Nick1994
$100 site donor 2023
I figured I'd write up a review incase someone here was interested in buying one of these used.
This is my grandmother's 2011 Honda CR-V LX 2WD 2.4L that just hit 65k miles. The previous owner must have taken really good care of this car, it's in fantastic shape. She got it 3 months and 1,300 or so miles ago. I've put most of the miles on it, her and my grandfather have me drive them around usually and run errands for them. They got this car because it is easy to get in and out of, they are elderly and handicapped and their Trailblazer is a little too tall for her.
I just took it for a road trip this weekend up to the mountains in Pinetop, AZ and did 650 miles round trip.
While my Cons list is longer than the Pros, we still like the car. It's perfect for my grandmother. She can get in and out of it easily, it's very reliable, and it's very simple and she can understand all the controls. It's a great car for daily commuting and running around town, maybe not the best for someone who does long distance commuting but maybe so. Depends on the person.
Some of my Cons are probably because it is a base LX model, some features may be fixed with a higher trim level. However, many of them should have come standard.
Pros:
-Pretty good handling, not much body roll.
-Tight and responsive steering, good feedback.
-Brakes are great, a bit touchy but I've gotten used to them.
-Good power for around town. If you're stopped at a light on level ground and punch the throttle, it'll really get you moving quite well for what it is.
-Absolutely fantastic A/C. Couldn't ask for it to be any colder or blow harder.
-Good fuel economy. It got a little over 28 mpg round trip in the mountains. I mostly just let cruise control do the work, but I did manually drive it through a lot of WOT passes and we did some in town driving too. If I tried and it were all highway I have no doubt it would get over 30 mpg.
-The seats are supportive for the lower back and hug you a bit.
-Lots of head room in the front and rear. Plenty of leg room for the rear as well (I'm 6'2"). The rear seats recline, I don't like to sit straight up in a car.
-Lots of room especially since the seats fold up really well.
-AUX port for radio.
-Interior is put together pretty well, fit and finish is decent. No rattles.
-Side airbags in the seats and curtain airbags in the base LX model.
Cons:
-Lack of power once up to speed, quite anemic. It will hold it's speed up the hills and has maybe a tiny bit more room to speed up, depending on the hill. I would not want to get stuck behind someone pulling a trailer and then try to WOT pass, it wouldn't be a pretty sight.
-Despite being a 5 speed automatic, it seems the gears are very widely spaced. 65-70 mph or so, WOT in 3rd gear it is at around 4,300 RPMs which is just not high enough to really get going when climbing a hill. I hate to say it, but a CVT would be fantastic in this car. If it could get those RPMs higher it would do ALOT better in the mountains. I think the new CR-V has a CVT though.
-Suspension is too harsh, it's very firm.
-Headlights aren't that great.
-Stereo is a joke. Doesn't get near loud enough and distorts at "high" levels. Music through the AUX port sounds better than FM, haven't had a problem with FM in countless other cars though. It has a lot of bass at low volume levels but once it reaches a little over 1/2 volume the radio itself turns off the bass, my guess is to protect the cheap speakers.
-This one drives me nuts. It doesn't unlock all the doors when you put it in Park, only the driver's door. They seriously couldn't have made it unlock the others? All the passengers are left confused because they can't open the doors. Neither front door will open when you pull the handle while locked, you have to unlock it first. I personally think that's a safety issue.
-Dash lights aren't dimmable. What you see is what you get. Center display in dash is a little too bright at night time, radio is a little too dim. Dash lights are on during the day with the headlights off, this is why you see many people driving at night with no headlights, they think they're on.
-Headlights don't automatically turn off. My grandma killed the battery once because she forgot to turn them off. Not a big deal once you get used to it, she's coming from a fully loaded Trailblazer LTZ with automatic lights.
-The dash sticks out in the center for the shifter. My knee hits it really bad, it's in the way and makes it uncomfortable.
-The seat bottoms are a little too short as far as depth for tall people. Not too bad, but a little short.
-There's only 1 Intermittent setting for the wipers. 1 wipe every 5 seconds. Then it's slow constant wipe or fast constant wipe. Can't speed up or slow down the intermittent setting.
-Awkward "center console" that folds down if needed for some reason. Cup holders are fine in it though.
