004 SUV

City style

This class of cars, the so -called beach jeeps, or SUVs, was the first to venture to launch the Toyota company, and, I must say, did not lose. Relatively small and comfortable vehicles of increased cross -country ability came in handy, especially the townspeople loved them. Competitors immediately felt a gold mine, and this began ... Each company designed its SUV in a record time, but SUV absorbed all the products without a trace on the yeast. Honda also joined the arms race, only its achievements in this field were surprised by many - unlike competitors, the company with a small time interval introduced two different -caliber models at once - HR -V and CR -V. More precisely, there are already three: the small HR-V is now available with a three- and five-door body.

In theory, the SUVs as a class of cars were destined to be born somewhere in the territory of the post-Soviet space. Judge for yourself: where else, in which country there is so many pits, pardon and other bedridden policemen for every kilometer of the improved coating. Sometimes you even wonder where some comrades manage to make double, or even a triple speed excess in a regular passenger car. And this is at a time when you involuntarily come to the idea that it is time to oblige all automobile dealers to enter the steel protection of the engine crankcase into the list of standard equipment for cars that are officially sold in our market.

However, CR-V is good that he saves his owner from most ordinary, passenger problems: high clearance and all-wheel drive are the best suited for our conditions. Now you are not a noise of a snow block or even a high border, and this is not to mention the fact that you are forever, well, at least during the operation of a given car, you are spent on the need to constantly train your eye, mentally correlating the height of the obstacle or ruts from Road clearance: will pass or not pass, will hook or not hook? But at the same time, in terms of comfort, the SUV is not inferior to the usual model of the middle class: completely independent pendants of all wheels, and even developed by Honda specialists, already promise in advance that the car will be pepper. So it is in principle. If this model was installed, at least on order, an even more powerful engine, then it could well claim, even without additional refinement of the chassis, which obliges a lot of the Driver Car`s title. Although the driver who is accustomed to a 1.8-2.0-liter light car, and with this engine, will be enough for the eyes that are not impressive on paper for twelve seconds to hundreds of a higher drive, and from this applies to larger, CR-V provide Sensations comparable to much more dynamic models. Almost soundless at idle, even the stove gives more noise, the engine surprises with its ability to twist in the entire range, up to the red zone. From about four thousand revolutions, a branded pickup appears, not Type R, of course, however, it still turns out quite aggressively. But even if you do not constantly drive the tachometer arrow near the red zone, Honda still somehow imperceptibly turns out a little in front of the main stream. No, do not worry, you do not threaten to become a regular client of sellers of striped sticks - in order to go quickly, it is not necessary to exceed the speed. You just can rebuild in another row in advance if you see that your barely stretching truck or a car rotating left. A higher landing and almost impenetrable suspension provoke to perform maneuvers, which are simply useless, and sometimes not safe to perform on an ordinary passenger car. Where everyone inhibits the flesh to the squeal of tires, for example, the CR-V driver does not even drop the gas on the tram tracks: high-profile rubber will not allow damage to the wheel disk, even if the blow is quite severe. Of course, no one will drive in such a car, like a career dump truck, but it’s nice to know that there is a certain margin of safety.

According to the combination of their characteristics, CR-V is half a hundred higher than an ordinary passenger car. It is just intended for those who, due to some circumstances, cannot travel on the passenger model, but at the same time they constantly shake on the freight SUV, they also have no much desire. In fact, constructively CR-V is an ordinary all-wheel drive car, only with a high clearance and a car-like layout. Even the manufacturer itself classifies it as a universal car for outdoor activities. There is not a single hint of an SUV in the cabin, everything is done in a purely passenger style - no additional levers of transmission control, almost sports planting of the driver. Unusually a large distance to the ground and huge burdocks of external rear -view mirrors remind which car you are in.

But all those around the CR-V is still perceived as an SUV, which is only for the good. The classic jeep silhouette, especially surrounded by chrome chipsters, arcs and other Kangurin, looks very strict, and most importantly - expensive, especially if a dark car. No one will think that the car is at the level of an ordinary station wagon in a good configuration.

Although just the same off-road bells and whistles in CR-V once or two were expected. There is no frame, as well as the reducing series of transmissions, and the engine is rather configured for dynamic driving than a long ride in a clay field somewhere. This does not mean that the car is powerless on the off -road - if necessary, CR -V will be able to show itself, but in this matter, as they say, without fanaticism. The body carrier, as in a regular passenger car, is not intended for daily exercises called diagonal hanging, but if the situation is completely dead -end, then it will naturally withstand such an overload, and even more so, when we drove the car with one side by one side and back The wheel was cut off a few centimeters from the soil, all the doors were closed all the same easily and soundless that it was unequivocally hinted at the high hardness of the body. By the way, this hill, which you see in the photo, has become a reference to us, we can roughly judge how much the car is adapted to mobile hilly terrain with strong slopes and slopes. So, this obstacle is more or less successfully overcome by only SUVs from Honda. The light car on such a hill never climb, and the only attempt to overcome this obstacle on a professional SUV, with a full set of accessories to overcome off -road, somehow an dependent rear axle, a demultiplier and blocking almost all differentials, almost ended in a depthtrack - the jeep expressed his discontent - expressed his discontent. A short -term raising of two wheels of the same side. Having stood so for a couple of seconds, he, to our relief and to disappointing the crowded onlookers, sank into the number of wheels stated by technical requirements. Since then, this test is mandatory only Honda.

Another very important plus is that the CR-V driver does not need to master some off-road driving techniques that are mandatory in managing a conventional jeep. Automation itself at the time of slipping connects the second axis, and the driver does not even notice at what moment this happens. The connection takes place very smoothly, so even on ice you will not feel the slightest jerk. In the slippery area, the connection between the axes is almost stiff, but when equalizing the rotation speeds of the front and rear wheels, the car again becomes front-wheel drive, again without the slightest participation of the driver. Such a drive scheme kills two birds with one stone at once: the car is, as it were, constantly all -wheel drive, but at the same time, fuel consumption does not differ much from the aforementioned station wagon. Moreover, in winter and in the offseason, fuel consumption, especially in the city cycle, may even be less due to the fact that CR-V is practically not beating. The only thing that should be done in advance to the future owner of such a car is to determine for yourself in what conditions the car will most often be operated. If you regularly move off the asphalt, then it is better to change the rubber in advance for something more professional, because it is most often that the machine can continue to move, but the protector with a universal pattern does not provide decent coating clutch. And vice versa, if the car is constantly living in the city, it makes sense to purchase more asphalt tires and limit itself only to its seasonal replacement.

In today's automotive industry, the trend is such that the models of the traditional classes that automobile companies have accustomed us to many years gradually, natural selection is gradually dying. Over the past ten to fifteen years, it seems that more different subclasses and subspecies have appeared than in the history of carism. Buyers are becoming more demanding, and not only to the quality of assembly or components, but also to the functionality of the car, and as a result - the appearance of a whole host of models, as if between classes, on the verge. Their horse is a combination of advantages borrowed from both donors. It is to such a subspecies that the Honda CR -V, an athlete in the soul, belongs to, but according to the vocation of the style, part -time acting on your favorite toy.

Pavel Kozlovsky
 
 

Source: Auto -Gazeta / N 1 (304) dated 17.01.01