OT: Anyone have a CR-V?

[jd11365]

Well, I've talked DH out of the "Man-Truck"...the one that costs $56 to fill up and gets 14 mpg. Somehow he has seen the light...and some bizarre looks on my face...and has decided to join me in the pursuit of a new Honda CR-V. The car is for DH, sadly, as I will be joyfully keeping my lovely '99 Caravan...insert eyeroll. Really, you might remember from another post that DH has been driving a '96 2-seater pick-up truck since, well, '96 and is in dire need of a new vehicle...especially since somehow he gets rained on while driving this one. He keeps vehicles for a long time, 8.5 years for this past one, so my question is will we be happy with a CR-V? Consumer Reports seems to think so, but I'd like to hear from anyone here who has one. My friend mentioned that it looked like a tight fit if we had 2 kids...which we plan on in a couple of years. My thought is Kayla has never been in anything else but my car since the alternative was a 2-seater, so this would be icing on the cake having a backseat w/ additional cargo room. I

TIA!

Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
May '03

[brubeck]

I was seriously looking at the CRV for myself but when we took our RA and tried to put it in rear-facing there was barely any room left for the person up front. We just decided that this was not enough space so we moved up one SUV notch to the Toyota Highlander (same level as the Honda Pilot). The other nice thing about the next level up of SUV is that the spare tire is NOT on the outside of the vehicle but in the trunk (this is a pet peeve of mine). This means that the trunk door can open up instead of outward, which makes a difference opening it in a parking lot or closed garage.

HTH!

[ellies mom]

We also looked at the CR-V when we needed a "family" car. Dh is 6" and he felt pretty crowded in the driver's seat even though he currently drives a 2 door Civic. Personally I found the interior to be a little cheap feeling. Like PP mentioned there wasn't much room for a Roundabout rearfacing. There was also very little cargo room. It is mostly vertical, so once our Zippy was in, it seemed full. We ended up going with a Suburu Outback. We call it our micro SUV. DH liked it so much it actually became a discussion over which car to replace.

[lisams]

We have a 97 CR-V and love, love, love it! it's a good size - not really big and not teeny tiny. Those huge SUVs scare me, I would be scared to attempt parking one of those or backing out of a parking space!! DD has a Marathon and it fits nicely rear and forward facing. If we put her behind the passenger seat there is plenty of room for one on the other side. We keep her in the middle and there isn't much room on each side of her, but I have sat back there with her, it's just not spacy.

I swear this car will just keep going forever, we haven't had a single problem with it. They have very good reputations!

Good luck!
Lisa

[Emmas Mom]

We have an '03 CRV & absolutely LOVE it. DH is 6'4" & has no problem fitting in nicely. I've sat behind him, next to DD who is in her RA rearfacing in the center, & have not felt too crowded. No, it's not spacey, but I didn't feel claustrophobic. Though there is definitely more room behind the passenger side when he's driving. ;) I also had a friend with an infant carrier put hers in next to DD's RA & it fit just fine. I don't think it's cheap feeling at all, it's rated well, has decent resale & gets decent mileage for the SUV catagory. :D

ETA: I keep my P3 in the back all the time (along with my cart cover from sewcuteboutique & a blanket) & never have trouble fitting in groceries...even when I stock up at Costco!

[brittone2]

I have an 02 and love it. I worked as a pediatric physical therapist before DS was born and treated in my clients' homes, so I always had a ton of equipment in my car. The CRV was great because it accomodated all of my "stuff"...but wasn't too hard to parallel park, etc. when I was zipping from appointment to appointment. I liked that I got some extra space but still good gas milage (important in my job at the time).

I don't looove the overall look of the interior but it isn't bad. I like that the upgraded model (EX I think?) has tinted windows, a 6 cd changer, sunroof, etc. All the upgrades I would have wanted anyway.

I testdrove a rav-4 when I was looking and the cr-v was much more peppy in my opinion. It consistently gets good reviews in various magazines, etc.

We have one DS who uses a Britax Galaxy (similar to the RA but discontinued now) and he is just fine space wise. We have two large dogs, so if we go camping or something and need to take them with us, things are a bit cramped, but we just bought a nice Thule roof rack so that should work out well.

I would love a pilot though! That's our next step up most likely. DH currently drives a gas guzzling Ford Pickup and has been thinking of taking my car a few days a week to save a bit on the $40 a week he's spending on gas right now.