Test Drive Honda Crosstour since 2009 SUV

Comparative Test: Honda Crosstour against Toyota Venza

Such cars are not chosen, their purchase is always forced to circumstances. Buy such a car on your own will, it's like admitted that you like girls with liquid hair and thick ankles. It is always like this: first you ride on the BMW 3 series, and then your wife needs a place to take the seedlings to the cottage, and the kids rear doors and a DVD player.

And then the time of triumph of universal seems to be the Honda Accord Crosstour and Toyota Venza. Well, or at least their existence begins to look justified.

These high universals offering more space for your items and more or less attractive looking on the road are something like SUV, only under the hood they do not have a voracious V8. There are no details that would relate them to large heavy trucks.

It goes without saying that neither Honda nor Toyota will add your imident of attractiveness. Even more can say goodbye to those residues of coolness, which was still attended in your image. These machines have neither large disks, nor wide wheels, to give them at least a bit of thunderstorm or chic. These are universals, and in their case it matters only what is inside. But you should not worry. No matter how much your friends are frozen at the sight of a similar machine, your family will be grateful to you.

Return of Universal
Honda and Toyota made everything in their power to be able to position these cars as something completely new as crossovers, denying the categorization of bombs capable of changing the picture in the selection of the segment of the car market, if you want. But if you drop all these beautiful words, it turns out that essentially Crosstour and Venza is Accord and Camry in the body of a wagon.

In this case, there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed, because at the Honda Accord Crosstour and the Toyota Venza has all the features and pleasant little things, which overgrown during the years of Sales ACCORD and Camry. If you compare them with the corresponding sedans, several fundamental differences are immediately striking, such as an increased landing height and an optional full drive system. And both cars, it is good or not very, received several unique stylistic solutions. Some of them are very useful. The fact that both cars are completed as premium versions of their analogues in the body of the sedan, can also please in certain situations.

Yes, for the right to manage such a city car will have to lay out a considerable amount. The price of the cheapest Honda Accord Crosstour begins with a mark of $ 30,000 it will be a front-wheel drive version with V6. The basic set of Toyota Venza assumes a row 4-cylinder engine, but even for this will have to lay out at least $ 26,000. The same versions, like those who arrived to us for testing, will cost $ 37,000 for Honda and a little more than $ 39,000 for Toyota .

Did you think that the most recent representative of the body of body family cars can cost the cheaper of the primitive SUV assembled on the basis of any pickup? It is from the area of \u200b\u200bfiction, but for such money, these crossovers offer a lot of pleasant things for family cars of small things, such as a navigation system, Hi-end stereo, heated leather seats and a rear-view camera, so that you will not knock any dog.

Big backyard
The essence of the existence of these cars is a large spacious trunk. Toyota Venza cargo compartment is wide and flat. Honda Crosstour offers narrow deep space. If you translate it into numbers, then the volume of space behind the rear seats of Venza 870 liters, for the seats of Crosstour 727 liters.

To make it easier for you to navigate, the volume of accord and camry sedans are 400 liters. It is also worth noting that the configuration of Crosstour and Venza universal configuration allows you to freely load things into the baggage compartment, without the usual for owners of Tetris sedans.

Testing Honda Accord Crosstour, we managed to find out that a large suitcase and a children's stroller are placed in his luggage compartment, while Venza is all included without any problems, and still free space remains. But what is much more important, Venza has such an option as the rear door electric drive, then how to equip a similar Crosstour will fail. On the other hand, Honda has several niches for storing trifles under the floor, and Toyota has a single one.

If you count the maximum capacity of the main priority, the Toyota Venza 1980 L is defeated against 1420. The rear seats of both cars are folded according to the 60/40 scheme, and both in the luggage compartment have a lever to fully fold the backs of the rear seats if such a need arises in the course of loading .

Again, Honda Crosstour is shorter than the opponent, which means its luggage compartment will deliver more trouble with the placement of such a complex cargo as a bicycle, although in the end it will enter the trunk, allowing you to fold the back of only one rear seat. In Venza, the same bike enters without problems, and your child will not be able to chew his tires sitting in the back seat.

Two sides of one medal
If you forget about the capacity and dimensions of the tested cars, Crosstour and Venza look and behave almost like Accord and Camry sedans. If you do not pay attention to the fact that in Crosstour sit down a little higher, there is a feeling behind the wheel of the Accord, so here everything seems to be. This, apparently, from the fact that the Salon Crosstour is fully borrowed from the Accord sedan.

And this is good. After all, thanks to this decision, Honda Accord Crosstour 2010 received a perfectly read tool panel, high-quality finishing materials and a magnificent review. Everything is done and moved well, which just pleases. If you do not take into account the chaotic cluster of the buttons on the central panel, Crosstour 2010 is a qualitatively assembled family car.

With Toyota Venza is somewhat different. The wagon received a unique interior, without a reminder Camry salon. On the raised central console, the speed switching lever is located just above the simplified climate control system. It connects to the center console and a changeable configuration located between the front seats, where the cup holders are located, the connectors for connecting the iPod and the niche for the smallest detail.

In general, the Toyota Venza salon is not everywhere reaching the stated level. The ACAP lever is good and goes well in the hand, the central console is clear, but the rest of the cabin looks too cheap for the car with this price. The climate control system control buttons seem very fragile, the wooden finish looks unconvincing, and the material that is covered with the steering wheel and the front panel is too cooled to the touch, and it looks cheap.

We could not help but notice that the Venza who arrived at the test for us is often assembled poorly. Some panels are docked well among themselves, others are rejected. As if something appeared on them, I don't expect anything from the company, which builds my reputation on the quality control of its products.

