Here's an update of the car, and a review also I guess.
We've had it for about two months now, give or take, and we've put about 2,000 miles on it. In that time period, Honda has installed two new sway bar end links and two new front struts for me, none of which I believe was really necessary. I fixed the front end noise it was having with some new brake pad assembly paste.
We really like this car overall. It's a much better fit for our family than the Camry was. The Camry was "my" car, but my wife and I both felt like we needed to get her out of the Acura. On some of the busier days, she's driving 100 miles/day with the kids. Our 2-year-old goes to preschool at our church 3 times a week, and that's an 30-minute drive back-and-forth, twice a day (for 2 hours total). Our 6-year-old gets driven to school down the street, but she also has girl scouts, dance class, and now swim lessons. In addition to the preschool runs to church with the 2-year-old, the dance class is held at the church, plus the Wednesday evening fellowship...it's a lot of driving. We have put about 14,000 miles on the Acura since we bought it in November. And it's sucking down premium fuel at a rate of...let's see...17.9 mpg is our overall average with it. Not bad, but still expensive.
So anyway, I said all that to say that we both wanted me to drive the Acura, but the Camry wasn't a good fit for her. Physically, we fit in it, but the rear doors are super-long on the Camry, making it a very tight squeeze in parking lots. My wife has to stoop over to put the kids in the car, which is compounded by long rear doors that don't open 90 degrees.
So this is what the CR-V has fixed for us:
1) The rear doors open a full 90 degrees, but they're short enough so that you can open them all the way in a standard parking space without hitting the car next to you. Further in the "utility" department, the trunk "shelf" that comes in the EX and EX-L models is fantastic. The stroller can slide underneath and groceries or other bags can go on the flat shelf above. Fantastic. All SUVs should have this dual-deck system.
2) Economy. With my wife primarily driving the Honda now, we're averaging a much better 23.2 mpg in town, and on regular fuel vs. premium. But the CR-V makes a fantastic road companion also. We took it to the beach yesterday on a church outing and averaged 28.2 mpg on the 200 mile trip. This is with the A/C humming away in the 100 degree ambient heat. We're very happy with that. It doesn't quite match the Camry in terms of fuel economy, but it's within 10-15%. (And I can get 19-20 mpg with the Acura on my commute, so we've kind of killed two birds with one stone.)
I continue to be impressed with the CR-V's fit and finish and build quality. The interior materials are impressive to me, as are all the finishes and colors. SiriusXM has been kind enough to not turn the XM off, even though I didn't extend the trial period, so we continue to enjoy free XM (watch, it'll go out today!). The radio is a 270-watt sound system from Honda, and sounds better than the one in the Acura. It has a subwoofer under the front passenger seat and a 6-disc changer in the dash. Sound quality is fantastic, even on satellite radio. It's the first car I've owned where I can't tell a difference in quality between satellite radio and FM.
It's quiet and smooth on the road, and is fun to drive around town. You can toss it back and forth on twisty roads and the rear end feels like it's actually working with--and not against--you. The handling feels rather neutral overall. I'm excited to put more car-oriented tires than it currently has on it (Michelin Cross Terrain); I think it'll drive and handle even better.
The gauges are very clear to read and pleasant to look at. It has Honda's typical red-white-blue layout, with red needles, white letters, with a blue surround. We really like the "cool blue" theme on the whole interior...at night, a lot of things light up with a cobalt blue color. It's very pleasing to the eyes. The moonroof is very quiet; you don't really hear any road or wind noise from any of the windows actually. I added a HomeLink rearview mirror also, so we're back out of the garage-door-opener-on-the-visor business.
Lots of smart details on this CR-V. Like the wipers. Say you have the wipers on intermittent. No matter where they are in the "cycle", they'll wipe once if you're stopped and let off the brake. I guess to give you a clean windshield when you start off across an intersection. And even if the rear wiper is turned off, it will wipe once when you put it into reverse if the front wipers are also on. I know some folks don't like "automatic" stuff like that, but it says to me how much thought went into the little details.
I continue to be happy with the powertrain. The engine is the 2.4L K24Z1 variant. It has the "economy" version of Honda's VTEC, called VTEC-E in the past. At lower engine speeds (below either 2,200 rpm or 2,700 rpm, depending on what you read), one of the intake valves just barely opens, while the other opens fully. A lot of people call this "12-valve mode", because that's essentially what it is. With only one intake valve opening fully, Honda says it creates a lot of swirl in the combustion chamber and velocity through the intake manifold and cylinder head, so low- and mid-range torque is improved. Then after a number of triggers are met (like engine speed, throttle position, etc), the VTEC mechanism will slide a pin from the rocker arm that fully opens the intake valve over to the rocker arm that only partially opens the intake valve, and both intake valves open fully, or "16-valve mode". That's the extent of the VTEC system on it. It's actually called i-VTEC, or "intelligent" VTEC because the intake camshaft also has a continuously-variable phaser on the drive gear, so it can variably adjust the camshaft timing phase, much like other variable valve timing systems. This engine is rated at 166 horsepower and 161 lb-ft of torque. I would call the straight-line performance of the CR-V "adequate". With the whole family and beach gear along yesterday, it did just fine. I wouldn't care to load it all the way and take it up and down the Rocky Mountains, but for our area, it works just fine. And for what it is, a decent-sized SUV with AWD traction when needed and larger 17" wheels and tires, I think the performance and economy is commendable.
The transmission is enjoyable also. It's smooth at all times, no matter what you're doing with the gas pedal. It was easy to get the Camry's transmission to clunk into a gear, but the Honda's transmission remains unflappable and never confused about what gear it's supposed to be in. Honda's transmission programming and shift schedules are the best I've experienced in any of my personal vehicles.
Complaints? I don't really have any of substance. I will list this one: I do wish you could manually select 4th gear on the transmission. As with most of Honda's current shift selectors, you have P-R-N-D-2-1. Predictably, 2 locks it in 2nd gear, which is handy for parking lot crawling where you don't want the 1-2-1 shift all the time. 1 obviously locks it in 1st. Drive allows it to select any of 5 forward speeds. And there's a D3 button on the side. Technically, this is an "OD-off" button, since 4th and 5th gears are truly overdrive gears in the Honda transmission. I would like the ability to manually select 4th, somehow. As I said before, the transmission is never in the wrong gear, so this really doesn't affect the driving experience, but as a gearhead, I like to be able to lock it into a gear if I want to. The Acura has a P-R-N-D-4-3-2-1 shifter, so I can hold any of the gears.
Honestly, that's about it. We haven't really found anything of substance that we don't like about it. As with the Acura, I've found that the more I own it and drive it, the more I like it. I try not to talk down on anything else, but will say this about the Camry: the more I drove it, the less I liked it. It was a fantastic car for what it was, but it spoke to me less and less the more I drove it. Both of our Hondas "speak" to me. They're enjoyable to drive, light on their feet, and so far, as reliable as anything we've owned in the past.
If you're looking at a small SUV, the CR-V is a nice package.
