New Honda CRV 07-Cosmetic Facelift or Sex Change?. Review on Honda CR-V

Honda CR-V. A statement in itself. A class of its own. A compact crossover SUV beyond comparison.With its bold, masculine looks, classy exteriors, the distinctive grill and headlights, the quadrangular rear window set in its heavy, squarish frame, the big, almost an appendage like spare wheel attached to its rear door and the ‘resoundingly silent’ vroooom of its powerful iVTEC engine, the CR-V has been the darling of every SUV aspirer in the world. A head turner for sure, its matchless design made Honda CR-V a bestseller in the SUV segment. Launched in 1996 by Japanese carmaker Honda, this"Compact Recreational Vehicle" aka "Comfortable Runabout Vehicle" immediately caught the imagination of the Americans and the Europeans alike. When launched in India, it became an instant runaway success.

The original (first generation) CR-V design lasted from 1996 to 2001. A second version of the first gen CR-V incorporated a 146 hp engine.The fully redesigned second generation CR-V introduced in 2002 walked away with the Car and Driver magazine's Best Small SUV award for 2002 and 2003. This is the same version which we have either owned or dreamed and drooled about. Until now.

September 2006. Honda does the unthinkable. It emasculates the CR-V and gives it a shocking sex change in the name of cosmetic facelift(read upgrading to the third generation design). Suddenly the machismo, the maleness is replaced by an uncharacteristic femininity (Women’s lib supporters – please don’t get me wrong). The CR-V that we have admired all along is dead and buried. ‘Planned obsolescence’ – as BBC Top Gear puts it. The rear door with the spare tyre is gone!!! The new CR-V has become a true hatchback. Indigo Marina like! Can’t tell between the two from a distance. A coupe like tapering and roundish rear window replaces the bold quadrangle!!! Are we looking at a CR-V or what? Honda could very well have launched it as a variant while keeping the earlier version. While this new version boasts of a faster steering response, a wider stance (increased by 30mm), 20 per cent more torque, a more powerful 2 litre 4 – cylinder petrol engine, better mileage, Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure, Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, Satellite-Linked Navigation System™ with voice recognition and rearview camera (optional), wider 17 inch radials and high quality interiors among scores of other technical upgradations, its new external design is beyond anybody’s wildest comprehension. The new CR-V is now shorter, lower and more car like. One look at the new CR-V and you suddenly find the ‘Maharaja’ like feeling evaporating! Why did Honda have to do this? Is it because Honda is consciously targeting female customers in the US? If a report in cars.com is to be believed, Honda expects 60% customers of the new CR-V 2007 in the US and Europe to be women. What about the pucca Indian gentleman then? Should he now indulge in stealing furtive glances towards the Hyundai Tucson!!! Beware Honda – the new CR-V 2007 shall have competition.

Features of the new Honda CR-V 2007

Exterior– Rounder appearance, rear sloping windows, subtle creases on the bodyside and around the wheel wells, distinctive smiling double grille, wide, jutting bumper and bodywork, 3 inches shorter, 1 inch lower and a little wider and a true hatchback.

Interior – Spacious, classy. The gearshift lever is now low in the center of the instrument panel below the radio controls; the hand brake lever is gone and instead the driver presses a pedal along the floor to set or release it; the spare is under the car; and the swing-out rear door is now a swing-up hatch lid.

Engine – the CR-V will be powered by the latest version of Honda's standard 2.0 litre 4-cylinder engine. Also a 2.4 litre engine upgraded to 166 horsepower will be available in the United States. A 2.2 litre i-CTDI diesel will also be offered in the European and Asian markets and in North America in October 2006. In Europe, Honda CR-V will offer a new R20A 2.0 liter engine based on the Honda R-series i-VTEC SOHC engine found in the Honda Civic 1.8, as opposed to the previous CR-V offering the K20A.

Honda expects to sell about 160,000 CR-Vs annually, up from about 150,000 now. It also expects this compact segment to grow to 2.5 million in 2010 from 1.5 million units in 2005 as motorists move out of mid- and full-size SUVs into something more fuel efficient.

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