They go like sedans
Expect something from these machines in addition to the soothing ride, it means to ask too much. This is a soft sofa on wheels for five. You do not manage them; You just sit, and you are brought. In general, both cars are equipped with a well-tuned suspension and get enough power. V-shaped six, which is equipped with Venza, develops 268 hp And aggregate with a six-speed machine, while Crosstour has five speeds and 271 horse at its disposal.

Additional transmission plays Venza on hand, because it allows you to exchange the first hundred almost for a second faster than Crosstour (6.9 against 7.8 seconds, respectively). And this is contrary to what Toyota weighs on 33 kg Honda heavy (1863 kg against 1830).

Our own impressions of the management of these cars pushed to the idea that not only the additional transfer of Toyota causes marked differences, because the venza machine switches more willingly and demonstrates an excellent response to the position of the gas pedal even in normal mode. If you sharply press the accelerator pedal in Honda, then the gearbox is first thinking about whether it is worth switching, and only then gives the required power.

A similar situation is also with handling. TwentyDeightened discs and more aggressive tires Goodyear Eagle RS-A, which is included in the standard package of the Luxury version of Venza, provide more clutch with an expensive and more acute reaction at the inlet in turn. On the slalom, this tandem provided Venza advantage over Honda 1.6 km / h. Even when moving in normal mode, Toyota Venza seems easier and more superior Honda Accord Crosstour. And if it were not for an artificial steering wheel, the control of Venza could not be just pleasant, but even interesting.

Crosstour, equipped with more modest wheelchairs and not such aggressive rubber, as well as having softer chassis settings, rides the uneven surface softer and more comfortable. Although the Honda steering wheel is not better than Venza. With him constantly seems as if he is about to break out of the hands, and informativeness is clearly lame. The car is very smooth, in her salon quieter than in the salon Venza, so it is even more fresher and relaxes.

Security primarily
If for your family you always strive to get all the best, then the acquired car must offer more security and functionality than you ever need. In our case, everything is simple with safety, since both cars are equipped with a huge amount of pillows and an electronic course stability system that protects before and during the accident.

Both machines in the standard have an anti-lock brake system on all four wheels, which as a result it provides them with a similar result in the test for a complete stop from the speed of 100 km / h (39.3 m at Honda and 39 m at Toyota). Brake pedal in Venza is slightly better because it is pretty light, and therefore the driver is convenient to dose the effort.

Both cars at your request may have a full drive system, which also increases the level of security in bad weather conditions. It is very difficult to understand what these cars are capable of, as long as suddenly the front wheels do not lose the clutch with the road, and the system immediately redirects the torque on the rear axle to help align the car.

On the wet road, we felt the work of this system only with a sharp start. In the snow, apparently, things would be somewhat different, but even the basic versions of both models with front-wheel drive are equipped with a clutch control system. Although for the sake of possession of the all-wheel drive car will have to come to compete with its increased mass. And, as a result, with an appetite. According to Toyota Venza, the Era Toyota Venza consumes more than the front-wheel drive version on the half-liter, and at Honda Accord Crosstour, this indicator is 0.85 liters on the highway and 0.42 liters around the city.

Best of two
If you argue about the convenience of daily operation, then Toyota Venza has an advantage in the form of more comfortable rear seats and an optional DVD player. Another option capable of facilitating your life is the engine launch system without a key, which Venza can be equipped, and Crosstour is not.
 
Despite the high quality finishes of the Honda Accord Crosstour salon, after a week behind the wheel of both cars, our preferences were on the side of Toyota Venza. Yes, the quality of the Toyota finish leaves much to be desired, but everything else is on height. You can argue about style and shape, you can argue as much as you like, the only thing that Toyota Venza offers the best combination of space for passengers, the capacity of the luggage compartment and technical filling.

He is as a bit more agrees on the highway and a little more economical at the gas station. Not the legend of the automotive industry, of course, but sat behind the wheel and entering the taste, you understand that this is a worthy compromise. Just ride your family.

Alternative opinion, senior editor Josh Jaco:
It is very difficult to experience passionate feelings for such a car for moms. They are not cars in a traditional understanding, they are not SUV and not minivans, in love to which I confess without any constraint. These are strange universals, depended somewhere in uncertainties, which are close somewhere between and do not cause special love due to the complete lack of determination.

Below I brought my criteria that for what reason I like.

If it was a comparison of motors and transmissions, I would have won the Toyota Venza. Its engine is better because it is easily accelerated to pleasant velocities, despite the smaller, in comparison with the opponent, power, it is more responsive and offers some control over the operation of the transmission by means of stealless switches. Venza manageability is also a little sharper thanks to a more hard body and big wheels.

The reverse side of the advantages mentioned above is that the big Toyota is not so comfortable as a teddy Honda. But most of the caring mothers will not want to jump on each bump. Still in the CROSSTOR salon more pleasant than Venza. In Honda, all the details of the interior are thoroughly thought out and are cooled, and this is noticeable. In the design of the interior of Honda, a creative approach is felt, and its practicality is much more relevant than in Toyota. All materials are chosen with taste and perfectly combined with each other. But God, what is it all the same uncompatient.

Mathematical calculations and calculations in this case are completely deprived of meaning. Both cars accurately affect the target target. No screaking misses. Both cars wonderfully serve you. And both are absolutely faceless family facilities. If you are looking for this, buy any, no difference.

Note Drom.ru.
The Honda Crosstour model is sold in Russia with a 3.5-liter V6 engine,
5-speed automatic transmission and full drive. The cost of the car begins from 1 799,000 rubles.

Toyota Venza, according to our information, will appear on the Russian market no earlier than 2013 after restyling. It is assumed that we will be imported to 4WD modifications and a 2.7-liter 4-cylinder engine. The price should not be below 1.5 million rubles.





 

A source: Insideline.