Review
There was nothing wrong with his own long-term test car, which is undoubtedly faster and sleeker than my sturdy workhorse, other than the fact that it lacks a satellite-navigation system.
Here at Fleet News, we are all coming to rely more and more on sat-nav to get us places, bar the odd dyed-in-the-wool Luddite who has to remember to take along ye olde road atlas whenever he goes anywhere. I for one cannot contemplate a trip to an unknown urban metropolis without the help of that unflappable routefinder.
The Honda’s system seems particularly easy to operate, with its clear screen and easily-manoeuvrable toggle switch.
Its dulcet tones must have saved me hours of time and hassle during my stint with the car. Last week’s Fleet News feature on optional extras revealed that satellite-navigation has overtaken air-conditioning as the latest must-have item for fleet drivers.
Taking into account the financial benefits for companies of more productive journeys, one can see why. It also retains the most value of any optional extra when it comes to disposal time.
And while on the subject of retained value, it is interesting to note that the CR-V’s predicted RV of 43% has fallen by just one percentage since the car arrived here back in June last year.
The CR-V continues to delight, though the continued absence of the forecast ‘harshest winter’ means much of its ability has not really been put to the test.
A promised trip to the Austrian Alps, with the challenge of negotiating the notorious Flexenpass, was scuppered by the discovery of £30 Ryanair flights. But a smattering of snow around Christmas revealed the potential of its roadholding abilities and there’s still time for that predicted harsh spell.
There’s no manual method of selecting four-wheel drive or low-ratio as the CR-V makes up its own mind when things are getting a bit slippy and automatically switches to all-wheel mode if the rear wheels begin to lose traction.
Fuel consumption has slipped a little over the last couple of months, probably due to the number of short stop-start journeys I have been undertaking, but is still very reasonable for a capacious SUV such as this.
Model: Honda CR-V 2.2 i-CTDi Executive
Price (OTR): £23,105
Mileage: 12,706
CO2 emissions (g/km): 177
Company car tax bill (2006): 40% tax-payer £191 a month
Insurance group: 12E
Combined mpg: 42.2
Test mpg: 36.2
CAP Monitor residual value: £9,825/43%
Typical contract hire rate: £436
Expenditure to date: Nil
Figures based on three-years/60,000-miles
